First Sunday in Lent

 

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

Mark 1:9-15

 

Baptism of Christ

ANGELICO, Fra

1450

San Marco Church

Florence, Italy

 

"Frescoes painted by Fra Angelico in monastic cells at the Dominican monastery of San Marco in Florence show scenes from Christ's life that are differently focused than those influenced by Franciscan piety. These are not "moving pictures," but posed scenes. Their purpose is not to arouse emotion, but to stimulate contemplation. Dominican monks appear in the sacred scenes, both observing and modeling the responses expected from the viewer. Meditation on these scenes was preparation for preaching vividly and persuasively on them. "De modo orandi," a thirteenth-century devotional manual for Dominican novices, instructed novices in the use of gestures and postures to accompany and intensify prayer, many of which are also found in the Dominican figures in Fra Angelico's paintings. The manual states, "specific states of mystical consciousness can be stimulated by deliberately assuming bodily postures" (Hood, 1993: 205). By imitating the founder of the Order, who himself imitated Christ, the novice could begin to preach with his life even before he was permitted to preach with words." (Miles, 221)

 

http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20150221846649169&code=act&RC=49585&Row=22

 

 

 

 

 

Think of Lent as an Outward Bound for the soul.

No one has to sign up for it, but if you do,

then you give up the illusion that

you are in control of your life.

~ Barbara Brown Taylor

 

 

 

We must be silent before we can listen.

We must listen before we can learn.

We must learn before we can prepare.

We must prepare before we can serve.

We must serve before we can lead.

~ William Arthur Ward

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sip and See

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Willa Grace

born 12-28-14

 

Willa’s brothers, Emerson and Thatcher

 

 

Such a lovely tea to meet Willa Grace.

 

 

Mardi Gras Party

February 17, 2015

Marny Thomas, Carolyn Alexander

 

 

Lynn Thiels and her sister, Barbara Wingate

Lynn visited from Louisiana to help Barbara and John Wingate prepare

the delicious food for the Mardi Gras party.

 

 

Jeanne Gibbard and I thoroughly enjoyed Harvey at the Arvada Center.

 

 

Book Club

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Gilead: A Novel, by Marilynne Robinson

 

Instead of meeting in my home, Kappy Kling of Hearthfire Books and Treats

graciously allowed us to use their back room for our gathering.

 

 

Commander Rorke Denver (shown here with member Marianne Temple) 

of the U.S. Navy SEALS was our speaker at Rotary.











Grace has a grand laughter in it.

~ Marilynne Robinson

(from Gilead!)

 

 

 

 

 

February 22, 2015 First Sunday in Lent

 

Previous OPQs may be found at:

     http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm

 

 

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

 

 

comic

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

The Rainbow Covenant

 

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, “ his is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

 

Genesis 9:8-17

 

 

 

 

 

Genesis 9:8-17 
Psalm 25:1-10 
1 Peter 3:18-22 
Mark 1:9-15