The Means Become the End

by Father Casey

In the arc of human history, a single idea has lurked behind many of the greatest evils: “the ends justify the means.”

This is a rationale used to defend all kinds of wrongdoing through history – that somehow, a desired result is so important that it is worth sacrificing our values to achieve it. Close your eyes, pinch your nose, and do the thing you would rather not have to do, because it will enable you to gain something good. Yes, you might rather not have to act this way, but it will be worth it in the end.

This is a perversion of the idea of sacrificial love. Sacrificial love says that the means to a good end may sometimes be costly. We may have to endure pain or loss in order to love our neighbors as ourselves. Sacrificial love is at the heart of the gospel. Jesus utterly empties himself for the sake of love. He willingly embraces suffering to defeat sin and death. The beautiful end of his salvation is accomplished by crucified means.

But the Tempter is skilled at twisting the idea of sacrificial love into a rationale for moral compromise – that if the ends are virtuous, the virtue of the means is not as important. But just as Jesus rejected this temptation in the wilderness, so must we, because the means are simply the ends in the process of ...

In this E-news:

Daylight Saving Time Starts
Sunday Bible Study in Lent
The Fig Hosts Singing Resistance Dallas
Lost & Found
Figs with Kids March Lunch
Dallas Pride Planning Committee Forms
Taizé in Lent
St. Jude March Meal Service
Considering Matthew Shepard
Wednesdays – The Idol of Technology
Help Stock the Little Pantry

Gateway of Grace Easter Baskets
The Ramp Project March Event
Art Music Monday
EMF Parish Wide Shrimp Boil
Carter Blood Drive
Holy Week Retreat with Scott Gunn
Lent Is For Kids, Too
VBS - June 1 - June 5
Children's Chapel
Children's & Youth Formation
Support St. Hilda's Guild
April Guns to Gardens

This Weekend

Sunday Bible Study

Sundays throughout Lent, our Lenten Sunday Morning Small Group Bible Study continues. These small groups enable us to dig deeper into the concept of idols in our lives. Join us in Roper Hall beginning at 10:15am. Please note that this class is only available as in in-person class.

The Fig Hosts Singing Resistance Dallas

Transfiguration will host an open practice this Sunday, March 8 from 2:00pm – 3:00pm for Singing Resistance Dallas. SRD is a local organization deploying the same powerful form of peaceful protest that was deployed in the Civil Rights Movement: song. Their mission is "singing for justice, praying for courage, and showing up for our neighbors with nonviolent love.” People of all ages are invited and welcome.

Find What You're Looking For

If you have misplaced something around the church, you are invited to stop by our lost & found items table in the Gathering Space now through Sunday, March 8. Items not claimed by Sunday, March 8, will be donated to a local charity.

Figs With Kids March Lunch

Families with young children are invited to join in the Figs With Kids Family Lunch for March this Sunday, March 8 at Cane Rosso in Hillcrest Village (6959 Arapaho Rd., Dallas, TX). We will gather at the restaurant around 11:15am (after Formation/Godly Play).

Pride Planning

Meeting

It is time for the Fig to start making plans for participation in Dallas Pride on June 6. We are forming a planning committee on Sunday, March 8 at 12:30pm in the Vestry room and are looking for folks who wish to assist. If you can join us, let us know. We’ll provide lunch!

Contact

Brooke Robb

Taizé

in Lent

Taizé on the Labyrinth is scheduled for March 8 at 6:00pm. Experience a contemplative evening of prayer and song on the candlelit labyrinth. Members of the choir will chant songs from Taizé, an ecumenical monastery in southeast France. Participants may walk the labyrinth throughout the service, which will also include periods of silence and spiritual readings.

This Week at the Fig

Serving Dinner at St. Jude

Tuesday, March 10 we invite you to serve dinner to the residents at St. Jude Center at the corner of Coit Rd. and I-635. Click the button to sign up and contribute your cooking skills as we practice loving our neighbors as ourselves. Full details and food items needed are detailed in the registration.

Sign-up No Later than March 9

Considering Matthew Shepard with Grinnell Singers

Hear the renowned Grinnell Singers from Grinnell College, Iowa, present a free concert at Transfiguration this Tuesday, March 10, at 7:30 pm. The 40-voice choir and instrumentalists under the direction of John Rommereim will perform Craig Hella Johnson’s oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard. This poignant work blends classical, folk, and contemporary music to reflect on compassion, community, and Matthew Shepard’s legacy.

Click here for more information on the Grinnell Singers

View Our Lenten Schedule

The Idol of Technology

Wednesday, March 11 at 7:00pm

The Rev. Andrew Van Kirk, Rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, McKinney

We are heavily dependent on technology to navigate the world, a reality that the AI revolution will expand greatly. People now look to AI for meaning, counsel, and companionship, which is a troubling trend. It's essential that we notice the ways technology is taking on divine-like importance, and step back before it's too late.

Fr. Van Kirk has served St. Anderew's in McKinney since 2013. Under his leadership, the church-plant has experienced tremendous growth and is preparing to build a new Nave to support the expanding community. Before discerning his vocation, Fr. Van Kirk wrote software for Amazon and studied Computer Science.

Join us for the full evening program:

5:00pm – Stations of the Cross

6:00pm – Holy Eucharist

6:30pm – Lenten Meal

7:00pm – Guest Speaker

8:00pm – Compline (Click to View)

View Full Speaker Line-up and Previous Recordings

Coming Up

Help Stock our

Little Pantry

Help us keep the little free pantry outside the church entrance stocked with critical supplies for our neighbors in need.

We need individuals or families to sign-up to be responsible for a week at a time starting with the month of August.

Learn more and sign up using the button below.

Sign-up Here

Easter Baskets for Gateway of Grace

Our Outreach ministry offers you an opportunity bring Easter joy to the children at Gateway of Grace by assembling Easter Baskets. You can be a part of this ministry by donating items we need for the Gateway of Grace Easter Family Fun Day.

Items needed are:

Empty Easter baskets
Filled plastic eggs
Individual packaged snacks – cookies, chips, crackers (candy must be Halal, no marshmallows or gelatin)
Filled Easter baskets (no toys – max. value $25 / suggested items – crayons, coloring books, stickers)

Drop off your gifts at the Outreach Table in the Tower Cloister now through Sunday, March 22.

The Ramp Project
Saturday, March 14

The Dallas Ramp Project, the local chapter of the Texas Ramp Project, builds ramps for low-income elderly and disabled individuals identified by local health care providers, to enable them to leave their homes, especially during a fire or other emergency. These projects take 3-6 hours on a Saturday morning. No experience required.

Full details and the location where we build the ramps is contained in the registration. Click the button below and be a part of this rewarding ministry.

Sign-up by March 9

Art Music Monday

Transfigured Nights presents the next Art Music concert on Monday, March 16 at 7:30pm in the Performance Hall. The program will include Dallas composer Jonathan Cziner’s Lunaris, Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello & Piano, and Chopin’s Piano Trio in G minor, Opus 8. Performers are Maria Schleuning, violin, Gayane Manasjan Fullford, cello, and Liudmila Georgievskaya, piano. The program is free and includes light desserts at intermission. Since these concerts have become exceedingly popular, and seating is limited, it is recommended to arrive by 7:15 pm.

EMF Shrimp Boil Sign-Up

Episcopal Men’s Fellowship

March Parish-Wide Dinner

Thursday, March 19th, 6:30 PM

Come join us for a shrimp broil with bread pudding for dessert and hear Mtr. Maddie Hill speak!

$25 per person.

Sign-Up / Pay to Attend

Give the Gift of Life

Carter Blood Drive Help save lives by donating blood. The Carter Blood Care Bloodmobile will be in Transfiguration’s parking lot on Sunday, March 22, from 10:00am - 2:00pm.

Sign-up to Give

Holy Week Retreat with Scott Gunn

St. David's Denton invites you to a Holy Week Retreat with Fr. Scott Gunn, Executive Director of Forward Movement, on Saturday, March 28 from 9:00am - noon. Fr. Gunn will talk about what happens in each liturgy and why it matters for us today as disciples of Jesus. Whether this is your first Holy Week or your 90th, this interactive retreat will offer new insights on the mystery of our redemption. The event is free and open to the whole diocese. Childcare available through age 4.

Click Here to Register

Volunteer with
Guns to Gardens

On April 18, Transfiguration will once again co-sponsor Guns to Gardens, at which the Biblical vision of “swords into plowshares” will come to life (Micah 4:3). The next event will be held at Royal Lane Baptist Church, and it will closely resemble the event held here last September. At G2G, owners of unwanted firearms can safely surrender them to be chopped into parts and transformed into garden tools.

Volunteers are essential, especially people who can operate a chop saw or have received gun safety training. Contact Fr. Casey with questions or to find out how you can help.

Contact

Fr. Casey

Lent Is For Kids, Too

There are so many special events planned for the children of Transfiguration that we cannot list them all here. They were shared earlier this week in a special Children's E-news including an opportunity to help us bury the Alleluia on Ash Wednesday to the unforgettable Passion Experience for children and their parents. You can read the full Children's E-news by clicking the button below:

Read Children's E-news for Lent

VBS - Save the Date

Monday, June 1 - Friday, June 5

9:00am - Noon each day

Children's Chapel

In Children’s Chapel kids are able to experience scripture, prayer, song, and worship in a way they can understand and enjoy. Children are able to attend this service while parents attend the regular Sunday Holy Eucharist at 9:00am. We meet on in the Gathering Space prior to the service.

Children's Formation

Wee Wonder shares God’s love with our youngest children by introducing them to God through song, action rhymes, Bible stories and responsive play. It is open to children agest 2-3.

Godly Play is a Montessori-based curriculum for children 4 years-old through 5th grade that follows the pattern of Christian worship and our church seasonal calendar. It teaches children religious language through sacred stories, parables and liturgical action, as well as enhances their spiritual experience through wonder and responsive play.

Youth

Formation

Formation for our Youth (grades 6-12) takes place in the Youth Center from 10:15am - 11:15am on Sunday morning.

Crossover on Wednesdays at 6:30pm is a time for our Youth (6th – 12th grade) to unwind from the stresses of growing up. The core of Crossover is Food, Faith, Fellowship, and Fun. Crossover is a dynamic group, and an excellent way to be involved and grow in the life of the Transfiguration Community.