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The Barren Fig Tree 14cent mss

I will be at a conference on Carl Jung at Glenstal Abbey in County Limerick, Ireland for the next two Sundays. Mother Cecily Broderick, who has a Saturday night liturgy and a Sunday noon liturgy in Sag Harbor, has offered to supply here at St. Mary's. To facilitate that we will have ONE 9:00 AM SERVICE here at St.Mary's on both March 23rd and March 30. The Reverend Dr. Cecily Patrick Broderick Guerra began her ministry at Christ Church in June of 2023.

Fr. Charlie



PS I apologize for the smudging on these weeks' leaflets but the copier has decided to act up. We have an appointment with the leasing company in the first week of April to talk about a new machine.

Glenstal Abbey

Finding Life in the midst of Death

Reflecting on the scriptures of resurrection

Thursdays in Lent: 7-8pm, on zoom

Zoom LInk for Deanery Bible Discussion

Christian faith is based on the promise of life in the midst of death, of hope in the midst of suffering, and of resurrection and new life both in the future and in the here and now. The Book of Common Prayer and Enriching Our Worship suggest wonderful scriptures for funeral services that fit these themes and the hope and promise of Easter. The goal of this class is to dig into these texts and apply their meaning to our own lives. The classes will be led by the clergy of the Peconic Deanery.

March 13 Week One: Funeral recommendations From the Old Testament: 

Isaiah 25:6-9 (He will swallow up death for ever)

Isaiah 61:1-3 (To comfort those who mourn)

Lamentations 3:22-26,31-33 (The Lord is good to those who wait for him)

Wisdom 3:1-5,9 (The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God)

Job 19:21-27a (I know that my Redeemer lives)

The following Psalms are appropriate: 42:1-7, 46, 90:1-12, 121, 130, 139:1-11.

March 20 Week Two: Funeral recommendations from the New Testament: 

Romans 8:14-19,34-35,37-39 (The glory that shall be revealed)

1 Corinthians 15:20-26,35-38,42-44,53-58 (The imperishable body)

2 Corinthians 4:16--5:9 (Things that are unseen are eternal)

1 John 3:1-2 (We shall be like him)

Revelation 7:9-17 (God will wipe away every tear)

Revelation 21:2-7 (Behold, I make all things new)

 The following Psalms are appropriate: 23, 27, 106:1-5, 116.

March 27 Week Three: Funeral recommendations from the Gospels 

John 5:24-27 (He who believes has everlasting life)

John 6:37-40 (All that the Father gives me will come to you)

John 10:11-16 (I am the good shepherd)

John 11:21-27 (I am the resurrection and the life)

John 14:1-6 (In my Father's house are many rooms)

April 3 Week Four: Funeral recommendations from Enriching our Worship 

Old Testament:

Daniel 12:1-3 (Those who sleep in the dust shall awake)

Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15 (God did not make death)

Job 14:7-9 [10-12] (Mortals die, and are laid low)

From the New Testament:

Romans 6:3-9 [10-11] (So we too might walk in newness of life)

Romans 14:7-9 (And if we die, we die to the Lord)

1 Peter 1:3-9 (He has given us a new birth into a living hope)

The Gospel

Matthew 11:25-30 (Come to me, all you that are weary)

Luke 24:13-16 [17-35] (The road to Emmaus)

John 20:11-18 (Mary encounters the risen Christ)

April 10 Week Five: The Easter Lessons, Resurrection Revealed 

Isaiah 65:17-25

1 Corinthians 15:19-26 

Acts 10:34-43

John 20:1-18

Luke 24:1-12

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Our Discussions on Adam Hamiliton's Course will continue this Sunday after the 9 AM service. Please feel free to join in on any Sunday you are able. Because of the copier's malfunctions I won't be able to distribute any copies of the book's chapters.

Moses at the Burning Bush Thomas Copping

The Collect

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Old Testament

Exodus 3:1-15

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain."

But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I am." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I am has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you':

This is my name forever,

and this my title for all generations.”

The Psalm

Psalm 63:1-8

Deus, Deus meus

1 O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *

my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,

as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.

2 Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, *

that I might behold your power and your glory.

3 For your loving-kindness is better than life itself; *

my lips shall give you praise.

4 So will I bless you as long as I live *

and lift up my hands in your Name.

5 My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, *

and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,

6 When I remember you upon my bed, *

and meditate on you in the night watches.

7 For you have been my helper, *

and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.

8 My soul clings to you; *

your right hand holds me fast.

The Epistle

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play." We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

Jesus and the barren fig tree Alexiy Pismenny

Fr. Plant's Commentary on the Gospel

Rev'd up for Sunday

The Gospel

Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

The Barren Fig Tree Thomas Copping

Reflections

This life has been given to you for repentance. Do not waste it on vain pursuits.

-Isaac of Syria 7th Century

Repentance - conversion of the heart - does not mean being filled and tormented by guilt. Instead, it means being ready to admit our responsibility for our actions and our need for forgiveness, and having a firm desire to change our life: to turn away from ourselves in prayer and in love. Repentance means, above all, a constant, patient, growing in love. It means our willingness to open ourselves to the work of the Spirit in us and to embrace fully the gift of our salvation.

-Irma Zaleski  The Way of Repentance 1999

Repentance is the life of the Spirit within us, a life of truth and of love.

-Irma Zaleski

And it is not because the mechanism is working wrongly, that I am ill./ I am ill because of wounds to the soul, to the deep emotional self / And wounds to the soul take a long, long time, only time can help /and patience, and a certain difficult repentance, / long, difficult repentance, realization of life's mistake, and the freeing oneself / from the endless repetition of the mistake

which mankind at large has chosen to sanctify.

-D.H. Lawrence 1885-1930

“Healing” quoted from the Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology, edited by Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade, Harper, 1992, p.113

The darkness is not hidden even from itself; though it sees naught else it sees itself. The works of darkness follow it, and there is no hiding place from it, not even in the darkness. This is "the worm that dieth not"—the memory of the past. Once it gets within, or rather is born within through sin, there it stays and never by any means can be plucked out. It never ceases to gnaw the conscience; feeding on it as on food that never can be consumed it prolongs the life of misery. I shudder as I contemplate this biting worm, this never-dying death. I shudder at the thought of this being the victim of this living death, this dying life.

Bernard of Clairvaux 1090-1153

On Consideration

The sin of inadvertence, not being alert, not quite awake, is the sin of missing the moment of life. Live with unremitting awareness; whereas the whole of the art of the non-action that is action (wu-wei) is unremitting alertness.

-Joseph Campbell 1904-1987 The Power of Myth (with Bill Moyers)

Humility, that low sweet root,

From which all heavenly virtues shoot

-Thomas More 1477-1535

We stand now where two roads diverge . . .the one ‘less traveled by' offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of our Earth.

-Rachael Carson Silent Spring 1907-1964

The most important thing is to actually think about what you do. To become aware and actually think about the effect of what you do on the environment and on society. That's key, and that underlies everything else.

-Jane Goodall

The greatest danger to our future is apathy.

-Jane Goodall

A king visited a prison in his kingdom and talked with the prisoners. Each one insisted on his innocence except for one man who confessed to a theft. “Throw this rascal out of the prison!” cried the king, “He will corrupt the innocents!”

-Hasidic Story 

The barren fig tree Nelly Bube