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Word

A prayer by Madeline L'Engle

I, who live by words, am wordless when

I try my words in prayer. All language turns

To silence. Prayer will take my words and then

Reveal their emptiness. The stilled voice learns

To hold its peace, to listen with the heart

To silence that is joy, is adoration.

The self is shattered, all words torn apart

In this strange patterned time of contemplation

That, in time, breaks time, breaks word, breaks me,

And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended.

I leave, returned to language, for I see

Through words, even when all words are ended.

I, who live by words, am wordless when

I turn me to the Word to pray. Amen.

Following the release of Stranger Things Season 5 Madeline L'Engle's book, A Wrinkle In Time, received much renewed interest. Of course, the book is wonderful. But it only scratches the surface of her incredible writing. A devout Episcopalian and writer-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York for many years, L'Engle has written many books and prayers. My personal favorite is A Swiftly Titling Planet!

"Selah."

It's this word that get repeated a lot in the Psalms. While no one entirely sure what it means, there are some who think it indicates a shift in the music that was meant to accompany many of the psalms into a minor key.

Whether or not that's true, though, life shifts into a minor key during Lent. Things are a little more somber, reflective, and inward looking during this season. Throughout Lent, we'll think about what it means to live life in a minor key, while knowing that Easter is ahead of us.

TOMORROW NIGHT WE HAVE A SPECIAL SERVICE PROJECT, TOO! WE'LL GO THROUGH DONATED ITEMS AND PREPARE THEM FOR OUR NEWEST PARTNER: SHOWERUP!

Edmund Pettus Bridge | Selma, AL

John Lewis, American Civil Rights Activist

March 7 is the anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965, the day known as “Bloody Sunday.” Six hundred marchers — including the late, great John Lewis — departed from Selma, bound for the state capitol to call for African-American voting rights. They got all of six blocks before state and local law enforcement blocked them, ordered them to disperse, and then attacked them with tear gas and billy clubs. ABC News interrupted their regular programming to show footage of the violence, and the dramatic images helped shift public opinion. Demonstrations appeared across the country, and two weeks later, another march from Selma made it all the way to Montgomery, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. By the time they reached the capitol, their numbers had swelled to over 25,000.

Sometimes - if injustice isn't seen - it isn't addressed. What don't we see right now in our world, our country, our neighborhoods? Talk about that with your family this week.

Inspired by the lives of saints like Francis and Martin or Tours and Therese and Catherine, St. John’s Hero Academy VBS invites children to consider how following Jesus’ call to love and serve others is the most heroic thing of all. Children will create projects in the Hero Maker Design Studio, play high-energy games in the Gamer’s Gauntlet, hear stories of the faithful in the Hero Archives, and relax with a treat or two and the Holy Hero Caf?. All the while, they will discover that we can indeed serve like the saints!

This year, we are partnering with the 3^rd Street Boys and Girls Club once more and hope to show God’s love and care to even more children than last year! But this means that WE NEED YOUR HELP! IF you would like to volunteer to help with VBS, read the volunteer descriptions HERE. Then sign up next to your desired work area with your name and availability HERE.

Acolytes for Sunday!

Acolyte Schedule Available HERE!

Questions? Contact Sam

sam@stjohnsdecatur.org |662-656-653