Links of the Week – April 10, 2015
Bike lane – Roberto Clemente Bridge – Pittsburgh
* Study: People Who Love Grilled Cheese Have More Sex, Are More Charitable
* This Dog Was Adopted After Five Years Of Waiting When His Photo Went Crazy On Facebook
* Longtime Couple Found That Clothes Didn’t Make The Man
* Gay Boy Scout Leader Hired In New York: “We said yes to him irrespective of his sexual orientation”
* White House Says It Supports Efforts To Ban Gay Conversion Therapy
* Gay Conversion Therapists Claim Most Patients Fully Straight By The Time They Commit Suicide
* Now Who’s The Moral Majority?
How I feel this week. Thanks, pollen!
* If Single People Honestly Updated Their Facebook
* Everybody Hit Somebody – (A season with the Carolina Phoenix women’s football team)
* Houston Astros Sweater – (Gorgeous!)
* Philadelphia Phillies 1915-1919 Cap – (This will be mine. Oh yes!)
* John Hart May Never Make A Better Trade – (See ya’, Melvin!)
* Reeses Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart
* FLOTUS Michelle Obama Says Malia And Sasha Are Not Influential And I Love It
* We Need Star Trek Back On TV
* Shout Out To T’Pring’s Hairdo
* When My Friend Is Obsessing Over Her Crush Even Though He Clearly Doesn’t Like Her
* Obsessed
* Seven Big Signs You May Be Too Clingy
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“I’ve come to realize that what I always thought was my feeling of falling in love, feels very much like my feeling of anxiety.”
– Deanna Dennis
“[Y]our life is yours and no one else’s.”
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St. Mark Daily Lenten Devotional – April 5, 2015
by Kate Morrison
Scripture: John 20: 1-18
It’s here! Finally, Easter is here! Through this Lenten season, it sure has been a roller coaster of emotions. We have followed Jesus throughout the final days of his ministry. We have cheered triumphantly as he entered into the city of Jerusalem. We have partaken of the Last Supper. We tried to stay awake with him as he prayed in the garden, jeered as he was arrested and handed over to Pilate. And we wept bitter tears as Jesus was crucified and buried. We have waited in the uncertainty, scared, not yet understanding what Jesus was trying to tell us in his last days.
But now, now we understand. Jesus is alive! Jesus has risen from the grave! Jesus has overcome death! No more crying. No more sadness. If we cry, let it be with tears of joy because our Savior has had the final say. Death rules no more. Let us rejoice on this triumphant day! The Lord has risen! Alleluia and thanks be to God!
Prayer: Lord, on this Easter day, we thank you for sending your son, Jesus, the Christ, into the world to overcome death and redeem the world of our sin. We are so grateful to you and for your infinite love of your people. Thank you God! Amen.
St. Mark Daily Lenten Devotional – April 4, 2015
by Deanna Dennis
Scripture: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16
This is perhaps the darkest day of the Christian year. Jesus has been crucified. He lies silent in the tomb. He is dead. Yet this day of silence, which we often pass over in the story of Easter, is crucial to our understanding of Christ’s resurrection.
Jesus could have tap-danced and jazz-handed out of the tomb immediately after He was interred. “See, you fools! You couldn’t kill the Son of God!” But this day of darkness and sorrow affirms his physical, human death.
We can’t pretend we don’t already know how the story ends. Death is overcome. Love wins! But Holy Saturday proves that all of our own darkness, shame, self-doubt, and grief will be overcome. Tomorrow holds the assurance of the rebirth of our fully human, fully divine Christ. We are saved!
Prayer: Thank you, three-in-one God, for knowing us. There is nowhere we go, physically, spiritually and emotionally, that you don’t know us, hold us and love us. Give us the faith that throughout our struggles, the promise of our own rebirth through your mercy and grace is true. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Links of the Week – April 3, 2015
* Shatner Pays Tribute To Nimoy
* Astros Unveil The Eat-On-The-Go Chicken And Waffle Cone
* We Need A Middle Class President
* 5 Charts That Show How The Middle Class Is Disappearing
* Can We Guess What Your Reading Habits Say About Your Love Life? – (Mine was FRIGHTENINGLY correct.)
* How Old Do You Actually Act? – (I got 5-years-old. *sigh*)
* What My Zodiac Sign Says About Me – (Again, correct.)
* “I Thought I Was Bipolar” Shirt – (Need)
* PostSecret: I Feel Like A Hostage
* Monkey Meets Puppies For The First Time, Wants To Snuggle Them As Badly As Anyone Else – (Ow! My heart just exploded!)
* Tim Cook: Pro-Discrimination ‘Religious Freedom’ Laws Are Dangerous
* Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling – (Proof that God loves us. He’d love me more if he’d magic these to my house.)
* The Problem With Cars And Self-Absorption
* The Spirit Of Atlanta: A Quest For Context Of 1920’s Atlanta – (Awesome old pictures of the city!)
* The Scandal Of A Crucified God (A Good Friday Reflection)
* The Importance Of Doubt (A Holy Saturday Reflection)
* When The Right To Discriminate Collides With The Rites Of Holy Week
* The Right’s Made Up God: How Bigots Created A White Supremacist Jesus
* How ‘One Nation’ Didn’t Become ‘Under God’ Until The 50s Religious Revival – (My favorite read of the week!)
* You Don’t Have To Go To Work On Opening Day Because The Brewers Wrote You An Excuse Note
* Watch Guys Attempt To Explain How Periods Work – (Hysterical. And a little sad. 🙂 )
* What The Hell Is That Tribble Doing?
* Rape Suspect Had Burns At Court Appearance – (I would get on a plane right now, given the opportunity, and go to Ohio and beat this fucker to death with my double wall Miken. PLEASE let me do it!)
* Transgender Elders Show Us The Meaning Of Survival
* ‘Child Abuse’ For A Girl To Dress Like A Boy? – (Sigh…)
* Man Thinking About Just Packing Up And Making Exact Same Mistakes Someplace Far Away
* What To Do When You Hate Yourself
* It’s All About Falling In Love With Yourself…
* The Girl Who Struck Out Babe Ruth And Lou Gehrig
* Girls Baseball Team Wins Championship At Boys’ Tournament – (Not just a little local tournament, a USSSA NATIONAL tournament!)
* Menswear Dog: The Most Stylish Dog In The World – (THIS! Blog of the Week!!!)
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“And when she is done, she will head for town, center, she will board the first bus she sees. Find a seat by a window, ride to the end of town.
And then? She stops. She does not know. She has not thought this part through. But it occurs to her then she can just keep on riding. It is possible, yes. She will just stay on the bus and ride. To some other place, some other town. She will look for it out all the windows. And when she sees it at last, she will know.”
– Some Other Town, Elizabeth Collison
“Death will get us all. Moreover, astrophysicists tell us, even the earth and the solar system will one day be destroyed as the sun explodes in its dying gasp. On a more finite level, life is filled with threats to our existence: accidents, disease, violence, unemployment, poverty. Life easily looks threatening.
If we do see reality this way, how will we respond to life? In a word, defensively. We will seek to build systems of security and self-protection to fend off the hostile powers as long as possible.”
– The Heart of Christianity, Marcus J. Borg
“It’s less embarrassing for people to think I look stupid when I intentionally look like a boy, than for them to think I look stupid when I’m trying my best to actually look like a woman.”
“I am also learning how to feel. I’m learning that it can be safe to experience emotions. Running away – literally and figuratively – only temporarily removed me from the pain I was feeling. In order to exercise in a healthy way, I had to learn how to feel without searching for a way to self-destruct. It’s been a massive struggle to learn to accept myself. I’ve had to work to believe that I am OK exactly the way that I am, that nothing needs to be ‘beaten’ out of me.”
– Kenzi Rome, http://twloha.com/blog/making-my-workouts-work-me
“[L]ook more closely at the hard things in life: They’re trying to tell you something if you’ll listen.”
– Tomboy, Liz Prince
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St. Mark Daily Lenten Devotional – April 3, 2015
by Don Clarke
Scripture: John 18:1 – 19:42
All through these many years, on this day of death and darkness, the lyrics from a folk rock musical continue to haunt me as, once again, I consider and contemplate the tremendous love and sacrifice Jesus made for me. I cannot get these words out of my heart and my head.
JUST TO THINK OF THE CROSS
Long ago in a faraway place
Rough rugged timbers were raised to the sky
There hung a man suspended in space
And though He was blameless
They left Him to die
Just to think of the cross
Moves me now
The nails in His hands
His bleeding brow
To think of the cross
Moves me now
It should have been me, It should have been me,
Instead I am free, I am free!
He put an end to my guilt and despair
Turned bitter hating to sweet peace and love
Even the men that put Him up there
Were offered forgiveness and life from above
Just to think of the cross
Moves me now
The nails in His hands
His bleeding brow
To think of the cross
Moves me now
It should have been me, It should have been me,
Instead I am free, I am free!
“Just to Think of the Cross” by Kurt Kaiser from the folk musical “Natural High”
Prayer: O Christ of the Cross, on this day may I once again allow the haunting horrible story of your death move me to holiness, propel me to service, and ignite me to embrace with your transforming love all persons who I meet who are hurting, crying, yearning, groaning and even dying. Amen.
I Am A Whore
Today would’ve been my 20th wedding anniversary.
But I cheated on my husband and left him for another man.
A man who left me high and dry and alone.
Everything in my life since then has been shit.
Most of the time I think the reason is because God’s punishing me.
How did I turn into somebody I don’t even know?
St. Mark Daily Lenten Devotional – April 2, 2015
by Pam Buzbee
Scripture: Exodus 12:1-14
In early January, I had lunch with a friend. During the conversation, I asked about her children. One lives in Athens, GA, with her family. She said, “This is a really busy time of year for them right now because their ewes are having their babies. They sell them for Easter and Passover when they are 3-4 months old.”
My mind started whirling thinking about these baby lambs and their moms. She said the ewe would have one or two lambs and sometimes needed help with the delivery. Sometimes a mom would reject her baby and another ewe could be tricked into taking on the feeding of a second one. And then these precious little fluffy, white babies would be sold, “sacrificed,” whether for a kosher ritual for Passover or to become someone’s Easter dinner.
In Exodus 12, we hear the story of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. They are told to first take a lamb “without blemish” and “slaughter it at twilight.” The blood from this lamb was to be placed on the doorposts and lintels on the houses so the angel of death “will pass over you.”
The ewes may have gotten help in giving birth to their baby, but Mary had only Joseph. The ewes may not have known when their lambs were taken, but Mary did. This year on Maundy Thursday I think of Mary. On this evening, her baby boy, her perfect lamb, had gathered with his disciples to celebrate the feast of Passover. The next day her son was to be the “lamb without blemish” who gave his life as the once-and-for-all sacrifice. Where was Mary during this meal? Did she know who her son had grown up to be? Did she know what was to happen the next day? We know how the story ends but for Mary, Good Friday became the darkest day of her life. Her lamb had been sacrificed.
Prayer: Lord, when we are in the depths of pain and sorrow, help us to remember that we may not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future. Amen.
St. Mark Daily Lenten Devotional – April 1, 2015
by Susan Wilson
Scripture: “Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay”. Psalm 70
When I found this Psalm in my NIV Women’s Devotional Bible I couldn’t help but notice underneath the Psalm title these words:
“For the director of music. Of David. A petition“. Could God be speaking to me in this psalm today perhaps?
On days when I feel stressed why is it that I forget to call on God to come help me? What about when life seems unmanageable? Instead of trying to carry the load alone, why don’t I call on God to lend me support?
It’s very simple really. God is present and here. If I silence my voice and still my body and open my heart, he will be known. As simple as it sounds, it’s hard to do those things.
We all get caught up in the duties of the day and fail to slow down long enough to listen to God’s voice. Have you carved out time during this Lenten season to do just that? Have you found a corner to seek quiet and peace?
I challenge you to continue the practice of seeking God on a daily basis in a quiet space. He is here and all he asks is that we open our hearts and minds and listen. This hymn text, taken from Hymn No. 358, “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” , speaks to this quietness. It can also be used for centering as you prepare to pray.
Prayer:
“Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; take from our
souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire, O still, small voice of calm.”
Amen.
If I Died…
I often fantasize that when I die, my spirit will stay here long enough and be omniscient enough to know how people react and feel. I’d like to see my own funeral like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.
First one and then another pair of eyes followed the minister’s, and then almost with one impulse the congregation rose and stared while the three dead boys came marching up the aisle, Tom in the lead, Joe next, and Huck, a ruin of drooping rags, sneaking sheepishly in the rear! They had been hid in the unused gallery listening to their own funeral sermon!
– The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
Don’t worry. This isn’t a cry for help.
But I wonder about particular people. Would he be sorry? Would he miss me? What would he think? (It’s him I think about and wonder about the most. It’s a sickness.)
Would she come all these miles for my funeral? Would she be able to go on?
What would my funeral be like? I know where I want it to be and who I want to do it. I know what I want done with my body. Would those things happen?
What would people say at my funeral? Who would stand up and tell stories about me? How many people would be there? (Who would run sound? 😀 )
How long would people remember me?
Who would remember me?
Why would they remember me?
St. Mark Daily Lenten Devotional – March 31, 2015
by Jay Varnedoe
Scripture: Psalm 71: 1-14
Over MLK weekend, I was driving my 92 year old grandmother to church. On the way she started talking about the Lord, and she said, “Jesus is my rock, and with him I shall never fall.” I thought, “For 92, she is so full of wisdom.” For most of my life, my grandmother was a quiet woman who didn’t talk about religion with me. However, in the past few years, she has opened up more to me and it has been nice to connect with her on a different level. When I sat down to write this devotional and I read these verses, there was an immediate connection to her.
In Psalm 71, the psalmist is declaring the message that the Lord is my rock and in him I have no shame. This message not only spoke to me on a personal level because of the recent conversation with my grandmother, but it also spoke to me as a member of the LGBTQ community. So many of us have been taught to be ashamed of who we are due to the religious views of others. However, in this verse I read that in him I have no shame. I choose to favor this verse over the negative views of others. I also feel that this is a primary reason that most of us are drawn to St. Mark – we realize and celebrate that we don’t have any shame for who we are. This is part of what makes St. Mark unique, a quality that we should share with the rest of our community.
Prayer: Lord, let us realize that we are created in your image and we should have no shame. In times of trial or tribulation, let us come to you as our rock and our refuge. Amen.
A Long Run 
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