Northumbria Community materials are EXCELLENT! So it was with appreciation we saw their recent efforts with this music-video of Kyrie Eleison (HERE). In the posting (full posting HERE) they mention:

It is something we’ve done which we feel is from us to the world and, if you find that it touches your heart, we’d love you to support it by sharing it with your friends and family and perhaps also by putting it out on your own networks, for it to bless other people and the world.  

Touching hearts around the world indeed.

Kyrie eleison, Christe Eleison; Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.  In seeking full song lyrics, the YouTube (HERE) seems a good fit – another group sharing a beautiful rendition with the lyrics on screen.

The Northumbria group mentions:

“We pray that it will reach all of the places that God purposes and will speak powerfully to many…

PROSPECTIVE ACTIONS

• In keeping with the Northumbria request, will you share this with others, either by forwarding this message, sharing the YouTube directly or in some other fashion?
• Learn more about the story of the Northumbria ‘Kyrie Eleison’ project HERE  (including commentary on lamentations from Walter Brueggemann)
• Consider enjoying another of the Guideposts spring devotionals HERE

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, April 3, 2022:

• Isaiah 43:16-21 
• Psalm 126 
• Philippians 3:4b-14 
• John 12:1-8

Lenten Prayer by Rev. Dr. LP Jones: opportunities to read or listen

• read HERE
• listen HERE

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The Guideposts link HERE shares “12 Refreshing Spring Devotions to Uplift Your Spirit,” a nice combination of scripture, visual and message. With snow falling in Cincinnati today, it may not FEEL like Spring. That said, we’re in the season, and hopefully in the growing and flourishing spirit!

PROSPECTIVE ACTIONS

• Read the first devotional (HERE) Consider ordering seeds and/or planting seeds and watching them grow over the next weeks
• Watch the 90 second video on this page, which combines the Spring Prayer prose of Ralph Waldo Emerson with music and images
• Each day in the week(s) upcoming, check out a new devotional from HERE

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 27, 2022:

• Joshua 5:9-12 
• Psalm 32 
• 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 
• Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Lenten Prayer by Rev. Dr. LP Jones: opportunities to read or listen

• read HERE
• listen HERE

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During Lent, we’ll be examining practices to follow. If you have valued practices or resources, please see the P.S. below on how to share. 

One practice we’ll share is Practicing Solitude, an article from Presbyterians Today. It’s by Annemarie S. Kidder. In the article, Annemarie mentions

Practicing solitude is not about being alone, but about being more present to God. The church had good reason for implementing the practice of solitude. By it, we once again recover a sense of joy and peace.

Perhaps during this Lenten Season we’ll all find time for solitude?

POSSIBLE ACTIONS

• read Annemarie’s Practicing Solitude article as encouragement
• consider Annemarie’s suggestion about making intentional time for solitude by
  • turning off electronic devices for half a day
  • setting specific times for answering phone and electronic messages

May you enjoy the solitude, filled with the Spirit!

P.S. Have any of the following you’d be willing to share with CP readers? If so, please send along to salong_now @ yahoo.com

• meaningful books/materials along with commentary about why you enjoy about it
  
• meaningful Lenten activities you’d share and why it started, continued, etc.?

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 27, 2022:

• Joshua 5:9-12 
• Psalm 32 
• 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 
• Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Lenten Prayer by Rev. Dr. LP Jones: opportunities to read or listen

• read HERE
• listen HERE

Know someone who might like receiving Christian Playbook messages like this?  If so, please forward this message and they can sign up WITH THIS LINK

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – regular updates, including toonfever.com

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

Thanks to brother Thad for sharing some favorite songs including this one: The Commission by CAIN. Particularly special since it’s in his consideration set for prelude music at his celebration of life, (hopefully a LONG ways away!) Thad says:

So many parables in the Bible don’t translate easily for me, and as a result they are not as impactful.  But in this song I hear a gentle, easy conversation from Jesus directly to me in the plainest of words and simplest of promises.  Essentially, he’s reminding me of the plan he has for me, for which he’s fully equipped me, and he’ll be with me every step along the way.  Oh yeah, and this isn’t the end, so “don’t mourn for me, but instead, be re-born for me” is the message I hear.  Those words, plus the beautiful melody, just touch my soul, and will hopefully make their way to my hands and feet, and perhaps my mouth, as needed.

 

I am so grateful for music and musicians, telling stories and inspiring others! 

Additional commentary by Madison from CAIN, “Story behind The Commission,” is HERE. The discussion of “good-bye is not the end” is effectively shared.

May you enjoy The Commission – the song and the activity – filled with the Spirit!

P.S. The joyful footage of Jesus (from The Chosen?)  is effective in the music video, don’t you think?

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 20, 2022:

• Isaiah 55:1-9 
• Psalm 63:1-8 
• 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 
• Luke 13:1-9

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Have you heard of Loving-Kindness Meditation? The webpage HERE (Greater Good in Action) shares one example of the practice: “This exercise draws on a guided meditation created by researcher Emma Seppala, Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.”

Compelling aspects include:

• thinking of mentors – even those who have passed – and including them both as blessing of loving-kindness and recipients now
• “Sending Loving-Kindness to All Living Beings (picture the whole globe in front of you as a little ball:) … Just as I wish to, may you live with ease, happiness, and good health” 

In these times of uncertainty and challenge, it can feel empowering to envision our loving-kindness going to all our earth [including the challenging nature of showing love to our enemies (thoughts from Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II HERE) ]

POTENTIAL ACTIONS

Consider spending 15 minutes on the webpage HERE (Greater Good in Action)

• • read and do a few elements of the meditation
  • listen to the audio (less than 14 minutes!)  It is effective and allows you to get directly into the meditation (ahhh….)

See additional Christian Playbook thoughts on this practice HERE . If you have suggested alterations/improvement, please send them along (salong_now @ yahoo.com)

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

PRAYER OPPORTUNITIES:

• For the people of Ukraine, and other peoples persecuted (using Loving-Kindness Meditation or other reflective approaches?)
• Lenten Prayer by Rev. Dr. LP Jones: opportunities to read or listen
  • read HERE
  • listen HERE

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 13, 2022:

• Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 
• Psalm 27 
• Philippians 3:17-4:1 
• Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

Know someone who might like receiving Christian Playbook messages like this?  If so, please forward this message and they can sign up WITH THIS LINK

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – regular updates, including toonfever.com

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

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In the early 2010s, Rev. Dr. LP Jones prepared and shared the prayer below with the MWPC community as part of his weekly newsletter column. He granted us permission for use of this with the Christian Playbook community. It is also available to listen to HERE

Lenten Prayer* – Rev. Dr. L.P. Jones

Guiding God, we are traveling the Lenten road. We are ready for it to end. We prefer celebration to reflection and self-examination. On the table, pulpit, and lectern, we prefer pure white, festive red, hopeful blue, or gentle green to Lent’s pensive purple. We know our sins are many, but why must we confess them so often? Remind us, gracious God, that you call us to confession not to burden us, but to free us. Help us to offer you every fear, failure, and sin, so that your forgiveness can calm and cleanse us and your steadfast love can draw us to new beginnings.

We thank you, God of wonders, for countless blessings. We thank you for those special people whose embrace, friendship, and accepting eyes ease our burdens and heighten our joys. We thank you for the songbirds who greet the dawn with exuberant melody. We thank you for the ability to laugh: to laugh at ourselves when we are mistaken; to laugh with our friends when we take ourselves too seriously; to laugh for the pure pleasure it brings. We thank you for eyes that see familiar friends and a new face in the crowd, savor a peaceful sunrise or sunset, and note a hand in need of our touch and open arms waiting to receive us.

Because we are so blessed, help us to respond faithfully to life and its goodness. Because people and relationships are so important, help us to look beyond ourselves and share our plenty with those in need. Help us to build a community known for the risks it takes to help others experience your loving presence. Because life can be so abundant, help us to be a community as joyous in our celebrations as we are committed to service in Jesus’ name. Because not everyone sees your blessings so readily, help us to comfort the bereaved, accompany the lonely, offer hope to the despairing, and reach for a better world for all.

We pray for all whose needs and concerns touch our hearts. We pray for those in need whom we cannot or do not see. We pray for new members and those preparing to receive baptism. We pray for all making difficult decisions. We pray for those enduring illness of body, mind, or spirit, and those who struggle to hope. We pray that we will complete our Lenten journey by seeing our brokenness borne by and entombed with Jesus, which will prepare us to hear anew the almost unimaginable proclamation that the tomb is empty, Jesus is risen, and life and love prevail. These and all our prayers we offer with confidence, for we bring them in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SUGGESTED ACTION: Consider making this prayer part of your regular, Lenten practices…

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

* ever-so-slight alterations made so the original Holy Week prayer applies throughout Lent

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 13, 2022:

• Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 
• Psalm 27 
• Philippians 3:17-4:1 
• Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

Know someone who might like receiving Christian Playbook messages like this?  If so, please forward this message and they can sign up WITH THIS LINK

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – regular updates, including toonfever.com

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

Have you heard of Loving-Kindness Meditation? The webpage HERE (Greater Good in Action) shares one example of the practice: “This exercise draws on a guided meditation created by researcher Emma Seppala, Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.”

Compelling aspects include:

• thinking of mentors – even those who have passed – and including them both as blessing of loving-kindness and recipients now
• “Sending Loving-Kindness to All Living Beings (picture the whole globe in front of you as a little ball:) … Just as I wish to, may you live with ease, happiness, and good health” 

In these times of uncertainty and challenge, it can feel empowering to envision our loving-kindness going to all our earth [including the challenging nature of showing love to our enemies (thoughts from Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II HERE) ]

POTENTIAL ACTIONS

Consider spending 15 minutes on the webpage HERE (Greater Good in Action)

• • read and do a few elements of the meditation
  • listen to the audio (less than 14 minutes!)  It is effective and allows you to get directly into the meditation (ahhh….)

See additional Christian Playbook thoughts on this practice HERE . If you have suggested alterations/improvement, please send them along (salong_now @ yahoo.com)

Enjoy the day, filled with loving-kindness shared with you; may that loving-kindness ooze out of you to others (possibly even heaven- & earth-wide via meditation,) spurred by the Spirit!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 13, 2022:

• Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 
• Psalm 27 
• Philippians 3:17-4:1 
• Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

Know someone who might like receiving Christian Playbook messages like this?  If so, please forward this message and they can sign up WITH THIS LINK

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – regular updates, including toonfever.com

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

The hymn “God of Grace and God of Glory” has been a favorite for many. As we read HERE:

“God of grace and God of glory” was written while the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression between the two World Wars. Fosdick was a champion of the social gospel, a movement that recognized the plight of the poor, especially in the urban Northeast during the Industrial Revolution.

The need remains for the social gospel these 90+ years later. We still beseech God for many of the same issues, as mentioned in the website:

The language of the hymn is ultimately that of petition. “Grant us wisdom, grant us courage” concludes each stanza with the effect of a refrain. A petition begins stanza three with “Cure thy children’s warring madness,/ bend our pride to thy control.” The final stanza, equally prophetic, begins with “Save us from weak resignation/ to the evils we deplore.”

During this active conflict in Ukraine and so many other evils in our world we can use this song (HERE is one version) for support as we pray: “Dear God: Grant us wisdom, grant us courage!”

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit and petitions/actions for the social gospel, peace on earth, and more!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 6, 2022:

• Deuteronomy 26:1-11
• Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
• Romans 10:8b-13
• Luke 4:1-13

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Today’s devotional comes from our friend Toni in Cincinnati. It’s a re-posting of a guest column she shared several years back.

Toni writes…

Many of us consider with gratitude a special teacher that we have had in
our lives. A teacher who had a profound impact on me was the Rev
Dr LP Jones. In preparation for this Lenten season, I found myself
returning to words that he had written in preparation for Ash Wednesday.
Though they do reflect the practice of ashes, they are useful and
helpful words for any time – not just during Lent.

LP said “We are dust. Our bodies are made of earthly elements and will
return to the earth. It is always the right time to make the best of the
time we have.”

So, I encourage you to think with gratitude of a teacher who impacted
you; and to honor their influence and the memory of LP, to “accept the
gift of life with gratitude and live it with courage.” (LP Jones).

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 6, 2022:

• Deuteronomy 26:1-11
• Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
• Romans 10:8b-13
• Luke 4:1-13

Know someone who might like receiving Christian Playbook messages like this?  If so, please forward this message and they can sign up WITH THIS LINK

CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK HUMOR – regular updates, including toonfever.com

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO CHRISTIAN PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE