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Bob Hurd on Eucharist, Lazarus and a Way of Dying My early morning reading in Bob Hurd's Compassionate Christ, Compassionate People: Liturgical Foundations of Christian Spirituality , serendipitously anticipated the gospel reading for the 5th Sunday in Lent, Year A--the raising of Lazarus and the anticipation of the death of Jesus. The subchapter heading, "A Way of Dying," (pp. 209-217) begins with: To understand the dying of Jesus as self-emptying love and our participation in it, we must have the courage to be truthful and vulnerable in the face of death, even while affirming our faith in the living God.  A few lines later he says bluntly and presciently in the context of our current reality, "Though we are a little less than angels, we are also food for worms." We live in this world. In death we donate ourselves, willingly or not, to the Mystery, and we, in some real and physical sense, don't leave the planet. Whatever the transcendent hope...

Worship and Sacramental Faithfulness in the Age of Covid-19 By Daniel Benedict, OSL Pastor Joan sat down and called the lay leader, “The bishop gathered her pastors together on a ZOOM call this morning. The bottom line is no gathered worship for the next two months.” Her voice was a mix of shock and bewilderment. Jorge, the lay leader, paused before saying the first thing that came to his mind: “Aychimanini! How the heck are we going to do that?” Cancellations of worship, planning and study groups, and special events already on the calendar streamed through both their minds. What about Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter? We have baptisms scheduled.  A sense of collective disappointment formed like a vapor between the cell towers. United Methodists and others in the Christian tradition are reeling with how to go about being the church in liturgy and life as the world changes hour by hour in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Suddenly, we are scrambling...