The First Reading: Acts 5:27-32
Despite rules to the contrary, the disciples know that God is the final judge and the only authority worthy of respect and fear. Therefore, they proclaim with boldness the day of the Lord.
The Psalm:
118:14-29
,
page 761, BCP
The Second Lesson: Revelation 1:4-8
The coming of our Lord J
esus Christ stirs up both the heavens and the earth, and it disrupts life among the Roman citizens and Jewish peasants as well as the host of heaven.
The Gospel:
John 20:19-31
The Lord Jesus blesses and equips for ministry those disciples who are gathered together, and seeks out those who wonder and wander.
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CHILD CARE IS PROVIDED IN THE NURSERY
(Rm. 205)
During the Service
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JOINT SUNDAY SCHOOL: 10:30 - 11:30 AM
Each week, St. John's children join with our Ministry Partners:
Wellspring UCC & Grace Baptist Church
Room 207/208
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St. John's Sunday School
class for ages 2-4, Room 215
Meets the first Sunday of each month from 10:50 - 11:30
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THE ADULT LECTIONARY FORUM
MEETS EACH SUNDAY IN THE LIBRARY, FOLLOWING THE SERVICE
FROM 10:50 - 11:50 AM
Forum Discussion:
Hadewijch of Brabant was a 13th-century poet and mystic who lived in the Duchy of Brabant (central Netherlands today). Her writings in Middle Dutch dialect include divinely-inspired visions, prose letters and poetry. She heavily influenced the thoughts and writings of German theologian Meister Eckart and Flemish mystic John of Ruysbroeck. The focus of Hadewijch's belief system was a concept she labelled “Minne.”
Although Medieval scholars are generally unsure of its meaning, the explanation that enjoys the most support is that minne is her concept of Love as a divine entity. She described this divine Love as an emotional force so powerful that she believed she’d have died had God not given her a special power to withstand it. Hadewijch often stresses that she is "man" (in its collective sense) and that the God of whom she write is also a He. Yet, throughout her writings, she maintains the Love existingt within and from God is a “She.” Hadewijch maintains the divine "He" is not the experience she desires because she longs to be entwined with the "She" (the Love). Many Christians today are trending toward experiential faith, witnessing something so powerful in their lives that they cannot deny the existence of God in our universe. With that in mind, Hadewijch's mysticism espoused a relationship with the divine that was centuries ahead of her time. Her belief also reflects an experiential devotion that does not directly desire God, but the experience of Divine Love that exists within all, and is thus Godly in its own conception because of the gendered distinctions she makes. Through the use of gendered pronouns, Hadewijch also gives judgment-centered agency to both Love and God for they both have the ability to reject the believer due to their own conditions. Hadewijch's mysticism gives agency, dualism, and gender transferal, to her God.
