Reflections from your Pastors

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Jesus, Fully Human

We profess to believe the mystery that Jesus the Christ is fully human and fully God. This past Sunday's gospel about Jesus curing the leper gives us a glimpse of the fully human side of Jesus, a person of wholeness.

When Jesus said, "I tell you sternly not to tell anyone. Just go to ….." Why did he say this, and why was he always telling the demons not to talk "because they knew who he was." The answer may have played itself out in this story.

Looking at Jesus as human we can see a few characteristics:

1. The person with leprosy approaches Jesus on his knees, begging. The crowds disperse far and wide and quickly from this person with scabs, missing digits, missing the end of their nose, torn clothes, maybe limping, skeletal thin from lack of food. This person is unclean in body and in soul. Nobody wants to be associated with this or they suffer the same banishment. This person is in despair.

2. The person with leprosy, eyes cast down and stuttering, says, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."  In other words, "If you would consider doing this, I know I am unworthy, if you could even entertain the thought…I know you have the power to cleanse me of this life-threatening disease, but even more so, the power to cleanse my spirit so I can rejoin my family. Cleans me so I can have a partner and maybe children. Cleanse me so my psyche can be made whole by the release of whatever evil brought this to me. Cleanse me so I can love. You have the power of the heart to transform me." This person has hope. 

3. Before Jesus says anything he touches the person with leprosy. How long might it have been since this person was touched at all? Even before Jesus says anything, Jesus is in big trouble. He got close to a person with leprosy. He may have gotten down on a knee himself to be nearer this person. Then, of all things, Jesus actually touches the person with leprosy!  Now Jesus is considered as unclean as the leper with no chance for purity or holiness. This could place Jesus outside of the entire Hebrew society as a whole. Jesus' compassion goes out of him into the wider world.

4. Now Jesus speaks: "I am willing. Be made clean.” By this profound answer, “I am willing." Jesus says “I love you just as you are.” By his actions, Jesus is spreading the Good News; the news that God's Love has no limit. God's love is for all. If we want healing, if we want our psyche's cleansed, if we want our spirits to love again, Jesus is the Way. Jesus has authenticity. 

 5. Jesus, through the power given him by Abba, gives the unimaginable gift of freedom. The person with leprosy is free from the outward prison of banishment, fear, and physical pain. The person with leprosy is free from the inward prison of lovelessness, loneliness,  darkness and despair. Jesus commands the healed person with a stern command, not just a warning but a stern command: "Not a word to anyone…" Jesus has agency.

6. Now Jesus has touched the untouchable: Jesus is tainted. Now Jesus has notoriety beyond the village where he cured Peter's mother-in-law. Regrettably, the freed person was not able to follow the stern command and went off telling everyone the person saw on the way to the synagogue and in the synagogue, and maybe everyone for the rest of this person's life about the freedom Jesus brings. Jesus is filled with wholeness, acting in accordance with his Spirit.

7. This incredible cure is shouted out by the freed person and probably by everyone the freed person met.  Jesus did not think he was ready for the world to know who he was. This cure being shouted out put Jesus in danger with both Jewish and Roman authorities. Jesus'  'Truth' is frightening to those trying to control the population. Control is the opposite of love. Jesus is wise; he knows he's threatening and that he triggers a reaction from the power structure.  His oppression by the authorities just got more suffocating: Jesus can't breathe. This does not deter  Jesus from delivering his message of Love and Wholeness. Jesus is an integrated whole person.

8. To preserve his life as long as possible so as many people as possible can hear God’s message, Jesus goes into the wilderness, into deserted places. Still, more people yearn for the Good News. Even though Jesus is in otherwise inhabitable places,  the crowds "kept coming to him from all over.” Love Itself is irresistible to those who yearn for it.

If You cleanse me of the wilderness I have inhabited all my life, your water will wash me whiter than snow and I am with You in Resurrection, beginning now.

Rev. Jane 

Photo credit: Jacada Travel

Ash Wednesday- February 14, 2023

On February 14th, join us at 7 AM (in the morning) in the Sanctuary or on Zoom for Ash Wednesday with Mother Rosean Amaral presiding. Lynne Barnes and Jim Berry are serving as our lectors. Katie Lauren and Joan Chapman Smith are serving as our Eucharistic Ministers. Click here to join the Zoom.

If you would like to attend our faith partner's services:

St. Paul's Episcopal will hold their service at Noon

Trinity Lutheran will celebrate at 7:00 pm

Note: There will not be a weekly Mass tomorrow--only the Ash Wednesday service.

301 Shared Service - February 18

10:30 Service Followed by Brunch

-->No 12:30 Mass<--

February 18th will be our first 301 Faith Partners Shared Service in 2024. It will be at 10:30 AM with a Brunch/Potluck to follow. Mary of Magdala will be in charge of cleaning up after the potluck. We need 6 wonderful volunteers. 

You can sign-up to volunteer here for both clean-up and to bring a brunch dish!

NO 12:30 pm service on February 18th

Thank you from your Hospitality Ministry.

Simple Supper and Taizé Prayer - Mark your calendars!

All three churches are participating in the Lenten Soup Supper beginning on 2/21. If you can assist in bringing Soup or with clean-up, please sign-up below.

Wednesdays - February 21, 28; March 6, 13, 20

Taizé                             6 pm

Soup Supper              6:30 pm

Winter Gear (and Clothing) Donations 

Do you have some winter coats and other winter clothing you don’t need? Here are some places to donate. Winter gear (tents, sleeping bags, etc.) along with food and toiletries are also needed. See the links below. Homeward Alliance ONLY accepts items on their list (due to storage limitations)

1.     Homeward Alliance 2024 Donation List can be found here. More information can be accessed at this link.

2.     For a VERY comprehensive list of other local non-profits that accept donations click here (this includes clothing of all types and for all ages).

For details and other 301 Faith Partners services and all links for

 'Our Lenten Journey', click HERE

Service Recordings

Celebrating the 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Celebrated with F. Michael Nicosia as presider on February 11th. The video of the readings and homily is available here.

Other Mass recordings can be accessed via our website here.

During the Mass, we played a Youtube recording of Maya Angelou reciting her poem, “Still I Rise”, for our second reading. However, that is a copyrighted work and we cannot post her recording within our recording of the readings and homily. Hence, we substituted Matt Chavez reading her poem in our recording. If you wish to view Maya Angelou’s recording that we played at Mass, you can find it here.

Social Justice Reflection

The Civil Rights Movement, much like the early Church, was galvanized by martyrs who paid the ultimate price. Some we know about, many we don’t.

Most of us know about Emmett Till, the 14 year old Chicago teen who visited relatives in Money, Mississippi in 1955. He was accused of offending the white owner of a grocery store, was kidnapped from his grand-uncle’s house at night, brutally tortured, lynched, and his body tied to a cotton gin fan and dumped into the Tallahatchie River. Emmett’s mother insisted on an open casket funeral. The gruesome press photos of his disfigured body drew international reaction to the barbarity of American racism especially in the deep South.

Clinton Melton is one of the many who are less well known. A 33 year-old father of 4, he was a gas station attendant in Glendora Mississippi, 20 miles from Money. A man connected to Emmett Till’s kidnappers stopped for gas 3 months after Till’s murder, and flew into a rage at Melton, accusing him of pumping more gas than he had ordered. The man drove home, fetched a shotgun, returned, and shot Melton in the head.



Medgar Evers fought at the Battle of Normandy in WWII but realized that serving his country did not spare him from racism. He actively organized boycotts, worked for voter rights, battled segregation, and became the first NAACP field officer for Mississippi. He fearlessly investigated the murder of Emmett Till. But the accused were acquitted by an all-white jury. Years later, they publicly admitted their guilt in an interview with Look magazine. Medgar Evers also investigated Melton’s murder but that killer was likewise acquitted by an all-white jury in the same court and defended by the same attorneys as in the Till case. Medgar Evers rose to prominence in Jackson MS, as a civil rights leader. His family faced constant death threats. In 1963, only hours before Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address, Evers was shot through the heart by a sniper of the Ku Klux Klan.

These 3 martyrs paid the ultimate price. We can best honor them by challenging racism wherever we encounter it.



Read more:

on Emmett Till

on Clinton Melton

on Medgar Evers

Prayer Requests

Praying for peace, health and well-being through challenging times.

+James Fuller, friend of Mary of Magdala and seeker, returning to Houston

+Pastor Rick Reiten, Pastor at Trinity Lutheran

+Tess Peters, friend of Mary Lou Devlin, member

+Cache and Courtney, family of Jean

+David Devlin, member

+Kolten Weitzel, grandson of Kerrie Anderson, member

+Sabrina and her two children, currently homeless

+Grandneice of Father Michael Nicosia

+Linda Browell, member

+Sandra Carter, friend of Mary Vogel

+Kris Jenkins, wife of Father Scott Jenkins

+Jen Banks, friend of Mary of Magdala

+Francisco Cruz Antonio, friend of Rev. Jane

+Grace Robinson, member

+Jerry Padilla, father of member Lisa Jones

+Janessa and Hayden, sister and niece of Jen Banks

+Rachel, daughter of Mary Lou Devlin, member.

A blessed and peaceful repose of souls for those who've passed and comfort for the friends and families.

+Gary Steinmüller, father of Kathy Krohn, friend of Mary Magdala.

+Sharon L. Six, mother of Michael Six, member

+Jim Carroll, husband of member Dori Carroll

+Joanne Gallagher, member

+Daniel, cousin of Pedro Engel

+Juanita Newbre, aunt of MaryLou Devlin, member

+Jeanette Marian Banks (Brown) mother of Jen Banks

+Flavian Reising Jr., Father of Steve Reising, member

+Marge Gruber, friend of Michael Six, member

+Betty Jones, mother-in-law of Lisa Jones, member

+Jean Preslan, friend of Mother Rosean

+Josy Moos, Godmother of Tom Moos

+Fr. Fred Ball, OFR, ECC priest

+Bob Colhour, father of member Mark Colhour.

+Candy Palmer, friend of Mary Lou Devlin, member

+Fr Don Willet, from John XXIII

+Linn Zink, friend of MoM, Social Justice advocate

+James Ryan cousin of Mary Lyons, member

Please send prayer requests to marymagdalafc@gmail.com. Prayers will be listed for one month unless requested for longer. Prayers for the repose of souls will be listed for six months unless requested for a longer time.

Sunday Feb 18

• There will be no 12:30 pm Mass on Feb. 18th. There will be a 301 Service at 10:30 am. followed by a brunch for all 301 faith communities.

Wednesday Feb 21

• 11:00 AM Mass
• Held in the Fireside Room
• No Zoom available.

For a complete list of services during Lent (Taize, Soup Suppler and Holy Week) click here

Did you miss an article or announcement?



Past e-bulletins posted here

• To read the January News from the Office of the Presiding Bishop Paul (Pablo) Burson, click here (English) and here (Spanish).
• To read the ECC Council of Bishops' statement on the War in Gaza and Israel, click here.
• Ongoing Giving Opportunities in Fellowship hall; see list here
• Dedicating Altar Flowers? Contact Joan Stepleton at JoanStepleton@gmail.com or 864-650-2816. A $25 dollar donation is kindly requested.
• The purpose of the Mary Magdalene Society is to financially support aspiring and current priests and encourage the development of youth in their spiritual journeys. Read more here.

Mary of Magdala Parish Community

Members: Need to view, update information or download a copy of the member directory? Just click here.

-->If you are in need of a picture for the directory, contact David Cloyd via this email. Put 'Need Picture for the Directory' in the subject line and include your name and telephone number in your email <--

If you would like to contribute to Mary of Magdala, here are ways to schedule a single or recurring Sunday offertory.

All are invited and ALL are welcome to join our parish community. Here is the webpage with more information on membership



The ECC Regional Website - View here.

Newsletters of Trinity Lutheran Church and the St. Paul's Episcopal  

Click here for the Trinity Lutheran Church monthly newsletter, "Tidings". And here is St Paul's weekly bulletin.