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I believe that the reading we just heard from Mark’s gospel is one of the most important pieces of Holy Scripture in our Bible.  Contained within it is a lens by which to interpret the Jesus story … and to see our own life of faith in a new and different way.
 
A couple of weeks ago, on the Last Sunday of Epiphany, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, we heard the story of the Transfiguration … about Jesus on the mountain with Peter, James and John … and Jesus was transfigured and seen by the disciples as standing with Moses and Elijah.  ​

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Sermon by The Rev. Deena M. Galantowicz
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Since we were together last Sunday, a lot has happened as we follow our Liturgical Calendar.  Last Sunday we celebrated the wonder and glory of the Transfiguration and it was the last Sunday of our Epiphany Season.  Since then, even the look of our church has changed - from the vitality of our altar hangings and our vestments, to the very serious Lenten color, purple.  And our Liturgy has changed from the uplifting joy of our Alleluias to the absence of that word…and from the happy tone of the Gloria to the penitential mood of the Kyrie;” Lord Have Mercy”.  We have experienced Ash Wednesday, a time that is summed up in the words that are said as ashes are placed on our foreheads in the sign of the cross...the very sobering words …”Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Anyone who has experienced that moment can no doubt attest to the humbling impact those words have, to their power… to make us realize that we live and move and have our being by the Grace of God…a moment to remember that we are not as in charge of our lives as we might have let ourselves believe.  What a powerful, simple service!  If you did not tune in to it, I certainly encourage you to do so.

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Sermon by The Rev. Deena M. Galantowicz

“Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.  Return to the Lord your God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” /////   This from our first reading from the Book of Joel.

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Annual Report​ (updated 2/17/21)
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In my 45 plus years of ordained ministry I have never prayed so hard and so long as I have in the past eleven months.  Almost every morning Caren and I walk from our home to the church to open it for prayer and meditation.  It seems as if every step is a prayer.  We light three votive candles: one for the people who have died of COVID-19 … now almost 500,000 in this country alone.  Another candle for the people around the world who are ill and suffering from COVID-19 … including those who may be physically healthy but are suffering from the economic effects of the lockdown.  And, we light a third candle for the people of St. Cyprian’s … for your physical health, for your emotional sanity, for your faithfulness in your soul during an extremely trying time.  

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In our Gospel reading this week, the author of Mark’s gospel shows us a day in the life of Jesus.  As the he begins his public ministry, we have an opportunity to follow Jesus around for twenty-four hours, observing what he does, what he says, and what he prioritizes.
 
In her 1989 book, The Writing Life, Annie Dillard reminds us of something that is at once obvious and at the same time unsettling: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.”  If that is true, what can we learn from this story as we take seriously what Jesus took seriously?​