<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'>Women with hair coverings may not necessarily embrace this gospel. Our local Episcopal Convent underwent a transformation a few years back to require no longer the headdress of a nun. Amazing hair appeared. A new breath of life was breathed into the convent it seemed. The nuns were a bit more 'like us'. I wonder how our clothing may be a barrier to others, especially religious clothing. Do we not struggle with the same issues, the same shortcomings, and yet still work for the common good. What about other religions; how do we see them as really "us"...? Their hair adornment, or complete covering may not at all be a sign that they are not just the same flesh and bone as us. My histology professor is completely draped, this week in black, perhaps in mourning of the events in New Zealand, her fellow companions. Are we a bit less concerned? Are we a bit less friendly. Are we sharing the gospel in deeds if not words? Maybe a tip of our hats is in order?
<div>Joe Parrish, in gratitude for Allison's post. <br>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Allison Dean <aaclinedean@gmail.com><br>
To: prcl-l <prcl-l@googlegroups.com>; Propertalk <Propertalk@stsams.org><br>
Sent: Sat, Apr 6, 2019 10:10 am<br>
Subject: [Propertalk] Lent 5c Reflection<br>
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<div class="yiv5373026632gmail_default" style="font-size:small;">Another rare reflection probably going to be preached via hospital radio tomorrow as the noise of drills and hammers construct a temporary hospital chapel below our current one in preparation for a move the week after Easter. Barbara Brown-Taylor and Kathryn Matthews were the inspiration for me this week. Comments and thoughts welcome as it is a bit different from what I would normally prepare.<br>
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<div class="yiv5373026632gmail_default" style="font-size:small;">Allison Cline-Dean,</div>
<div class="yiv5373026632gmail_default" style="font-size:small;">Lead Chaplain,</div>
<div class="yiv5373026632gmail_default" style="font-size:small;">East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust</div>
<div class="yiv5373026632gmail_default" style="font-size:small;">Based at Colchester Hospital, Colchester, Essex, UK<br>
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<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;">Isn’t it odd how scents can trigger
memories?<span> </span>Remember the smell last summer
when the first rain came down after the six weeks of heatwave – the odour as
the rain hit the ground?<span> </span>Earthy, damp,
unmistakable, wonderful. <span> </span>It was a long,
generous rain for parched ground and crops as well as for children wanting to
jump in puddles!<span> </span><span> </span>And then there are perfumes and after-shave colognes.<span> </span>When I smell Chanel No. 5 I think of a
certain person who is no longer with us – a crusty, to the point lady with a
heart of gold and she loved Chanel No. 5.<span>
</span>She would not leave the house to go and clean the school without a
spritz of her Chanel – she was subtle in the application yet the fragrance left
a trail as she walked by.<span> </span>As we
recall certain scents that trigger memories, our gospel invites us to experience God’s extravagant
generosity as portrayed by Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with the fragrant nard.<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;">This story is also used by the other
Gospel writers but in different ways and in different contexts.<span> </span>John is the only writer who states
that the woman is Mary.<span> </span>These 12 verses
are the turning point in John’s gospel.<span> </span>This
is where Jesus, the popular itinerant rabbi leaves the world behind and heads
for Jerusalem where in six days time he will be brought before Pilate and
eventually crucified.<span> </span>Jesus knows that
when he came to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead that he left the safety
of the lands across the river and put himself in the position where various
officials can plot his arrest.<span> </span>He has
jumped from the fat into the fire – he knows he is no longer in a safe place.<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;">Yet before Jesus heads for Jerusalem
he attends a dinner party thrown by Martha in Bethany, just on the edge of
Jerusalem, to celebrate Lazarus’ raising from the dead.<span> </span>It was a lavish party because the men were
reclining at tables.<span> </span>This was not just a
simple dinner amongst friends around a table with people seated on chairs or
sitting on the floor.<span> </span>No!<span> </span>This is a dinner where there is the
equivalent of a chaise longue for each guest.<span>
</span>Martha would be bustling around the kitchen ensuring that the very best
food and wine was being prepared and served.<span>
</span>This was a celebration.<span> </span>This was
a lavish banquet with an abundance of food – Martha’s way of thanking Jesus for
bringing her brother Lazarus back from the dead.<span> </span>The men reclining gives us a foretaste of the
Last Supper in a few nights time. <span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;">And in the midst of it all, Mary enters
the room with a beautiful alabaster jar, breaks the neck of it, and the pungent
smell of spikenard permeates the room and the house, going into all the corners.<span> </span>It is a musky, sharp scent halfway between
mint and ginseng, according to Barbara Brown-Taylor. <span> </span>It is in contrast to the four day old “stench”
that Martha spoke of when Jesus told her to take him to Lazarus’ tomb.<span> </span>Possibly this jar was the last very
expensive bottle left from having anointed Lazarus’ body before it went into
the tomb.<span> </span><span> </span>Or this bottle of spikenard may have been Mary’s
dowry, started by her parents when she was born, added to by relatives over the
years, each time a little more put in the alabaster jar and then re-sealed with
wax.<span> </span>However, the heady scent would have
been quite a contrast to the smell of the empty tomb so recently vacated by Lazarus. <span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-right:0cm;margin-left:0cm;font-size:12pt;font-family:New;"><span>After
breaking the neck of the bottle, Mary kneels down, loosens her hair, and begins
to anoint Jesus’ feet.<span> </span>She uses all the
nard, rubbing it into the crevices and cracks of Jesus’ feet with her hair.<span> </span>Mary breaks all the rules with this lavish,
generous, and extravagant gift.<span> Just as Jesus breaks down the barriers, so Mary too breaks rules and boundaries.</span><span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 26.05pt 10pt 36pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">She does
things not acceptable in polite company in that culture and time: she unbinds
her hair, loosens it as women did only for their husbands or when they were in
mourning; she pours expensive balm on the feet of Jesus (his feet, as one would
anoint a corpse, not a king; a king would be anointed on the head).<span> </span>And Mary touches Jesus even though she's a
single woman – again, not "appropriate" - and then she wipes his feet
with her hair.<span> </span>(Kathryn Matthews)<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Mary does not hold back the bottle – she uses all the ointment at great
cost to herself, and in effect, prophecies as to what will happen in the next
few days.<span> </span>. . . “Jesus began his
ministry with an extravagance of excellent wine at a wedding feast, so his
ministry comes to a close here in an extravagance of expensive ointment, a
passionate display of love and caring that even the woman who offers it does
not fully understand.” (Barbara Brown-Taylor, <i>Bread of Angels</i>).<span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">I wonder if, as Jesus and his disciples gathered for the Last Supper a
few evenings later, reclining at the table, if they recalled that evening with
Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.<span> </span>As Jesus washed
the feet of his disciples after the Last Supper, were he and the disciples drawn
back to those moments when Mary bent over Jesus’ feet and washed them.<span> </span>In that single act did Mary give Jesus the
idea for the new commandment that he gave the disciples that night as he washed
their feet:<span> </span>Love one another, as I have
loved you. <span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">Mary’s demonstration of her love for Christ gives us much food for
thought this week.<span> </span>Mary’s love shows us
the lavishness and generosity of God’s love and mercy for each of us. <span> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt;">In that one
single extravagant act, Mary shows the disciples, Jesus, Martha, Lazarus, and
us what it means <span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 26.05pt 10pt 36pt;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">to
love our Lord so much that we break open our hearts to those around us and to
our world – to give of ourselves and not count the cost.<span> </span>In that moment of lavishly anointing Jesus
feet, foretelling of his death and burial, Mary demonstrates how an extravagant
</span><span style="font-size:12pt;">gesture of love and generosity can transform a situation. A generous
spirit offers forgiveness and healing, a spirit of kindness offers healing and
hope and speaks words of encouragement, a spirit of freedom gives out of the
abundance we live in so that others have enough to live.<span> </span>(Kathryn Matthews). <span> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt;"><span></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv5373026632MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:12pt;">This is a story of contrasts – Mary’s generosity vs. Judas’
miserliness.<span> </span>Mary’s love against the
fear that others in the room are experiencing.<span>
</span>It is a story that shows us just how extravagant, generous, and lavish God’s
love is.<span> </span>God’s love is not stingy, it is
not miserly, it is not fearful, and it won’t run out.<span> </span>God invites us to open our hearts, our minds,
and spirits, in the midst of an world filled with fear, violence and political
machinations, and experience God’s extravagant, generous, and lavish love anointing
us, pouring into our spirits, giving new life and new hope, filling us with the
fragrance of Christ.<span> </span>When we are filled
with God’s love, “</span><span style="font-size:12pt;">There is no reason to fear running
out--of nard or of life either one--for where God is concerned, there is always
more than we can ask or imagine--gifts from our lavish, lavish Lord.” <span> </span>(Barbara Brown-Taylor)<span></span></span></div>
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