Loading...I have to admit. I’m going through withdrawal. No, no, no…not that type of withdrawal. I’m going through Saints and Great Cloud of Witnesses’ research withdrawal.
Let me explain.
Four enjoyable weeks during Lent. Four enjoyable weeks of presentations for our weekly Lenten Series this year. The program? The “Myth, Magic, and Mortality of Saints”
Four weeks and that doesn’t include the many weeks of prep and research — no complaints — a labor of love.
Embarking on our research, my good friend, Mike Owens, and I continued to uncover and discover “didja’ knows” day-after-day, week-after-week about the saints and Great Cloud of Witnesses. What a spiritual and learning experience for us. What a challenging research project for two research geeks. We were bitten and couldn’t wait until the next week’s session to share what we had learned about the Saints.
We had fun with serious research as well as numerous tongue-in-cheek references to Patron Saints of March Madness. Oh, and we can’t forget the Lent Madness worldwide competition that we embraced as well — check out www.LentMadness.Org to get your fix.
One of the handouts to our participants was a sermon that we believed “said it all” about our Saints and Cloud of Witnesses sessions. The Rev. Dr. Amy Richter, who served as Rector of St. Anne’s Church in Annapolis, MD., wrote and delivered an impassioned sermon that encapsulates what we had been trying to convey during the four week session. Click on the title to read her uplifting sermon: Sermon — Great Cloud of Witnesses, Proper 15 (C)
Part of our closing prayer for the final session, crafted by Mike, summarized our four-week venture, or pilgrimage, towards an understanding of Saints and the Great Cloud of Witnesses:
Thank you God…
for their showing us that the path to salvation is found in ordinary, daily living,
for their courage to witness your love, often at the peril of their own lives,
for their compassion, especially to the poor and those forgotten or shunned by society,
for their sacrifices, putting the needs of others before their own,
for their vision, improving lives through education, orphanages, and hospitals,
for their diversity, reminding us that you are an all-loving God, who mercifully offers salvation to all regardless of age, gender, talents, heritage, and any of our myriad of differences.
…And we thank the congregation and our Rector for giving us the opportunity to share our research on this topic. Amen.
