TWO WORLDS LECTIONARY

Two Worlds: 15 March 2026: 4 Lent

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Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: 4 Lent)

“The world desperately needs this Lutheran witness. In our current context, we see so much yelling — even as many people don’t feel heard or seen. There is so much anger, even as so many people’s hearts are breaking with grief. We are surrounded by so many voices, images and opinions, even as many people feel isolated and alone. God’s love has the power to break through all this noise, break down all this division, break apart all this cruelty. One person — you, the bearer of this love — can make all the difference. Put your body where love is needed.”

(Reverand Kristin Johnston Largen, President of Warburg Seminary, Iowa)

INTRODUCTION

John’s Gospel gives us a vivid conversion story this week: Jesus meets a man born blind, sees him with compassion, and restores his sight — sparking wonder, confusion, and notable outrage among the Pharisees. The moment exposes how easily we mistake certainty for vision, and how Christ keeps pulling us out of our shadows into the light of what is good and right and true. It’s the kind of moment Dr. Largen names so clearly: a world full of noise, anger, and isolation suddenly interrupted by a love that actually sees someone and moves toward them.

That same pattern shows up in the life of John Newton, whose own eyes began to open during a terrifying storm at sea in 1748. Newton had spent years participating in the slave trade, yet that night marked the beginning of a long, uneven conversion that eventually led him into abolitionist work, ministry, and the writing of a poem for a sermon—Faith’s Review and Expectation. We know it today as Amazing Grace, with its unforgettable confession: “Was blind, but now I see” (note John 9:25). Newton’s story, like the blind man’s, reminds us that God keeps showing up in the places we least expect, inviting us to see differently and live differently. And if Dr. Largen is right — and I believe she is — this is not just ancient history or a hymn’s backstory. It’s a call. In a world where so many feel unseen, unheard, or overwhelmed, the healing in John 9 and the awakening in Newton’s life point to the same truth: God’s love breaks through the noise by taking on flesh in ordinary people. One person, putting their body where love is needed, can make all the difference.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Note: The introductory quote from Kristin Johnston Largen was drawn from her Living Lutheran article (Spring 2026), page 53.

NAVIGATE THE BLOG HERE

  1. This Week’s Readings
  2. Image of the Week
  3. This Week’s ELCA Commemorations
  4. Musical Meditation and Prayer: Amazing Grace
  5. Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

Thanks for your visit here again this week! Monday (9 March) marks Day 16 of the Lenten season (40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday (not counting Sundays).

A reminder: Utilize the Table of Contents to navigate various sections of the blog and also take note of links within the text (italicized and bolded) that offer further explanations.

This Week’s Readings

Themes and Connections

The readings for 4 Lent trace how God sees and restores what human eyes overlook, moving people from shadow into true sight. Samuel learns that God chooses by the heart, Psalm 23 voices trust in a shepherd who leads through darkness, and Ephesians calls believers to awaken as children of light. John 9 embodies all of this as Jesus opens the eyes of a man born blind, revealing that real vision comes through encounter with God’s mercy rather than human judgment.


1 Samuel 16: 1-13

Psalm 23

Ephesians 5: 8-14

John 9: 1-41

The Readings are Linked!

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week

“Healing of the Blind Man” by Danish painter Carl Bloch (1834-1890)

Carl Bloch’s Healing of the Blind Man (1871) shows Jesus meeting Bartimaeus with a calm, steady authority as the blind man kneels and reaches toward him. The scene unfolds against dark stone walls, where townspeople, children, skeptics, and disciples gather — each reacting in their own way to the moment of grace. Bloch, a Danish painter trained at the Royal Danish Academy and shaped by years studying Italian masters, became known for religious works that combine emotional clarity with dramatic light. This painting highlights the shift from darkness to light, both in the setting and in Bartimaeus’s awakening, reflecting Bloch’s conviction that Christ’s miracles reveal a deeper kind of sight.

Learn More About Artistic Interpretations of John 9

This Week’s ELCA Commemorations

Among this week’s commemorations, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth come across as two women who simply refused to let the world stay as it was, and they carried a fierce, grounded faith that shaped everything they did. Tubman’s courage on the Underground Railroad and Truth’s preaching and public witness both grew out of a deep conviction that God intends freedom, dignity, and wholeness for every person. The ELCA remembers them as renewers of society because their lives didn’t just challenge injustice — they helped re‑imagine what a just society could look like, insisting that faith must take the side of the oppressed. Their stories still nudge us today to put our own bodies where love, courage, and truth are needed most.

Learn More About Their Remarkable Stories Here!

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)

There are three ELCA commemorations this week:

Tuesday 10 March:
Harriet Tubman (d. 1913) and Sojourner Truth (d. 1883), Renewers of Society

Thursday 12 March:
Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome (d. 604)

Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)

Musical Meditation and Prayer: Amazing Grace

John Newton (1725-1807)

Amazing Grace began as a New Year’s Day sermon illustration John Newton wrote in 1772, long after a violent storm at sea first shook him awake to God’s mercy during his years in the slave trade. Newton later became an Anglican priest in Olney, England, where he and poet William Cowper published the text—then titled Faith’s Review and Expectation—in their 1779 collection Olney Hymns, printed without any musical setting. The hymn remained relatively modest in England, but it flourished in the United States during the early 19th century, especially amid the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening, where its message of grace resonated across denominations. Its now‑familiar melody, New Britain, was added in 1835 by American composer William Walker, and that pairing transformed Amazing Grace into one of the most widely sung hymns in the world, cherished for its simple poetry, its honest confession, and its enduring promise of redemption.

The version offered here is a wonderful interpretation of the song performed by the Salt Lake Choral Artists. Enjoy!

Lyrics

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

Note: These lyrics are drawn from the ELW (779).

Salt Lake Choral Artists is a distinguished multi‑ensemble choral organization in Salt Lake City, recognized for its artistic excellence, stylistic versatility, and commitment to choral education. Bringing together singers of varied ages and backgrounds, the organization presents performances that range from classical masterworks to global and contemporary repertoire, often in collaboration with leading artists and institutions. Through initiatives such as the Summer Choral Institute, they cultivate emerging talent and support the development of singers, conductors, and composers. Their work has earned consistent regional and national acclaim, positioning them as an ensemble that enriches both the cultural life of their community and the broader choral landscape.

Visit Their Website Here

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

ARE YOU INTERESTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA? (ELCA)

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION!

And, here is something you may find hopeful regarding the situation in the Middle East — it is from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) website:

Joint statement from Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed church leaders 

Leaders of four global Christian communions say they are “profoundly dismayed” at the international community’s failure to prevent wars including the escalation of conflict in Iran and the Middle East.

Read the Full Statement Here

Join Us for Worship and Study

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, and is part of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin (ELCA). We stream our Sunday worship at 9:30 each week. Please feel free to join us!

Access our YouTube Channel here.

Pioneer Chapel and Christ Statue, ELC

ONE MORE THING!

Our in-person Lectionary discussion group that meets at ELC will be off until APRIL 12TH. This is due to travel on my part and activities on Palm Sunday and Easter.

Two Worlds: 8 March 2026: 3 Lent

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Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: 3 Lent)

“In his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus must overcome a number of barriers to interaction, much less to genuine, vulnerable conversation. Their contrasting genders, ethnic identities, faiths, and social roles all discourage them from speaking to each other . . . And when she leans in, connecting his proclamation to her own sacred teachings, Jesus honors her with his own trust. He confesses to her — the first person to whom Jesus himself makes this claim in John’s Gospel — that he is the expected Messiah.” (Serena Rice)

INTRODUCTION

Life’s chance encounters sit close to the surface for me this week as I return to Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. John writes this scene not as a detached reporter but as one of the early church’s theological narrators, shaping the community’s memory of Jesus through the sources available to him — his own presence among the disciples on that journey through Samaria, the stories they shared afterward, and the oral tradition that carried these encounters forward. That layered memory lets him slow the pace and let us overhear a real conversation unfolding in real time. And beneath it all runs the question that drove every Gospel writer and still presses on us today: Who is Jesus for us, here and now? In John’s hands, that question comes alive in the bright noon light, where an unexpected meeting becomes a turning point for a woman, a village, and anyone willing to listen.

“The Samaritan Women” by Tito (c. 1919)

The Samaritan woman — known in Eastern Orthodox tradition as Photini, steps into the story unnamed but unforgettable. Jesus and his disciples take the direct route from Judea to Galilee, which means passing through Samaria. That choice alone carries weight. Jews and Samaritans shared ancestry but lived with deep hostility, especially over where God should be worshiped: Jerusalem for Jews, Mount Gerizim for Samaritans. What feels like an old family argument to us was a defining boundary line two thousand years ago. Into that tension, Jesus initiates a long, open conversation with a woman who, by every social measure, should have been ignored. She carried three strikes: Samaritan, woman, and someone whose marital history raised eyebrows. Yet Jesus not only speaks with her—he speaks with her longer than with anyone else in the Gospels, as Barbara Brown Taylor notes. And she becomes the first person to whom he openly reveals himself as the Messiah. Those details should stop us in our tracks. As you read the exchange, notice how Jesus meets her. Nicodemus came at night, curious but cautious. She came for water, not answers. Jesus seeks her out in broad daylight and opens a conversation that touches her deepest truth. You can almost feel the moment her world shifts. Her response stands in sharp contrast to Nicodemus. He fades back into the shadows, still wrestling. She runs toward her community with joy, becoming the first evangelist in John’s Gospel. Because of her testimony, the people of Sychar come to Jesus and proclaim him “the Savior of the world.”

Soli Deo Gloria!

Note: My reflections here were prompted by Serena Rice’s article in the March 2026 edition of The Christian Century (p. 25). She serves as Pastor at Abiding Peace Lutheran Church in Budd Lake, New Jersey. Abiding Peace is a member of the ELCA.

Monday (2 March) marks Day 11 of the 40 day Lenten Journey which began on Ash Wednesday (18 February) and will end on Maundy Thursday (1 April).

Thanks for visiting this space again this week and two reminders: utilize the links to the left to navigate the blog and be aware that I have various links throughout the blog that will take you to sites for further reading!

This Week’s Readings

Themes and Connections

The readings for Lent 3 tighten around a single arc: people thirst, hearts harden, and God meets that resistance with sustaining mercy. Israel’s quarrel at Massah and Meribah becomes the backdrop for Psalm 95’s warning, even as Paul names the deeper truth—God pours out love precisely when we are weakest. That love takes flesh in Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, where living water breaks open old boundaries and turns skepticism into witness.

Exodus 17: 1-7

Psalm 95

Romans 5: 1-11

John 4: 5-42

The Readings are Linked!

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week

“Christ and the Samaritan Woman,” (c. 1593) by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609)

Carracci’s Christ and the Samaritan Woman captures the moment when an ordinary stop at a well turns into a life‑changing conversation. Jesus leans toward her with a calm, open gesture, meeting her right in the middle of her daily routine—much like Pastor Serena Rice describes, breaking through every barrier that should have kept them apart. The woman pauses with her jar, caught between the world she knows and the unexpected trust he offers, and the whole scene glows with the quiet revelation of someone realizing, perhaps for the first time, who is standing before her.

Learn more about this painting here.

This Week’s ELCA Commemorations

There are three ELCA commemorations this week:

Monday 2 March:
John Wesley (d. 1791), Charles Wesley (d. 1788), Renewers of the Church

Saturday 7 March:
Perpetua, Felicity, and Companions, martyrs at Carthage (202)

Perpetua and Felicity were part of a small group of North African Christians martyred in Carthage in 203, during a wave of persecution under Emperor Septimius Severus. Perpetua — a young noblewoman and new mother — and Felicity — an enslaved woman who gave birth in prison days before the execution — stood alongside their companions as a community formed not by status but by baptismal identity. Their story, preserved in The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, shows them crossing social, economic, and gender boundaries with the same kind of courageous trust Pastor Serena Rice highlights in the Samaritan woman: when Christ meets people across the lines meant to divide them, they respond with a boldness that still speaks to us today.

Learn More About Their Story Here!

Musical Meditation

“I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” comes from Horatius Bonar (1808–1889), a Scottish pastor who wrote it in the 1840s during his ministry in Kelso. He crafted it as a simple, direct invitation to Christ — part of his wider effort to give congregations and young people clear, memorable gospel language. Its imagery of thirst, rest, and living water echoes the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4, where Christ meets human need with an offer of life that never runs dry. The hymn appears in Evangelical Lutheran Worship at ELW 332, placed in the Lent section, and most hymnals trace its origin to Bonar’s early collections such as The Bible Hymn‑Book (1845–1850), where several of his texts first appeared.

Lyrics

1. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, O weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in him a resting-place,
And he has made me glad.

2. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quench’d, my soul revived,
And now I live in him.

3. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light;
Look unto me, your morn shall rise,
And all your day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of life I’ll walk,
Till trav’ling days are done.

The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge is one of the world’s leading collegiate choirs, known for its luminous blend, expressive clarity, and deep roots in the English choral tradition. Made up of around thirty choral scholars and two organ scholars, it sings regular services in Trinity’s historic chapel and maintains an active schedule of touring, broadcasting, and award‑winning recording. Gramophone has ranked it among the top choirs globally, a reputation built on both its centuries‑old heritage and its adventurous, wide‑ranging repertoire.

Visit Their Website Here

Prayer Meditation: The Serenity Prayer

The latest U.S.–Israeli bombing strikes in the Middle East have stirred that familiar heaviness — the sense that the world might be sliding toward another war. With a soldier in the family for more than twenty years, we have learned to take these moments in stride and not overreact, but they still land hard. In times like this, the heart reaches for words that steady us, which is why Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer still feels so alive. When it first appeared in the 1944 Book of Prayers and Services for the Armed Forces, chaplains used it to help soldiers face fear, uncertainty, and the limits of their own control. But the prayer was never meant for military life alone. Its quiet movement—from accepting what can’t be changed, to acting where we must, to discerning the difference—speaks just as clearly to civilians watching events unfold from a distance yet feeling their weight. In every era of conflict, it offers a way to stay grounded without becoming resigned, and hopeful without becoming naïve.

Protestant Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr
(1892-1971)

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Click here for more history of this prayer.

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

The Lutheran World Federation—a global communion of Lutheran churches that includes the ELCA—marks four years of accompanying Ukrainians through the trauma and displacement caused by Russia’s full‑scale invasion. Its teams and member churches continue to repair homes, support schools, and provide psychosocial care even as violence intensifies and winter conditions worsen. Ukrainian church leaders express deep gratitude for global solidarity and urge continued support as international funding declines and humanitarian needs grow.

Read more about this story here!

Join Us for Worship and Study

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, and is part of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin (ELCA). We stream our Sunday worship at 9:30 each week. Please feel free to join us!

Access our YouTube Channel here.

Pioneer Chapel and Christ Statue, ELC

Access the Homepage of Two Worlds here
(linked to the picture). I offer more background there and also the entire archive of the first three years.


Two Worlds: 1 March 2026: 2 Lent

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Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: 2 Lent)

African Methodist Episcopal Church
Nicodemus, Kansas

INTRODUCTION

Place names often carry remarkable stories. Founded in 1877 by formerly enslaved people from Kentucky, Nicodemus, Kansas took its name from the biblical figure in Sunday’s Gospel because the settlers saw their new community as a kind of “new birth.” The AME Church, built in 1885, quickly became the town’s spiritual and civic anchor, hosting worship, school lessons, and community gatherings; today it stands within the Nicodemus National Historic Site as a powerful reminder of the faith and resilience that shaped this Reconstruction‑era settlement.

Nicodemus by Tissot, 1850

So who was Nicodemus, and why did his story matter enough to inspire a town’s name in the hinterland of North America? An intriguing character, he appears only in John’s Gospel, and we meet him three times—first in John 3 during his nighttime conversation with Jesus, then in John 7 when he challenges the Pharisees’ rush to judgment, and finally in John 19 when he helps Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus. A Pharisee steeped in Jewish law, he comes to Jesus under cover of darkness, genuinely seeking to understand what God is doing through him. He senses something divine in Jesus but struggles with the idea of being “born again,” a concept that doesn’t fit his religious framework. His tension exposes how easily religious structures can distract us from Christ himself, a temptation that sits squarely within the First Commandment. Nicodemus wrestles because Jesus is announcing a new reality that stretches beyond conventional Judaism, yet the later references to him show a man changed by the encounter — someone who comes to see Jesus as the Son of God. In that sense, he becomes a mirror for us. And it’s in this same conversation that we hear John 3:16, perhaps the most quoted verse in Scripture. It sounds simple — believe and be saved — but as Lutherans we remember that salvation rests on grace, not on our own effort. That’s why verses 16 and 17 belong together: God enters the world through Christ not to condemn but to save, an expansive promise that includes all of humanity and challenges us every day.

Soli deo Gloria!

Thanks for visiting this space again this week! We are now in the 40 days of Lent (46 calendar days, because Sundays are not counted), leading to Holy Week (the first week in April).

Something to think about . . .

“The Christian faith, while wildly misrepresented in so much of American culture, is really about death and resurrection. It’s about how God continues to reach into the graves we dig for ourselves and pull us out, giving us new life, in ways both dramatic and small.”

(Nadia Bolz-Weber, as quoted in Love Outpoured: Devotions for Lent 2026, Augsburg Fortress Publishing).

Use these links to navigate the blog!

This Week’s Readings

Genesis 12: 1-4a

Psalm 121

Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17

John 3: 1-17

The Readings Are Linked

Themes and Connections

The readings for 2 Lent trace a movement of trust: Abram steps into an unknown future on the strength of God’s promise, the psalmist lifts his eyes to the One who guards every step, and Paul insists that such trust—faith apart from works—is the true inheritance of God’s people. Nicodemus’s nighttime conversation with Jesus extends this theme, revealing that new birth and salvation flow not from human effort but from God’s initiative and love. Together, the texts invite a posture of receptive faith that opens us to God’s surprising, life‑giving future.

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week: “Christ and Nicodemus“

“Christ and Nicodemus” by Matthias Stom (c.1600 –1652) Dutch-Flemish

Matthias Stom’s depiction of John 3: 1-17 comes from the mid-1600s. Stom was drawn to moments when people were wrestling with big spiritual questions, so Nicodemus’s late‑night conversation was a natural fit for him. In the world Stom inhabited — where the church was urging people toward personal renewal — the scene underscores the heart of the passage: a respected teacher trying to make sense of new birth and the depth of God’s love revealed in Christ.

Learn more about the artist here.

This Week’s ELCA Commemorations

There are three ELCA commemorations this week:

Monday 23 February:
Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna,
martyr (d. 156)
Wednesday 25 February:
Elizabeth Fedde, deaconess (d. 1921)
Sunday 1 March:
George Herbert, hymnwriter (d. 1633)

Elizabeth Fedde
(1850-1921)

Norwegian immigrant Elizabeth Fedde played a significant role in the Deaconess movement, a Christian tradition focused on social service and ministry. Drawing from her own experiences and convictions, she championed the idea of women serving in practical, hands-on roles within their communities, particularly in addressing the needs of the poor and marginalized.

Fedde came to Minneapolis in 1888 at the invitation of Midwestern Lutherans who wanted to replicate the deaconess work she had pioneered in Brooklyn. During her brief but influential stay, she founded a deaconess home and helped launch what became the Hospital of the Lutheran Free Church — Deaconess Hospirtal. Her Minneapolis work anchored Lutheran social ministry in the Upper Midwest and shaped care for generations of Norwegian‑American immigrants. Thanks to my pal Rollie Lee for putting me on to Fedde’s story! 

Read about Elizabeth here!

Musical Meditation

“There Is a Balm in Gilead” has long been one of my favorites because my mother, Cathy Rykken, sang it often, and its soaring melody fit her soprano voice beautifully. The song itself grew out of the 19th‑century African American spiritual tradition, drawing on Jeremiah’s question about healing in Gilead and transforming it into a Christian affirmation that Christ restores the “sin‑sick soul.” Included as one of roughly fourteen spirituals in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal (#614), it isn’t officially a Lenten hymn, yet congregations often sing it during Lent because its message of healing and hope speaks so directly into the season’s themes. My sense is they sang this often in that AME Church in Nicodemus, Kansas!

The interpretation I posted here is remarkable in a couple ways. The sound quality is superb (especially good with headphones), and the style makes it meditative. Enjoy!



The Adventist Vocal Ensemble was a UK‑based broadcast choir led by Ken Burton, known for its polished hymn arrangements and frequent appearances on the BBC’s Songs of Praise. The recording I’ve posted comes from 2013, during the group’s most active period. Their website hasn’t been updated since 2016, so the ensemble may no longer be active as a formal performing group, or they may have merged with another ensemble.

Prayer Meditation: Psalm 121

Psalm 121, one of the “Songs of Ascents,” likely accompanied pilgrims on their climb to Jerusalem and speaks with steady confidence about God’s protective care. It has long been my favorite. Known as “The Traveler’s Psalm,” my father requested it for his funeral in 2013, echoing his saying that “we’re all just traveling through.” I later learned it had been read at his father’s funeral as well, a quiet thread of faith that binds our family across generations. The accompanying prayer reflects the Psalm.

Further Information Here

God, you know the roads we walk and the ones we can’t yet see. Lift our eyes when we grow tired, and steady us with the promise that you never drift off or look away. Watch over our coming and going today—every step, every conversation, every quiet moment—and keep us rooted in the trust that you travel with us. Amen.

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

1960s Lutheran Humor

If you grew up within the tradition of 1950s and 60s Lutheranism, these cartoons by Charles Schultz resonate! Schultz had a gift.

Join Us for Worship and Study

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, and is part of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin (ELCA). We stream our Sunday worship at 9:30 each week. Please feel free to join us!

Access our YouTube Channel here.

Pioneer Chapel and Christ Statue, ELC

Access the Homepage of Two Worlds here
(linked to the picture). I offer more background there and also the entire archive of the first three years.

18 and 22 February 2026: Ash Wednesday and 1 Lent

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Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: Ash Wednesday and 1 Lent)


“In a social mileiu so tuned to chronos, it can be difficult to imagine ourselves as participants in a drama enacted in kairos and so learn to view the events around us from this eternal perspective. . . Calibrating ourselves — body, soul, and mind — to the liturgical calendar may not seem like something that would change our relationship to the news. But there is a profound, insidious kind of formation that happens when the first thing we do in the morning is to reach for a smartphone to find out what new thing occurred while we were sleeping. Such habits form the horizon of meaning by which we judge the significance of our daily life and actions. Structuring our days and weeks instead around Christ orients us to his story and equips us to fit the news of our day into the redemptive pattern of his life and work.“

(Dr. Jeffrey Bilbro, Grove City College, Pennsylvania)

INTRODUCTION

Author Jeffrey Bilbro has me thinking about how we experience time and further, how time shapes our “horizon of meaning.” In the Greek tradition, chronos and kairos name two very different ways of moving through our days: chronos is the clock — think minutes, deadlines, schedules — while kairos is the charged moment of openness — the kind of time that feels alive with meaning. Early Christians, shaped by Greek language and thought, naturally used this distinction to describe how God works both in history and in the moments that break it open. When we lean too hard into chronos, we lose our sense of kairos and allow the gatekeepers of chronos — especially the relentless news cycle — to define our reality. Chronos keeps us busy; kairos keeps us awake. Hold that tension as you enter the readings this week.

Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337 CE)

And, here is some background on the next season in our church year. Lent — from the Old English lencten, meaning springtime — has deep roots in Christian practice. The 40‑day season took shape after 313 CE, when Constantine embraced Christianity, and the Council of Nicea in 325 helped solidify its rhythms. The number forty echoes through Scripture: Moses on Sinai, Elijah’s journey to Horeb, Jesus fasting in the wilderness. On Wednesday, many of us will receive ashes in the sign of the cross, a gesture of humility and mortality (Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris). Luther himself kept Ash Wednesday, even as some early reformers dismissed it as too “Catholic.” Today, the Day of Ashes is observed across much of Western Christianity. Like many of you, I grew up with Lenten customs –classmates giving up chips or soda, small acts of self‑denial that sometimes felt more dutiful than transformative. In my home, the emphasis fell less on “giving something up” and more on tending the inner life. I once heard Lent described as “spring cleaning for our souls,” and that phrase has stayed with me. It suggests clearing space for kairos — those openings where grace can slip past the noise and do its quiet work.

Eternity (Terra Antigua)
by Shirley Jones

As we step into this season, I feel the pull of chronos more than ever — the rush, the headlines, the constant sense that whatever just flashed across a screen deserves my whole attention. Lent invites something different. It asks us to slow down enough to notice the openings, the preparation, the quiet work of God that rarely announces itself. In a world shaped by chronos, Lent remains one of the church’s oldest ways of reclaiming kairos.

Thanks for visiting this space and my hope is that the blog helps you frame the readings each week! I am experimenting with formatting, and it remains a work in progress. Please feel free to contact me with any feedback. My contact information is included on my homepage.

Jeffrey Bilbro’s book, Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News, provides that backdrop for my introduction this week. He is helping me understand how to navigate news in these challenging times!

(Note: Check out the short video in “Going Beyond” for more on these time dimensions in our lives).

Marcus Aurelius’ well‑known reminder — “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think” — captures a truth that aligns closely with the Christian beginning of Lent. Genesis 3:19 offers its own stark wisdom: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Both statements call us to live with clarity, humility, and a deeper awareness of what truly matters.


The links to the right allow for easy navigation of the various components of the blog. Enjoy!

Marcus Aurelius
(121-180 CE)

This Week’s Readings

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17

Psalm 51: 1-17

2 Corinthians 5: 20b-6:10

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21

The readings are linked.

Themes and Connections

The readings for Ash Wednesday call God’s people to return with honest hearts—turning from pretense, self‑reliance, and public displays of piety toward the mercy that alone can renew us. Together they remind us that true repentance is an inward turning shaped by God’s grace, a way of life that endures hardship yet trusts that now—this moment—is the acceptable time for transformation.

Imposition of Ashes

1 Lent

Genesis 2: 15-17, 3: 1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5: 12-19
Matthew 4: 1-11

The Readings are linked.

Try the Four-Question Approach to the Readings

What is something NEW?
What is something that made you REFLECT?
What is something that RELATES to prior knowledge?
What is something you would like to further DISCUSS?

Themes and Connections

The texts for 1 Lent trace the deep human struggle with temptation –from the garden’s first turning away to Jesus’ faithful resistance in the wilderness — and reveal how sin distorts our desires and burdens our lives. Together they proclaim that God meets us in our weakness with forgiveness and new possibility, so that in Christ’s obedience we are drawn from hiding and fear into restored relationship and renewed life.

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week

“Christ in the Wilderness” by Russian painter Ivan Kramskoy (1872)
Ivan Kramskoy, 1880s

Explore Kramskoy’s Painting Here

This Week’s ELCA Commemoration

Martin Luther, Renewer of the Church
(1483-1546)

WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY: MARTIN LUTHER

Martin Luther died in the early morning hours of February 18, 1546, 480 years ago this week. He was in his hometown of Eisleben, where he had traveled to help settle a local dispute. His final hours were lucid and peaceful, marked by confession of faith and the presence of his longtime colleague Justus Jonas, who recorded the details to counter later rumors. After his death, Luther’s body was taken back to Wittenberg, where large crowds gathered to honor the reformer who had reshaped the Christian world.

Musical Meditation

“Jesus Is a Rock in a Weary Land” is one of roughly fourteen African American spirituals included in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, a small but meaningful witness to this tradition within the hymnal. Emerging from the late‑19th‑century spiritual repertoire and carried into wider circulation by groups like the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the hymn draws on vivid biblical images of God as refuge and strength — images born from both Scripture and the lived experience of Black communities seeking hope amid hardship. Its rhythmic, refrain‑driven character places it at the crossroads of spirituals and early gospel, making it deeply singable across traditions. In ELW it appears among the Lenten hymns (#333), a placement that highlights how its central metaphor — the “weary land” — speaks to themes of vulnerability, endurance, and trust in God’s sustaining presence during the church’s season of reflection and return.

I hope you will enjoy this interpretation of the song performed by the combined choirs of The Middle Church in New York City.



Middle Church is a lively, justice‑driven congregation in Manhattan’s East Village, known for its big‑hearted, multicultural community and its commitment to what it calls “revolutionary love.” Under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, it’s become a spiritual home for people across backgrounds—deeply rooted in Christian tradition while fully embracing LGBTQ+ inclusion, anti‑racism, and social healing. It’s as much a movement as a church, with worship, activism, and digital ministry all woven together to create a community that reaches far beyond New York City.

Visit Their Website for More Information

Prayer Meditation (Ancient Text)

And Ancient Prayer from the Gelasian Sacramentary

O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright, grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Frontpiece, Galesian Sacramentary

Some background . . .

The Gelasian Sacramentary is one of the earliest surviving Western liturgical books, compiled in the 7th or early 8th century and traditionally (though inaccurately) attributed to Pope Gelasius I. Rather than a single author’s work, it represents a collection of Roman and Gallican prayers that were gradually shaped into a usable liturgical resource for priests. It later influenced the development of the Gregorian Sacramentary and helped form the backbone of Western eucharistic and pastoral prayer traditions.

Source: A Barclay Prayer Book (2003). This is a compilation of prayers for the liturgical year.

Going Beyond (Faith At Work)

Further Exploration

Find the Balance Between Chronos and Kairos Time

And, check this out from the Lutheran World Federation!

Lutherans and Catholics explore deep ecumenical potential of Augsburg Confession

Access the Homepage of Two Worlds here
(linked to the picture).

I offer more background there and also the entire archive of the first three years.

Join Us for Worship and Study

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, and is part of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin (ELCA). We stream our Sunday worship at 9:30 each week. Please feel free to join us!

Access our YouTube Channel here.

Also, join us Sunday for in-person discussion of the Lectionary in the church library from 10:45-11:00. All are welcome!



15 February 2026: Transfiguration of our Lord

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Welcome to Two Worlds!
(Year A: Transfiguration Sunday)


“The same thing should happen here in the Christian Church; none other should be preached or taught except the Son of God alone. Of Him alone it is said, ‘This is My beloved Son; listen to Him’ (Matthew 17:5) and no other, be he emperor, pope, or cardinal. Therefore, this is what I say: I grant that emperor, pope, cardinals, princes, and nobles are wise and understanding, but I shall believe in Christ. He is my Lord. He is the one God bids me to listen to. From Him He bids me to learn what real, divine wisdom and understanding are.” (Martin Luther, 15 February 1546)

Mount Tabor, Israel

INTRODUCTION

“Listen to him!” lands with force. Scripture’s mountaintop moments — think Moses on Sinai, Abraham on Moriah, Elijah on Carmel, to name a few — form the backdrop for the Transfiguration, where Jesus leads Peter, James, and John up the mountain and stands before them in blazing light. His face shines like the sun, his clothes radiate, Moses and Elijah appear, and the cloud’s voice names him: “This is my Son, the Beloved… listen to him.” Jesus then steadies the startled disciples and guides them back down into the world. That same command surfaced again centuries later in Martin Luther’s final sermon, preached in Eisleben three days before his death. Weakened by illness yet unwavering in conviction, he urged his hearers to center their lives in Christ alone — Sola Christus — not as a slogan but as a way of seeing. The mountain and the pulpit converge in that summons: light that reorients, a voice that cuts through every rival claim, and a call to follow the one who transforms us and sends us back into the world carrying that light.

Welcome to Two Worlds, and thanks for stopping by. Each week this space offers a bit of grounding for the four readings from the Revised Common Lectionary. As Epiphany draws to a close, it’s worth noticing the arc of the season: it opens with the Magi following a star to the Christ child and ends with the dazzling vision on Mount Tabor. And with that, we stand at the threshold of Lent, ready to enter the unfolding drama of the story ahead.

I utilized a reflection by Professor John T. Pless from the 1517 Website for the information regarding Luther’s final sermon.

After completing the full three‑year Revised Common Lectionary cycle begun in February 2023, I’m shifting this blog to a refreshed format. Much will feel familiar, but a few new features stand out.

First, the Table of Contents on the right now helps you navigate the site. Second, the scripture readings are linked for quick access. Third, a new section — Going Beyond — offers additional resources to deepen your engagement.

The blog remains a work in progress, and any errors are mine.

Sunlight in Nepal

The Readings

Exodus 24: 12-18
Psalm 2
2 Peter 1: 16-21
Matthew 17: 1-9

The readings are linked.

Themes and Connections

The Transfiguration readings center on God revealing divine glory and naming the beloved Son as the one we are called to hear. Sinai’s fire, Psalm 2’s royal claim, and 2 Peter’s witness all converge in the radiance of Christ. That revelation sends the disciples—and the church—back into the world shaped by what they have seen and heard.

Try the Four-Question Approach to the Readings

What is something NEW?

What is something that made you REFLECT?

What is something that RELATES to prior knowledge?

What is something you would like to further DISCUSS?

The readings are drawn from the Bible Gateway website and are the NRSVUE edition. I utilize Co-Pilot to assist with summarizing themes among the readings.

Image of the Week

The Transfiguration by Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834–1890)

Explore Bloch’s Painting Here

This Week’s Commemoration

Saturday 14 February

Cyril (d.869) and Methodius (d.885) were ninth‑century brothers whose mission to the Slavic peoples shaped the religious and cultural landscape of Eastern Europe. They created the first Slavic alphabet and translated Scripture and liturgy so people could worship in their own language. Their work eventually gave rise to the Cyrillic script and established a lasting vernacular Christian tradition. Both East and West honor them as saints who embodied a generous, culturally rooted vision of the gospel.

Musical Meditation: “I Am Light” (India Arie)

India Arie’s “I Am Light” reminds me of Matthew’s Transfiguration account because both name a transformation rooted in God’s love rather than in human striving. On the mountain, Jesus’ radiance reveals the truth already alive in him, and that revelation becomes a promise for us: in Christ, God’s love reshapes who we are and how we see ourselves. Both the gospel moment and the song remind us that this light is not meant to stay on the mountain; we carry it with us as we return to the world, living out the transformation God has begun.

I hope you will enjoy this interpretation of the song performed by the Vancouver Youth Choir!

India Arie (b. 1975)



The Vancouver Youth Choir is one of Canada’s most acclaimed youth choral organizations, known for its high artistic standards and inclusive community. Founded in 2013 by artistic director Carrie Tennant, it now includes more than 700 singers ages 5–24 across multiple ensembles and is recognized for adventurous programming and innovative performances. The flagship choir has earned national and international attention, with highlights that include first prize in the Canadian National Choral Competition and appearances at major festivals and venues such as the IFCM World Symposium on Choral Music and Carnegie Hall.

Visit Their Website for More Information

Prayer (Collect) for Transfiguration Sunday

O God, in the transfiguration of your Son you confirmed the mysteries of the faith by witnesses of Moses and Elijah, and in the voice from the bright cloud declaring Jesus your beloved Son, you foreshadowed our adoption as your children. Make us heirs with Christ of your glory, and bring us to enjoy its fulness, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Some background . . .

The collects in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) come from a blend of historic and ecumenical sources. Most are rooted in the classic Western liturgical tradition — especially the ancient Latin sources — and many were carried forward through the Lutheran Reformation into later hymnals. Others were shaped or newly crafted through the modern ecumenical work of the Consultation on Common Texts and the ELW worship committees, who adapted traditional prayers and composed new ones for clarity, theological coherence, and contemporary use.

Going Beyond

Further Exploration

Richard Lischer is an author and professor emeritus at the Duke Divinity School. In the following essay, he provides great insights into the Transfiguration story.

Access it here.

Luther’s FINAL SERMON is worth your time. The last paragraph is especially personal — realize he died three days later.

Access it here.

Access the Homepage of Two Worlds here
(linked to the picture).

I offer more background there and also the entire archive of the first three years.

Join Us for Worship and Study

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, and is part of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin (ELCA). We stream our Sunday worship at 9:30 each week. Please feel free to join us!

Access our YouTube Channel here.

Also, join us Sunday for in-person discussion of the Lectionary in the church library from 10:45-11:00. All are welcome!