New Thing- Sing at the Women's Appreciation Dinner, Presentation Prayers, Teach D. The PA Polka
Inspiration: The Feast of the Presentation, My Ordination, St. David's, Punxsutawney Phil
Time: All day
Bottom Line: Full, Awesome Day!
Reflection: Wow! Did we ever have a full day. Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Here is a nice little description of this blessed feast:
In olden times, the last farewells were said to the Christmas Season
on Candlemas, February 2. When Jesus was born, is was the custom for
every Jewish mother to go to the Temple forty days after her first male
child was born and 'present him to the Lord'. At the same time, the
mother was 'purified' or 'blessed'. Mary made this trip to the Temple
with the Baby Jesus and that is why February 2, the fortieh day after
Christmas, is also known as the Festival of the Presentation of Christ
in the Temple. Because this was the first public 'presentation' of
Jesus, the Light of the World, many candles are lighted for the
celebration of this day. It was also customary to bless the year's
supply of candles for the church on this day--hence the name, Candlemas.
Personally, this Feast has special significance for me as it is my 5th Diaconal Anniversary! To celebrate this morning I created my own Prayers of the People (since Deacons typically read the POP's at services) to "present" the people in my life to God.
Next, D. and I celebrated Groundhogs Day by watching the annual hero of old-thyme, rodent based weather predicting, Punxsutawney Phil, make his prediction of an early spring and then celebrated with me teaching her the Pennsylvania Polka. This was a song that I was forced to learn as a child in North Eastern PA and now D. has that experience to share.
After assisting at a funeral and writing a sermon, Ken and I made our way to St. David's Women's Appreciation Dinner which is the evening when the men of the church serve the women of the congregation. This year, I was
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