Sam Portaro - Daysprings: Meditations for the Weekdays of Advent, Lent and Easter

Daysprings

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Meditations for the Weekdays
of Advent, Lent, and Easter

SAM PORTARO

A COWLEY PUBLICATIONS BOOK

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

Published in the United States of America

by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

www.rowmanlittlefield.com

Estover Road

Plymouth PL6 7PY

United Kingdom

Copyright 2001 by Sam Portaro

Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible and The New English Bible. Used by permission.

Cover art: Dayspring by Ansgar Holmberg, CSG

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Portaro, Sam Anthony.

Daysprings : meditations for the weekdays of Advent, Lent, and Easter / Sam Portaro.

p. cm.

Sequel to: Brightest and best.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-1-56101-187-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-56101-187-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Episcopal Church. Lesser feasts and fasts. 2. AdventMeditations. 3. LentMeditations. 4. EastertideMeditations. I. Title.

BX5947 L47 P67 2001

2423dc21

00-047390

Printed in the United States of America.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

For my friends at Cowley,
the community and the press,
and for my best friend,
Chris

Dayspring, my dictionary tells me, is an archaic word meaning dawn. But I have chosen Daysprings as the title for this collection of meditations for the several meanings in the ancient word and its components. I hope these brief reflections shed new light on old, familiar passages and illuminate the way through new ones. I also hope these pieces will prove to be springboards to new and creative meditation for readers, pastors, and preachers, and provide extra buoyancy for each day. Lastly, I hope these thoughts will flow like fresh, living waters through days of fast and feast, bringing refreshment.

This collection follows Brightest and Best: A Companion to the Lesser Feasts and Fasts and completes that lectionary. The first collection provided meditations on each of the persons and occasions detailed in the Episcopal calendar of lesser feasts and fasts. This second volume provides reflections for the seasonal daily lections beginning with Monday in Advent I to Christmas and Epiphany, and from Ash Wednesday through the forty days of Lent and Holy Week to Easter, then each of the fifty days of Eastertide, ending at Pentecost.

In this volume I have provided the lectionary citations at the beginning of each meditation to aid those without access to Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Almost all scriptural quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version or The New English Bible. The specific readings referenced directly or forming the basis for the meditations are highlighted in boldface and indexed at the end of the book for readers and homilists who find a scriptural index useful.

I have included several bonuses, small additions to the sequence intended to provide continuity for those who may use these pieces for community devotion and especially for those who may be shut in, or for other cause are unable to share certain days of devotion or celebration with the gathered community. Thus, I have included meditations for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as well as three meditations for Good Friday, one for Holy Saturday, and one for late in Easter Day. These are occasions that, for me, possess rich possibility for interior reflection because of the extremely personal and intimate nature of the events they commemorate.

The obvious exception is the omission of any meditation for the Day of Pentecost itself. This day is one for many voices, a day made for community because it is the day that makes us community. Throughout the writing of this book, I have been keenly aware of the presence of others, the community of scriptural ancestors, companions in family, friendship, and ministry, and readers whose company is shared on every page. Arriving at the end of the meditation for the eve of Pentecost, I was deeply appreciative of that companionship but was also profoundly aware that I could go no farther. For we can only anticipate the ultimate day of Pentecost when we are gathered as one, sharing those lesser Pentecosts we celebrate until that day comes. Ill meet you there.

until the Baptism of Christ

Monday

The Doctor is IN, reads the sign over Lucys familiar booth in the comic strip Peanuts. Sometimes I think I dont know anything about life. I need help, confesses Charlie Brown. Tell me a great truth! he insists. Tell me something about living that will help me.

Lucy leans forward and asks, Do you ever wake up at night and want a drink of water? Sure, quite often, answers Charlie. With an air of wisdom Lucy offers, When youre getting a drink of water in the dark, always rinse out the glass because there might be a bug in it!... Five cents, please.

A bewildered Charlie comments, Great truths are even more simple than I thought they were.

We live among many beleaguered Charlie Browns, and a world of equally opportunistic Lucys. Bewilderment abounds as each of us seeks a way through an increasingly complex world. Whether we ask with the direct humility of Charlie Brown, or simply fall into step behind those who appear to have greater confidence than we do, we are all eager for some direction, looking for clues and cues to direct us along lifes path.