Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Jacob Epstein, Tate Britain

The Lord will watch over your going out and your coming in

from this time forth forevermore.  Psalm 121

This is the last line of the Psalm for Sunday. Every ending is a beginning in the Lord’s presence. That’s part of what is contained in forgiveness as a Christian teaching. The night of suffering ends with a word, and a new life begins.

In the first reading for Sunday Jacob faces an end and accepts a beginning. He  comes back home and there experiences all-night turmoil on the bank of a river, representing a border that must be crossed as well as the passing of time. At dawn, after a dark night of wrestling with himself and with his own conscience, Jacob is reborn. He gets a blessing from the messenger of God, a new name and a new purpose in life, not to mention a limp as a lasting mark of the fight.

In the Gospel reading,  the woman of Jesus’ parable persists. She will not give up.  She will not surrender to despair or to her fate. She pushes forward through a struggle of her life. The woman is a model of faithfulness. She presses her case until she is rewarded.

Be persistent. Be true and constant. Return to the home-place of your faith. Wrestle with regret and with old ideas until you receive a new heart and a new outlook. Morning will come, just like it came for Jacob. Don’t give up.

Judy Mongiardo, network coordinator for Family Promise Metrowest, will be our guest speaker Sunday. We will hear some of the interesting developments of the Family Promise program. I hope you will all come, and bring a friend or neighbor. I will make  some comments about Family Promise as a ministry of our congregation. Kim Ho, one of our coordinators, will say some things about the program from her perspective, and introduce Judy .A forum on Family Promise follows coffee. I hope that you will all stay and join in the discussion about Family Promise.

During the month of October invite someone to church. Invitation cards are on the table in the back of the church.

The choir rehearses at 8:45 am.

Bring in canned goods for the Wayland Food Pantry.

Rejoicing Spirits Sunday at 4 pm.

The council meets Monday, October 17 at 7:30 pm.

Thursday lunch Thursday, October 20 at 12 noon.