Devotion - Monday, March 31

I was visiting with a family on Saturday afternoon.  As is typical, the two-year old disappeared shortly after my arrival, then returned with a book.  He positioned himself in such a way as to make it clear that he expected me to lift him into my lap and read the book to him.  This gave rise to my being told the story of events earlier in the day when his father was sitting in his chair reading a book.  The son crawled into the chair close by and opened a book of his own.

It isn't only two year olds who imitate others.  We all do, to a certain degree.  Sometimes it is without realizing it.  We ought to step back and be sure that we are imitating appropriate models for the life that we would choose to live.

In I Corinthians 11.1, Paul says "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."  Thomas a'Kempis has written a book The Imitation of Christ.  Being aware of who we mimic and intentionally choosing the habits we will imitate is an important step in our spiritual journey.

I would also point out that we often become the model for another's imitation.  Give thought to that as well.  You may not yet have the eyes of a two year old child watching you, but you do have eyes looking to you.  If you are the one being imitated, would the imitation reflect the things you profess to be of utmost importance?

Sermon - March 30

4^th Sunday in Lent -  Year A
Psalm 23         

                     A Psalm of Trust

 

Donna called me in a bit of a panic on Friday.  The lessons were so long they would not fit on the back of the bulletin.  “What do you want me to include; what should I leave off?” she asked.  I am the one who told her to leave them all off.  I asked her to replace the other three appointed texts with the one set of verses to which you already had access.  “Print the words to the 23^rd Psalm,” I told her.  “Make sure to use the translation that also occurs in the hymnal.”   

I also asked her to space the verses out on the page.  Perhaps in the ill-founded hope that you might take out a pen and make a few notes about this Psalm, as we give it our full attention.  There is a lot in the Psalm, worthy of our full attention.  When asked “Is there a text important to you in troubled times,” the overwhelming response is Psalm 23.   It does speak to us, in troubling situations.  It’s message of a God in whom we can trust needs repeating. 

I want to start with the 5^th verse.  This is the verse which exposes the setting to which this psalm speaks.  Try to repeat it with me, from memory if possible.  If not completely from memory, allow the chorus around you to remind you of what words come next.  Verse 5 – “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.”

This psalm is spoken to those who find themselves surrounded.  At every turn, in every direction the challenges and chances are pressing in tight.  The LORD does not come and remove me from this; the LORD comes and prepares a table for me right there, in the presence of my enemies.  When this banquet is over, some of those enemies might breach the perimeter and overtake me.  But before that happens, they are going to have to watch the oil flow over me and see that overflowing cup.

 

Psalm 23 is in the category of psalms referred to as “Trust Psalms.”  They strengthen my resolve to trust; to trust in God, to trust in God’s promises.   

Ready to try the verse again?  Say it with me:  “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.”

Now we can go back up to the top of the page.  With an assurance that the LORD is fully aware that we are in the midst of a whole host of enemies, that opening affirmation doesn’t seem so naive.  The psalm was surely written by one who had passed through the valley of the shadow of death, and having come out the other side; they can now affirm the goodness and mercy of the LORD. 

Verse 1 is probably already committed to memory.  Say it with me:  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”  I know that there are things that you want.  There are even a lot of things that you need.  But isn’t it also true that we have are being cared for in a deep and compassionate way? 

Maybe it is our humility or our anxiety that if we lift too highly those signs of good fortune they may be cut off.  But it helps to acknowledge these and to practice giving thanks for them.  So turn to someone around you.  If you are seated next to a family with some small children, help them out by paring with one of the kids.  Let the parents find another adult to speak with.  Now share with each other an example of how God’s shepherding of you has removed from you your fear that your wants will not be met.   

Let me help you get started by sharing mine.  Caleb got a phone call this week from the Director of our church camp in Asheville.  He was offered a Senior Staff position for the summer.  Caleb has been struggling to find his career path; but he loves working at camp and particularly at Lutheridge.  This invitation has strengthened his confidence and allowed him to see in himself what we so easily see in him.  God has proven to be a very “good shepherd.”

How has God shepherded you?  How has God removed your “want”?

Say the verse with me again:  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

 

To get the impact of the next two verses, you have to know a bit about sheep.  Sheep will eat so long as there is food in front of them.  Lying down in green pastures is tough for them.  They live with such a fear of sacristy that they just keep on eating.  “Relax.  God will provide in abundance.”  They are also prone to drowning.  Still waters are preferable to rushing waters. 

 

Even without that background, verse 2 speaks to us, doesn’t it?  Say it with me:  The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.

Verse 3 might be the most difficult to remember.   It is devoid of poetic imagery; it actually fits more in the category of theology.  You will see that it also serves as a transition verse.  It is the affirmation, while difficult to remember, that gives the psalm its purpose.

You restore my soul, O Lord, and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.

Any idea what that last phrase means?  “For your name’s sake”?  What is the psalmist talking about here? 

I have benefited from the suggestion that it is God’s good name which is at stake here.  God does these things BECAUSE failure to do so would reflect badly on God.  God restores me; God guides me – for the sake of His name among the peoples and among the nations.  God does shepherd me because God is in a good mood – this is who God has promised to be.  And thus, if God fails to guild me, his name loses its luster.  But, of course, He won’t.  Too much is at stake here.  For the sake of his name God will restore and guide. 

I much prefer this translation of verse 4 to the translation in the NRSV.  Gone in that translation is the reference to the place through which I pass as the “valley of the shadow of death.”  Dr. Joseph Sittler pointed out that death isn’t the threat; it is the “shadow” of death.  Our fear of death is what is likely to separate us from God;  death itself cannot. 

Ready for verse 4?  Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

 

I do remember that we are in the middle of the season of Lent and I know that the focus of Lent is to identify our sins and work to seek a more pietistic response to God.  But our Lenten activities are to accomplish something more significant that scoring brownie points with God.  They are to position us to carry forth into the world the hope and promise which Easter brings.  I can’t think of a better way to accomplish that than by speaking and living the blessings of which Psalm 23 speaks.  If you haven’t accomplished anything else as a result of a Lenten discipline, take on the task of learning by heart Psalm 23.  Speak it to yourself; repeat it to your children; have it in mind when you find yourself at a loss for words.

How are we doing?  Ready to repeat the whole thing with me?  I am a bit nervous, and performance anxiety is a real possibility.  But let’s try it.  And when you find yourself at a loss for what comes next, listen all the more intently for the clues given by a neighbor and fellow pilgrim.

 

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.

You restore my soul, O Lord, and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil;

For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

 

Amen.

Devotion - Friday, March 28

Today's offering is from Andrew Nichols

 

Mark 6: 1-6

This is the story of Jesus being rejected by the people in his hometown of Nazareth. Prior to it Jesus had been healing people, working miracles, and attracting followers with his new teaching. But the reaction he gets in Nazareth is one of indignation. The people there do not feel that this man they have known – Mary and Joseph’s son, the carpenter – is worthy of their respect just because he’s somehow acquired some strange new wisdom. Jesus is amazed by their unbelief and, because of it, is unable to work any miracles there.

In his devotion this past Wednesday night, Pastor Chris spoke of an experience from the Spring Break trip in D.C. which opened his eyes to the way we consistently fail to see – really see – others around us. Going along with that idea, I believe this passage challenges us to look more deeply at the people who surround us in community and to be open to the ways God works through them.

How often do we fail to see the blessings that the people in our life are to us? How often do we fail to see God revealed in them?  And how often do we talk loved ones down from dreams that we feel are too lofty, unrealistic, or risky for them?

It is all too easy to decide that we have the people in our lives – our friends, family, and neighbors – “figured out”. They become familiar and we believe we know what they have to offer. But when we feel this way we run the risk of closing off the people who can most easily open our eyes to God’s work in the world. When we feel this way we fall – through good intentions – in danger of trapping those around us into positions where they are not able to perform the “miracles” they might otherwise be capable of.

When you talk to the people who you love and who fill your life on a daily basis realize that you are talking to children of God. Look into their eyes and know that behind them lies an entire universe that you are privileged to be shown a portion of. And understand that they always have something to offer you and are capable of performing great things in this world with the belief and support of those around them.

Devotion - Thursday, March 27

One of the Lenten disciplines I took up was to avoid the temptation to say, or give off the impression that I am "too busy."  My fear is that as you encounter the demons that need exorcising, and think it might be helpful to speak with your pastor about such that you may decide (out of consideration for my schedule) to go it alone.  A pastor should never be too busy for rituals of confession or absolution.

But a pastor must also not be so sterile of the unfinished business of life.

In Mark 6, Jesus and his disciples are experiencing the coming of so many that "they had no leisure even to eat."  Jesus leads them away, to a lonely place, by themselves.  The crowd sees them going, guesses where they will land, and rushes to get there ahead of them.  This is Mark's establishing of the situation into which it is necessary for Jesus to feed the 5,000 with a few loaves and fish.

Carlyle Marney writes this of how God's servants are to balance their own piety with their charge to care for others:
"All of us need our moments for solitude.  But sometimes we have to learn to pray while we go, to create as we sweep by, and to meditate between the acts.  A man who would live in this frenzied time without being himself in a frenzy must learn that life has enough room for solitude, and creation, but much of one's solitude is caught in a crowd.  We ought not overlook the creative potential of a busy life."

Devotion - Wednesday, March 26

I attended a workshop for SC Synod Professional Leaders yesterday.  The presenter is an author of books on how the church might face the challenges of the current era.

Among the things he said was the encouragement to "change the scorecard."  By that he meant that we have for too long ascribed to the notion that the purpose of the Church is to build up the church.  He pointed out that the Bible begins with a story in a garden and ends in a city which has no Temple.  In between there are glorious stories of a God who shows up and does surprising things.

I want the activities and programs of LCM to go well.  There is a good feeling when our Wednesday night dinners are crowded and when those first three rows are filled during Sunday morning worship.  It pained me to decide to cancel last night's Bible Study.  But I needed to hear yesterday's message that the goal of the Church (and LCM is an institution of the Church), is something other than building itself up.  We are to be able the building up of the Kingdom of God; not about building up our own little kingdom.

Building up our own little kingdom(s) leads us to count the number of persons; working in the Kingdom of God forces us to see the needs and hopes of each individual person.  Building up our own little kingdom(s) encourages us to draw fine lines around our differences; rather than encouraging us to celebrate the events which build up the Kingdom which bears God's name.

I want LCM to be strong, and exciting, and bursting at the seems; but I do realize that what God wants matters most.  And I know that what God wants is for us to worry less about the success of this program or that and to concern ourselves with whether each expression strengthens the individual(s) who through LCM have the opportunity to brush up against the amazing grace of God.

Tuesday Devotion - March 25

Today's offering is from Pastor Sean Miller, St. Mathias Lutheran, Easley:

John 9:1-41

 

        Once, when I was working as a hospital chaplain, I was called to talk to a tearful patient. I pulled up a chair next to the bed and simply allowed her to talk.  She proceeded to tell me that she had Stage IV cancer.  “I’m a good person,” she said.  “I’ve worked hard to help other people and to make sure I’m doing the right thing.  Why is all of this happening to me?  What have I done to deserve this?  There are a lot of bad people out there who do horrible things, yet nothing ever happens to them.  But I go to church and pray.  So, why me?”

            What we have with this story of the  blind man, and with my hospital patient, all happened because, as Jesus says, “so that God’s work might be revealed.”  It will always be a mystery to us as to what exactly God is up to when we are either born with, or are diagnosed later in life, with some major disease or handicap. What we can be assured of is that Scripture is that in times of affliction and tragedy, God is always at work for good.  Even though it is very hard for us to understand, God does use our circumstances in order to provide blessings to both those suffering and to others around them.

            When we get caught in bitterness and despair because of afflictions in our lives, may our eyes may also be opened to the love that God has for us, to the power of prayer as we take our bitterness and hopelessness to God, and, most of all, to needs of the world around us, so that we may carry the love of God to those who need to hear and feel it.

           

           

Pastor Sean 

Devotion - Monday, March 24

In Mark 5 we read of the woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years.  She had seen many doctors, but nothing helped her.  When she heard that Jesus was coming to her village, she decided that all she needed to do was to touch the hem of his garments and she would be made well.

Jesus is walking through the crowd, people are pressing upon him from every side, but still this woman manages to get close enough to do as she planned.  Immediately, she is made well.

Jesus, "perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, 'Who touched my garments?'"  The disciples pointed out that many people were touching him.  But Jesus knew that this touch was different.

How many will crowd around Jesus this day,bumping into him and pressing themselves against him?  Of those who do so, how many will touch Jesus, with the same conviction, the same faith, the same confidence as the women spoken of in Mark 5?

It is very popular to crowd around Jesus.  It is completely admirable to get as close to him as possible.  But turning to him with the trust and confidence and faith of the woman with the flow of blood is not so easy.  She is likely to have been the  type who remained at the foot of the cross when all the others had deserted.

As we continue our Lenten pilgrimage, it might help to think of the manner in which we encounter Jesus.  Are we merely among the throng, out to see what all the excitement is about?  Or do we go, knowing the ability of this one to change everything about our lives?

Devotion - Thursday, March 13

I have always taken great comfort from the story in March 2 of the healing of the paralytic.  What is unique about this story is that this man is carried to Jesus on a pallet.  When they arrive, the house is so full that they cannot get close to Jesus.  They go up on the roof, make an opening, and lower the pallet so their friend can been seen by Jesus.

The paralytic had not hope of getting to Jesus, with out the help of his friends.  None.  That is the first thing which strikes me.  I wonder, what chances do I have, without someone to carry me?  Particularly on those occasions when my heart is heavy or my burdens too overwhelming.  This man is not the only one who needs someone else to carry him to the place where Jesus can attend to him.

The story tells us "when Jesus saw their faith," he heals the man.  The "their" is not precisely identified, but it is surely more than a reference to the paralytic himself.  The faith of the pallet bearers figures into the response of Jesus.  There are times when my heart is so heavy that I cannot even pray.  The faith may reside deep within me, but it struggles to find expression.  Those who bear me up, those who carry me to the place where Jesus can attend to my wounds, their faith brings healing to me.

Part of my Lenten discipline is to give thanks for and to those who have carried me.  Another step in that discipline is to realize the opportunities when I have the opportunity to carry another.  We are not in this alone.  And our end is not determined solely by our own individual actions,

Devotion - Wednesday, March 12

At the end of last night's bible study, we formed pairs in order to give a blessing, and to receive a blessing.  The Psalm for this coming Sunday is 121; the last verse is a beautifully worded blessing:  "The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore."

We did this at the suggestion of the presenter on the podcast.  "Ever day, every one of us ought to hear a blessing spoken over us, and ought  to speak a blessing upon another," he said.

I guess you could say we do this when someone sneezes near us.  "God bless you!" the chorus goes up.  But surely there are more opportunities to remind and to be reminded that we are, truly blessed.

This morning I was reading from I Corinthians 2.  Here Paul acknowledges that when he came among the Corinthians he didn't worry about having eloquent words or lofty arguments.  All that he needed was to know Christ crucified.  I may not have a gift for saying just the right words, or pronouncing just the perfect blessing - but I do know all that I need to know.  God has blessed me; God is calling me to be a blessing to others.

Look for the opportunities to speak a word of blessing into the lives of others.  Be the voice who confirms what is already true.  Speak a blessing upon another.  And allow yourself to receive this word of blessing, bestowed upon you.

Tuesday Devotion - March 11

Today's offering is from Pastor Pat Riddle, St. Stephen's Lutheran Church:


Read Matthew 4:1-11  


Today’s devotional text of our Lord’s Temptation in the wilderness is remembered by the church on the 1st Sunday in Lent each year.  It is well worth pondering as we journey through the season of Lent toward Easter. 

I had the most interesting conversation some weeks back with a relative of a parishioner at the hospital. There arose in the room a pity question. I knew this relative was active at a rather large church so I asked him how his pastor handled that intriguing question. 

He looked at me, smiled, and said, “Well Pat I would, but I couldn't get that close to him, he has a bodyguard you know.”  I know I must have looked either perplexed or mystified as I am not known as “old poker face”.  I smiled, nodded and moved along in the conversation, as the image of a pastor with a bodyguard was outside my experience. 

As I meditated on the lesson in my Lenten devotional life I couldn't shake the bodyguard image.                                                                                                                                                 

Now I understand that in some congregations a bodyguard might be a needed precaution, yet as I wrestle events in the life of our Lord Christ right after his baptism, during his temptation, I am glad Jesus didn’t bring a bodyguard.                                                                                                                                                               
Just after his baptism and his anointing by the Spirit and where the Godhead proclaimed, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17 (NRSV)  Jesus goes into the wilderness (read desert waste land) for 40 days. 

Ever wonder how he got there? 

Can you believe it was the same Spirit that anointed him that led him into 40 days of fasting, isolation, and temptation?  That is some grist for thought, and furthermore why and where does the image of a body guard that keeps the world at arm’s length fit in to this devotion?

Well I am thankful Jesus didn’t keep the world full of brokenness that plagues and tempts us at arm’s length when he went into the wilderness for us!                                                                                                                               

No he was tempted just as we are.                                                                                                                                     
He faced all the fury of all those things that cling so tightly to us because he loves us.                                                                            
He confronted sin, death, and the devil head on trusting and relying on God as he began his ministry with and for us.

Thank God he didn’t bring a body guard but in fact was our bodyguard giving himself for us!

Pastor Riddle

Devotion - Monday, March 10

Today is my baptismal anniversary.  On this day, 57 years ago, I was baptized.

The trip to the church was the first time I had been out of the house.  My grandfather was very insistent that his children be baptized as soon as possible.  "If they can go to town, they can go to the church!"  (We lived in a rural area where making the 10 mile trip to town was as much a social outing as a necessity.)

I wore a baptismal gown that my mother had made for my brother.  That same gown has been worn by his children and by all three of mine.

At four weeks of age, I was surrendered by my mother and father and commended into the care of God.  

There have been bumps along the way and there are sure to be more in the future, but I have had the resources to deal with them all, as a result of the assurances given me by virtue of that first foray into the world.  The promises spoken over me on that day have proven to be a shield and a comfort.

My prayer is that each of you might retrace the sign of the cross on your forehead and remember the day that water was poured over you and you were assured that as a child of God, you were "marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit" forever.

Sermon - Lent 1

Matthew 4:1-11                                                                                  

                          God Doesn't Leave when Trouble Comes

 

I started a thread late last night, asking my Facebook Friends and my Twitter followers to share their experiences of “wilderness.”  What I had expected was confirmed – we all know that place, that feeling, that wondering if we will ever stop simply wandering through life.  When are the times, where are the places, that you have experienced the wilderness?  Are you there, now?  Or have you had a pretty good run lately and find yourself far removed from any sense of being in a wilderness?

 

I apologize to those who, like me, occasionally strap on a backpack and try to find a slice of wilderness.  My greatest disappointment during the last extended hike I did was there was never a time when I couldn’t get a cell phone signal.  In those instances, we go in search of wilderness – wilderness as a place. 

 

Certainly Jesus goes to a place, for these forty days, but the experience is where the deepest, darkness sense of wilderness occur.

 

How odd it is, given our desire to avoid wilderness that this is the very place to which Jesus would go immediately after he is baptized.  He doesn’t just go there; he is “led” there.  In one version we are even told that he was “driven” there. 

 

Perhaps the lesson to be learned here is that the wilderness is not as devoid of God’s presence as we might think.  If God’s Spirit “leads” Jesus there, he had to have known the way.  He must have been there before; maybe many times.  And the Spirit understands that if Jesus is ever going to understand then he must go there, too.  And not on some quick novelty tour.  He needs some intense time there.

 

Matthew writes: “Then Jesus was lead up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”  Jesus is lead by the Spirit, into the wilderness in or­der to be tempted.  What is about to happen to him is not the result of God's absence; it is the direct result of God's presence.

 

I mentioned on Wednesday that Lent is the perfect time to consider the differences between the Jesus we would prefer and the Jesus that we get.  One of the places where that begins is in realizing that while the Jesus we prefer saves us from trails and temptations, the Jesus we get starts out by being lead into the wilderness where temptations and trials abound.

 

The temptation begins, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."   Scripture tells us that Jesus was a per­son of compassion.  He heals the sick and binds up the broken.  How much of their suffering was the direct result of their need?  Had the basic necessi­ties of life been available to them, many if not most of their illnesses would have been avoid­ed.  "Command these stones to become loaves of bread," is more than a temptation for Jesus to satisfy his own hunger.  It sets before him the opportunity to eliminate human suffering.

Some of those who call out the name of Christ would have us believe that Jesus did change the stones into bread.  They are the ones who claim that as a result of their faith they have never experienced want or need.  They are the ones who tell us that if we give our life to Christ all we could ever want will come our way.  They are the ones whose stories flood the covers of reli­gious tabloids. 

 

The Gospel writer calls a halt to such blind­ness and ignorance.  Jesus doesn't do it.  He refuses to change the stones into bread; he refuses to elim­inate our suffering and need.

 

I don't really know why he doesn't.  I have never heard an answer which really satis­fies me.  But I do know that Jesus understood his mission to be something different.  His inten­tion was not merely eliminate our need or want.  

Maybe the Tempter hoped to play upon Jesus' strength of conviction, for the next temptation comes almost as a dare.  "Since you are so high and mighty," the Accuser seems to say, "throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple.  Prove that you are the one sent by God, the one whose Word reveals the way to salvation."  Of all the temptations set be­fore Jesus, this is the one that would have done the most to make our job easier.  Jesus is being offered the chance to prove that he is the Son of God.

 

Think how wonderful it would be, to have an eye witness account of Jesus being miraculously saved by a band of guardian angels.  Jesus per­forms so many other miracles, why won't he do the one that would prove he is whom we believe him to be?  Doing this would surely have been easier than some of the miracles he does perform.  This could not have been as difficult as the calm­ing of the storm, or the raising of Lazarus from the dead, or the giving sight to the man born blind.  In one simple miracle Jesus could remove all doubt and in its place give us certainty as to his identity.  But again Jesus says, "No!"  He does­n't do it.  And we who call upon his name are forever left with the im­possible job of explaining why we believe in something that lacks empirical proof.

The next stop on the Tempter's tour is a vantage point from which one sees all the kingdoms of the world.  Forget for a mo­ment the question of ownership, whether these are indeed in the possession of Tempter of if this is a hollow claim.  The tempta­tion which is set before Jesus is to establish a new world order; to eliminate corrupt governments, to make the kingdom of God synonymous with the kingdoms of this world.

 

There are expressions of the faith which still see this as their goal.  They live out their lives in obedience to the false notion that Jesus accepted this temptation and that we are to work to bring it to completion.

 

These believers act in such a way as to suggest that Jesus was mistaken when he turned down the offer to be the ruler over all peoples.  They want the mission of the church to be defined as the process of making everybody comply with the commands of God.  You see this mind set at work each time someone juxtaposes the Word of God with some piece of legislation.  It comes into play whenever someone tries to reduce Jesus' conversation about the kingdom of God into a polit­ical agenda or endorsement for some charismatic leader.

 

It might be a wonderful world if everyone did obey God and saw them­selves as citizens of God's kingdom.  But the gospel writer reminds us that Jesus said "No!"  He did not agree.  As a result we will never live in God's king­dom on earth.  The kingdoms which we survey are imperfect and they will continue to be.  We serve God and God alone. 

After he has finished his tempting, the devil leaves Jesus and the angels come and wait on him.  Matthew’s use of the word “suddenly” could be read to suggest that they were there all along.  As Christ endures his temptation, he is not in some god-forsaken place, living far from the presence of God.  God, and God’s Holy Angels, are with him. 

In our wilderness, God is with us too.  In our hour of need, Christ is present.  Sometimes the greatest temptations come, not when we are hiding in the shadows of seedy living, but when we are at the pinnacle of our existence.  Sometimes the greatest temptation is to do what we think would eliminate suffering rather that heeding God’s word to be present and be patient.  Sometimes the greatest temptation is to attempt to demonstrate that God is on our side rather than accepting the humble role of servant.  Sometimes the greatest temptation is to re-create the world in the image we have rather than the image which reflects God.

I have been (I continue to be) in a bit of a wilderness these days.  My sister’s death has been tough; in many ways tougher than the death of my parents.  This is a wilderness I did not anticipate entering, at least not this soon.  And, I am not out of it yet.  You can probably tell that by my rambling sermons and my inability to follow up on even the simplest of tasks.  It is a wilderness.   

But I also want to share this: as I pass through this wilderness I am constantly and continually being reminded that I am not alone.  I may feel as if the walls and the worlds are crashing in upon me – but I know I am not alone.  The comments and hugs, the cards and messages – they all confirm that while this may be a place where happiness is impossible to find, it is not God-forsaken.  God’s presence has been even more real.

Other than an occasional hiking trip – we all want to stay away from the wilderness.  It is not the place we would seek or prefer.  But sometimes it is the place that we get.  How assuring it is to be reminded that this is place where God chose to send Jesus.  He and the holy angels are already there.

 

Amen.

Devotion - Thursday, March 6

During these days of Lent we take on our Lenten disciplines.  But for what end?  What are we attempting to accomplish?

In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers warns against seeking to become "perfect."  Or, at least, against becoming perfect in the way which some would seek perfection.

"Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection."  It is not as if God what seeks are specimens of holiness which he can put in his museum.  Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God.

A perfect relationship with God does not elevate me to an admired status among others; a status which diverts their eyes from God and onto me - as a shinning example of what one can become should they set their mind to it.  This would be human perfection; not Christian perfection.

Chambers continues, "Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God.  God is not after perfecting me to a specimen in His show-room; He is getting me to the place where He can us me."

"Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection." 

Whatever your Lenten discipline, may it help get you to the place where God can use you.

Devotion - Ash Wednesday

Some will look upon this day as a "downer."  They will wonder why anyone would place ashes on their faces and intentionally reduce their options for behaviors and/or diet.  Some will.

But not me.  And I pray, not you either.

Rather, I hope you will see this day (and the 39 to follow) as an opportunity to strip away all the add-ons which have stymied your relationship with God.  I hope you will seek the path(s) which open you to the possibilities of a life lived the way God saw that it could be lived on that sixth day of creation.

The self-sacrifice reflected on the cross of Jesus is not a denial of all that is joyful and promising; it is a refusal to live as the world would have us live.

The story about being at the alter and remembering that you have a grievance against your sister or brother is not about what one must do in order for God to accept our offering.  Rather, it is about the place God would put the emphasis.  Sure, God wants us to come to him with our offerings; but  God wants us to be united and restored in our relationships with one another.

I am not giving up ANYTHING for Lent.  Anything which will be missing from my live these next 40 days is an expression of the freedom Christ has given me to focus on what matters most in my life and to live my life in a way which reflects what matters the most.

May the pattern I set for my life these next 40 days become a habit which I will maintain for the remainder of the year.