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.

Tuesday Devotion - March 4

Today's offering is from Pastor Robert Miles, St. Michael, Greenville:

Its Mardi Gras!  Fat Tuesday.  An excuse for partying.  Carnivale.  A time for preparation.  Shrove Tuesday (the past tense of “shrive” – an old word for cleansing from one’s sins).

Some of us eat pancakes (and the fatty meat which usually accompanies them) and burn last Palm Sunday’s leftover branches to make the ashes for tomorrow’s Ash Wednesday.  The idea is to use up all the fat in the house before Lent, when we do not eat it (as a sign of fasting and penance).  But Waffle House and IHOP have rendered the practice not nearly so meaningful.  The idea is to burn the brittle palms of our broken promises (All Glory, Laud, and Honor to Thee, Redeemer King) to remind us of our human mortality and deep dependence on God’s grace.

 

Humble, human, humus – all derive from the same root, which means “earth.”  Being confronted with our humble, human mortality can be a “terrible imposition” when it does not occur on the day we have ritualized it.  But it is also our highest hope, because . . .

Ashes are both ending and beginning!  The rotting dirt of the dead tree is also the most fertile soil on the forest floor.  The end of all carbon-based life forms becomes the beginning of new life.  The seed dies to become the fruit.  Good Friday and Easter are inseparable.  We cannot have either without the other.  This is the lesson and the life of Christian discipleship.

So, while it may be commendable and even spiritually helpful to give up something for Lent, the far-more holy discipline would be to take up something for Lent.  Do something that makes you different.   Do something that makes the kind of difference God makes in the world. 

Eat a doughnut today.  Then pick up a handful of dirt.  Prayerfully reflect on what God is growing in you and through you.  Then set about helping God do this.

That’s a real excuse for a party!

Pastor Miles

 

Devotion - Monday, March 3

The start of Lent is only two days away.  I have appreciated the conversations regarding an appropriate or helpful Lenten discipline.  Those conversations have brought me back to the place I ended in last Wednesday evening's LCM program:  Don't overlook the basics.

If you are looking for some way to mark this Lenten season, start by making sure that you have a previously established pattern of reading your Bible and saying your prayers.  Most of us find it difficult to establish and maintain such a pattern.

But there is no substitute for time spent with the collective witness of those who have gone before (which is what our Bibles are - a collection of the experiences of those who have sought God and tried to live the life God would have them live), and time spent in conversation with the One whom we confess as our best friend forever (and in this case "forever" really does mean forever.")

Yes, there are bible passages which need interpretation and I am not always sure I understand all the imagery.  But that is most often an excuse, more than reality.

Praying seems like such an awkward thing to do.  Until you do it long enough that you begin to yearn for those ten minutes of quiet and reflection.

Before you embark upon the casual festivities of Shrove Tuesday, spend a few minutes preparing for the start of Lent.  Ask yourself what is most needful in your relationship with God, and identify a Lenten Discipline that addresses the identified opportunity for a stronger response to God.