Set Sometime Aside Today

Isaiah 58:9-14

⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, ¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. ¹¹ The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. ¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. ¹³ "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, ¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

As I read this passage from Isaiah I couldn’t help thinking that the message is much like a message one would hear in a psalm. This passage has a warning tone, and at the same time it has a comforting tone as well. It is a warning to those who do not keep the Sabbath holy, and it is a comfort to those who do keep the Sabbath holy.

Reading this passage was a comfort to me, because as I thought about it, I realized that I do in fact, keep the Sabbath holy. I go to church every week, and I devote that day to God. As I thought about it more, I asked myself why. It is true that I have been brought up to go to church every Sunday, but I have never objected to this. My teenage angst has never rebelled against going to church, and on the Sundays that I miss church I get this empty feeling. I miss having the reminder that God is there watching over me in my life.

Isaiah said that God will punish those who do not keep the Sabbath holy, and God will reward those who do keep the Sabbath holy. The way I see it, keeping the Sabbath holy is a double-winner. We receive the comfort of God in our lives and we “will find our joy in the Lord”. To not keep the Sabbath holy is a double-loser. We miss God in our lives, and we will not find our joy in the Lord. If we embrace the Lord we surely will find the greatest of joys! –Brendan Pasley

Prayer – Lord, I will set sometime aside today to meditate on your loving presence in my life.

Lord, let no action of mine come from pride or greed today

Isaiah 58:1-9

¹ "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

³ 'Why have we fasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness ^[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

The politicians rule the day;

Religious leaders have their say;

Young boys and men are maimed or die,

Women and children left to cry.

So I must not then humbly fast

And pretend that justice will last.

I must listen to God’s own word

And thus turn from the common herd.

No bright apparel should I don:

The killing fields stretch on and on.

Death and destruction, hand in hand,

Go forth and desecrate the land.

When will it be against the law

To aim a gun - or even draw?

When will it end, when will it cease?

When will mankind find God’s great peace?

-Donald B. Noyes

Prayer- Lord, let no action of mine come from pride or greed today.

The Courage to Lose Our Lives and Place Everything in God's Hands

Luke 9:22-27 ²² And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." ²³Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. ²⁵What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? ²⁶If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

As Christians we are called to take up our cross and follow Him. We are told what good is it to gain the whole world if we lose ourselves, and that those who want to save their own lives will lose them. It sounds simple, put your faith in God, put Him at the center of your life and while you may struggle He will be with you, he will take care of you. But letting go and trusting in God is not always as easy as it sounds. How many times do we try to do everything ourselves? If we just work harder we won't get laid off, we'll have job security. If we just stay up late burning the midnight oil worrying, we'll find a way to solve our latest problem and everything will be fine.

We try to fix everything on our own. While we are in the trenches of everyday life it is so easy to focus on what we can do that we forget all about or promise to put our faith in Jesus. Letting go and trusting that God will provide for us and the He will always be there with us through all of our struggles is not easy. It takes lots or prayer and reflection and for me lots of deep breaths to calm myself down, but it is the first step toward denying ourselves and following Him.

Prayer –Lord, give us the courage to lose our lives and place everything in your hands.

Ash Wednesday

Psalm 51:3-6, 12-17

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ^[a] ; you teach ^[b] me wisdom in the inmost place. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me…13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. 14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips,and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are ^[a] a broken spirit;a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

All Things of Dust to Dust Return

All things of dust to dust return

on earth and in the sky.

The hottest, brightest suns that burn

in time grow dim and die.

The fish that leap, the birds that soar,

the newborn young that play,

the leaves that fill the forest floor

revert to dust and clay.

Lord, mark with dust and ash my brow

so I may comprehend

that every moment here and now

links me to that same end

I share with all that breathe and burn,

that flare and fade and tire

yet by their waning light discern

your own undying fire.

Lord, mark upon my brow this sign:

a stark and barren cross

reminding me that though divine

you know my pain and loss,

and at the touch of dust and ash

awake my heart to view

how death itself is but a flash

that dies away in you.

Thomas H. Troeger

copyright © 2009 Oxford University Press

from God, You Made All Things for Singing, forthcoming in 2009

Welcome

Welcome to 'to live for a season', a Lenten devotion blog brought to you by the people of Christ Church Bethany  Over the next forty days, we will be sharing a Holy Lent.

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