to live for a season

2009-03-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

March 17th
Matthew 18: 21-35
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a] 23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[b] was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. 29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' 30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
I am not a good skier. But I like it. The first time I ventured out this year a familiar fear encroached upon my desire to bask in the cold and simply get some exercise. Halfway down the first run I questioned whether I really like this sport or whether I simply liked the idea of it. That day I resolved simply that I would not leave simply out of fear. And in that I was successful. Baby steps.
The myth of this reading, as I have read it this season, is this: the offense of the forgiven servant is that he withheld forgiveness for an offense that paled compared to that for which he was forgiven. But upon further reading that does not appear to be the case. For the master simply says: “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” There is no mention of scale. If we have any doubt, verse thirty-five closes the case: “This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive a brother or sister from your heart.”
How many opportunities do we have to deny someone in our life something we have JUST BEEN FORGIVEN, AND at a proportion that would horrify those around us (as appears to happen in the gospel.) Not very often for me at least. Were I to be forgiven my mortgage I would be inclined to be quite generous that day. This is no compliment to me. It is human nature. But on closer reading this is not what God is demanding of us. Remember…”unless you forgive a brother or sister from your heart…..” That is the command. No scale.
I know… connect the skiing thing with gospel account. I am forgiven for so much on a regular basis. Not huge things. I don’t owe anyone ten thousand bags of gold as does this poor servant. I am sure there are those who give us an inflation-adjusted amount to which we could relate; I am not one of them. It is probably a few hundred thousand years of wages. This misses the point. When I forgive…..is it from heart? That is what the gospel demands here. No scale.
For all the little offenses day in and day out we are forgiven form the very heart of God. Perhaps the question is not whether we will forgive even smaller things but rather, will we forgive those things that actually have hurt us, or made us angry, or threatened us.
So, back to the skiing thing. The remedial skills I have acquired only work when I overcome the fear and simply yield to gravity. When I let myself literally fall down the mountain, then and only then can I enjoy the sport. I have to not be afraid and embrace speed. The risk is injury and the payoff is the exhilaration that only comes (at least for me ) from physical exertion. Forgiveness only works when you fall into God. Maybe it only counts when there is risk…real risk. Of being wrong. Of being duped. But the message, at least to me, seems to be this: surrender yourself to the will of God and fall..trusting in the skills we hone at church every Sunday. Forgive and you will be forgiven. No scale. Just forgive. –Kevin Pasley

Practice – Forgive someone today.

March 18th
Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9
1 Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? 9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Moses and the Israelites are in the territory of Moab. To prepare the people for their entrance into Canaan, and as his final act at this important time of transferring leadership to Joshua, Moses delivers his farewell addresses. In the discourses, which are a covenant renewal, Moses explains portions of the law and exhorts the Israelites to love and obey God in the land that they are about to enter.

In this section of Deuteronomy 4, we hear God’s call to his people to hear and obey. Then in verse 9 we hear Moses warning his people to never forget what they have seen God doing for them. He prays that God’s miracles will have a deep and permanent effect on their lives. Then he instructs the people to tell their children and grandchildren about the glorious miracles God has performed.

The date of Deuteronomy, the fifth book in the Torah, is approximately 1406 B.C. At that point God had indeed performed many miracles. In 2009 A.D. we read and study the Bible, attend Bible study classes, and prepare an excellent Church School so that we and our children will indeed know many of the Old Testament miracles and the even more glorious miracles beginning with the birth of Jesus. Of course, we have the benefit of the Bible and numerous other scholarly books so we may read Bible stories over and over again, although we discuss them orally.

But what about our personal stories? How about the glorious miracles God has performed in our lives? In passing them down to our children and grandchildren, we are helping to enrich their faith. These memorable firsthand examples of God at work in our lives and the lives of others in our family take on special importance because they are true, even if everyone tells slightly different versions of the same events. These unique and powerful oral stories committed to memory are family heirlooms held in the heart. They are a gift to each generation that preserves them by remembering them and passing them on. I have passed on my stories which might be entitled “The I.A.H. Ring,” “A Little Girl’s Big Heart,” “A Visit from the Virgin Mary,” “The Christmas Tree Lesson,” “The Easter Lily Miracle,” and so many others which space prevents me from naming and relating.

As part of your Lenten discipline, why not tell some of your special stories that show God at work in your lives? You may help to deepen your own relationship with Jesus at the same time.
-Mary Karoll

Practice – Share a story of faith with someone today. (Practice challenge –share two!)

March 19th
Luke 11: 14-23
14Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15But some of them said, "By Beelzebub,[a] the prince of demons, he is driving out demons." 16Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. 17Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. 19Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 21"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. 23"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.

Many friends are getting divorced. Some, it could be said, are amicable. Some, it could be said, are atrocious…altogether. All apart. Talk about a house divided! Like a man, marriage can have a demon inside; sometimes they are legion. Certainly the devil is out to get us, and his wiley ways are legion.
But we don’t have to let him win! If we make time for God, make time for ourselves, make time for each other. Together, not apart. Within, not without.
Many friends are losing their jobs. Some are merely let go, lay-offs, a sign of the times. Some are bruised and battered, emotionally and physically, and choose to leave, to sacrifice their livilhood to save their lives. Tough luck, tough call. But a house divided can not stand, and to be attacked from without and within does not strengthen anyone for the good. The devil may be in this economic mess. He is certainly in those of power who abuse both that power and those in their charge.
But we don’t have to let him win! When we make time for God, for ourselves, and each other, God gives us the strength to face down all manner of devils.
Many people are losing their way. Away from the straight and narrow, away from the light. Away from the patience, kindness, and courtesy that all of us need, deserve, and desire. We so easily fall into the cracks of commercialism, of keeping-up-with-the-Jones’s, of the ends justifying the means, no matter the cost. This loss of our moral compass can lead to despair and ruined lives. This makes Beelzebub so very happy!
But we don’t have to let him win! This crisis too shall pass. For God is stronger, and he shall come upon the devil, and overcome him. With God, all things are possible. Make time. – April Stirling

Prayer- The kingdom of God is upon us. May we all welcome its power into our lives.

March 20th
Hosea 14:2-10
2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. [a] 3 Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion." 4 "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; 6 his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. 7 Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the grain. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon. 8 O Ephraim, what more have I [b] to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from me." 9 Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

Christians are people who take words seriously. There are some words we never say, or try not to say. There are other words we make it our business to say, and say often; I love you. I forgive you. “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God.” We Christians know the power of words.
Words shape. They shape our lives, our souls, the kind of church we choose to build, and the kind of world we decide to create. This booklet has many words (about twenty thousand.) Some of them are from scripture, others, are from the “fruit of the lips” of fellow parishioners. Which ones will you let shape you this Lent? -Tricia Pasley

Prayer – God of words, I will pause, and remember your precepts, before I speak today.

March 21st
Luke 18:9-14
9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about[a] himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Each day the news brings us images of the hardships being suffered by our brothers and sisters in the world, and their daily struggle just to stay alive. To think what they bear -- and still trust in God. It should take but an instant to be deeply humbled, and to acknowledge what fortune is ours by the grace of God. So, if we are affected by our estimate of our own importance, we pray one day to be exalted with our brothers and sisters. For who, on reflection, can dare to be self-righteous. –Regina Starolis

Practice- Pray today.

March 22nd
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[a]' 22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. 25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

“Not fair!” cried out the younger son that day,
when father drew his friends and slaves to hand
and ordered that a fatted calf be slain
to celebrate his older son’s return.

Bedraggled, filthy, desperate and lean,
the prodigal crept back through father’s fields
his riches lost, his baggage filled with shame
no longer worthy to be called a son.

But father ran to meet this hobo son,
to wrap his shrunken frame in furs and silk,
to fit his crusted feet with shoes of gold,
and weepfully embrace him in his joy.

“You’re not less dear to me,” the father said
“but look, the lost one has come back to us.
We feast and dance and pour the finest wine
because your brother’s come to life again.”
-Kathie McKiernan

Prayer-Father, help me to remember that even in the midst of confusion and sin, there is a path that leads me home.

March 23rd
John 4:43-54
43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there. 46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." 49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." 50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour." 53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed. 54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

The first and only thing that came to my mind after reading this passage was, do we need these miracles to believe? For me the answer has always been no. In fact, sometimes I have found myself wishing these miracle examples weren’t in the Bible. I have often struggled with these kinds of examples, wanting to rationalize what other factors could have contributed to the so-called miracle result. So this struggle got me thinking. I looked this topic up in my bible dictionary and found that this kind of debate has been going on forever. In fact my dictionary informs me that this subject can be tied to theistic vs. non-theistic, natural vs. supernatural, and harmony view vs. intervention. Wow! Now this has fueled my curiosity and has me doing a lot more inner searching.
I am one that believes praying is an important part of ones spiritual life. When I pray to God am I praying for his intervention or, am I praying for myself to use the faith I have to provide the desired result? For me theistic, natural, and harmony seem to put me at ease. But on the other hand I can see how praying is all about non-theistic, supernatural and intervention. Maybe without realizing it my faith alone does have me believing in miracles.
In this time of stress and uncertainty, I pray for a faith centered calming approach to each day. Amen. –Bob Skolozdra

Prayer- Pray for a faith centered calming approach to today.

March 24th
John 5:1-16
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' " 12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.

John tells us about another healing miracle, this one at the Sheep Gate Pool in Jerusalem. Periodically, an angel of the Lord would enter the waters of this placid pool, and the first sick person, but only the first sick person, to get into the troubled waters with the angel, was healed.
A man who had been ill for 38 years had waited patiently by the pool for a healing opportunity; but some other pushy, sick individual always beat him to the holy immersion, for the paralyzed man had no one to help him. Jesus, coming by, knows without being told, that this is the situation. Doing what is just, right, and timely, Jesus asks the paralytic if he wants to be healed. Rather than answer directly with an affirmative and resounding, “Yes!” the paralytic, whining and chuck full of excuses, explains his dilemma to Jesus. Without further ado, Jesus says to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” The paralytic is instantly healed, although he has not dipped even a finger into the magical healing waters. He takes up his mat and walks, all on a bright Saturday afternoon - the Sabbath.
So we have a miraculous healing of one individual from a multitude of invalids: blind, lame, and paralyzed, all waiting under the five porticoes around the pool, symbolic of the five books of the Jewish law, waiting, waiting, waiting, in the perpetual dismal shade of the barrenness and sterility of the Mosaic law.
The Jewish authorities, who were always trailing Jesus, were aware of the healing at the pool on the Sabbath. They got after the healed paralytic because he was carrying his pallet on the Sabbath, thus doing work. The healed paralytic proceeds to put the blame on the healer whom he did not know was Jesus.
In due time, Jesus catches up with him in the temple and says, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” Now the healed man was able to tell the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him on the Sabbath. And so the authorities had one more reason for persecuting Jesus, and much of their case had to do with doing good on the Sabbath.
The healing was truly miraculous, but the reactions of all involved were very human and rather disappointing, but, at the same time, predictable. No good deed goes unpunished, and forget about wonder or gratitude. Unfortunately, the deeper lesson of the miracle went unlearned and unappreciated by many of those present. Fortunately, two thousand years later we are inheritors of the lesson as taught by John. – Ed Karoll

Another Take: My passage was one of many about Christ as healer. A young psychiatrist who is a devout Catholic is fascinated with the idea of "casting out the demons". Who were these demons? Were they anger, jealousy toward Christ? Were they fear of the unknown that Christ fortold? Is that why he was able to "cast them out" by acknowledging them and telling them to leave. Or were they not anything that we are expected to understand by human experience. Were they part of the temptation of Christ by darker forces? Or were they darker forces of the human experience,that Christ could see and calm and heal? -Pam Halstead

Prayer- Lord, thank-you for the waters of baptism, which always flow through our lives.

March 25th
John 5:17-30
17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. 24"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

In John 5, Jesus breaks the law, and heals on the Sabbath, he upsets the rule of law. But worse, he tells others it’s ok to break the law, too. Not only is this man a menace, he also incites others to ignore authority. How can any society allow the rule of law to be dismissed? What if today a priest said: You don’t have to follow the rules! The old rules no longer apply. You don’t have to follow the law. The law is wrong.
What would we do with such a troublemaker? Just like the Pharisees, we would want to punish him or her. But Jesus goes even further! He declares that he is the Son of God. That he has the authority to change the Law, because God has given him the right to do so. That he speaks for God. And if that is not enough, he tells the authorities that, whoever hears his words and does what he says, will have everlasting life. Those that hear him, but don’t do what he says, will be damned. What audacity! I’ve moved from the “defrock him” to the “stone him!” camp.

We’re like the Pharisees of old, set in our ways, smug in safety, comforts and righteousness. We’re the good, law-abiding people, right? We don’t need a revolutionary upsetting things. So, Jesus challenges us in uncomfortable ways. He challenges the status quo. He asks us to trust in him. Trust in his word ahead of social norms and what society tells us. And our reward: paradise, life eternal and certain joy.

Even when my faith feels like a limp sail in the dead of calm, when spiritual breezes are absent and I am adrift in doubt, I know that our reward for listening and following the path He leads fills this life, these moments, this time together, with joys and a foretaste of paradise. Challenge us Jesus! Help us to understand that healing the sick, even on the Sabbath, is something we all need. And as improbable as it seems, perhaps I am the one who can be healed on the Sabbath.
-James Stirling

Practice – Pray for healing today, yours, or someone else’s.

March 26th
John 5:31-47
31"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. 32There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. 33"You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. 36"I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39You diligently study[a] the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41"I do not accept praise from men, 42but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God[b]? 45"But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

People can get so caught up in what they think is true and what they have been told to believe that they can’t see what’s right in front of them. They can look at signs pointing toward the truth, and not see them because of their ignorance. It is much easier to accept that ‘one day the savior will come’, then it is to accept that the man in front of them is that man, the one who was promised, even when everything that happens clearly points to him.
We choose to go to church and we choose to read the Bible and we try to prepare for the coming of Jesus. But what if he came to you? Would you believe with your whole heart that it was him? Would you look at the proof that he showed through his works and believe in him? Or would you ignore it? Would you choose to turn a blind eye because it was “easier” than giving up everything that you knew to follow your one true savior? Would you search through miniscule facts and assumptions to try to find a way that it isn’t true, instead of stopping for a moment to see the blaringly obvious miracles that were staring you in the eye and trying to tell you the truth? Would you listen? -Tess Stirling

March 27th
Psalm 34:17-21
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; 20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. 21 Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
When my Husband unexpectedly died shortly before the birth of our son in 1988, I was “brokenhearted” and “crushed in spirit”. Over the months (which stretched on a few years actually) after Barry’s death, on many evenings after I tucked the children in bed, I literally collapsed and sat on the floor of my kitchen, sobbing. I had to return to work, and was nearly overwhelmed by trying to balance being a mother of two small children with the demands of work. I prayed for the wisdom and wherewithal to raise my two children to be loving and good, and for the continued ability to financially provide for them. I knew that all I could do was to trust in the Lord - to take refuge in Him.

Over those same months, I gradually felt I was being infused with an inner strength and resolve that was greater than I had ever felt before. I characterized this new-found and developing strength and courage as something that my Husband must have left as a gift to me on his passing. Barry had enormous strength of character and an incredible ability to persevere under extremely difficult circumstances. As each day went by, I realized more fully what great blessings I had received in my life. I had known and loved and was loved by a wonderful Husband. My Husband had given me many gifts – the greatest of those being two wonderful children. He had given me understanding, he had given me joy, he was my advocate and protector, and oh how he could make me laugh. I had also been blessed with the ability that enabled me to pursue a career as a lawyer. And I was certainly fortunate to have a wonderful and dear family, especially four older brothers who devoted a great deal of time to my children, whether it was taking them to church, to nursery and preschool, to the park or playground, for long walks, or out for ice cream, or to the circus or the theatre… I could go on forever. They loved my children, they taught my children, and they shared wonderful stories about Barry with them.

What I now realize, was that God was and is with me every day of my journey. God has given me courage, renewed strength and hope and joy. The Lord has provided to me all that I need, and has redeemed my life. I can do all things through Christ. Thank you Lord. I love you Lord. –Nancy Noyes
Prayer: Loving God, create in me the path I need to follow to be a witness of your love in the world.
March 28th
John 7:40-53
40On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet." 41Others said, "He is the Christ." Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family[a] and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. 45Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?" 46"No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared. 47"You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48"Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them." 50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51"Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" 52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet[b] does not come out of Galilee." 53Then each went to his own home.

Do you know Jesus? Do believe that he is The Christ? If the Pharisees, the “experts” of the “Law”, declare that He doesn’t fit the mold – then He can’t be! Ah, but the common people, the “you’s” and “me’s” of this world heard His message, heard His voice of authority and many believed. No prophet could come from Galilee! Was it hidden from them that He was born in “the City of David” – or were they afraid of the shaking of the status quo. Though life under Roman occupation was difficult, at least Rome let them go about their daily temple tasks.

Do you know The Christ? Do you follow Him? Do you step out in His light, on His path and challenge the status quo? Or do you hear His voice, His words, and simply go to your own home – continue on – and take no be with us on that stand. –Gerry Shaw

Prayer: Dear God, be with us on that journey as we search for your truth, for your love.

March 29th
Jeremiah 31-34
31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to [a] them, [b] " declares the LORD. 33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me,from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
These particular verses in the book of Jeremiah I feel can be said in one word-Believe! The old covenant that had been made had been broken........at last this new covenant where they will feel me in their mind and soul and I will be their GOD and they will be my people. We will belong to each other. You will not need to convince others of me, for they will simply believe and in return sins will be forgiven and forgotten. That is the power of believing, the power of faith! -Jennifer Fletcher

Prayer –Holy one, teach me to pray and humble my heart.

March 30th
John 8:1-11
1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
BE TESTED
Judge not
Gossip not
Reflect and consider
A change of heart.

Write in the sand
Draw in the wind
Leave an imprint in ink
Acknowledge your goodness.

Jesus says

Stone not
Live by your word
Is benevolence adrift?
Seek solace.

Admit conflicted values
Reward yourself
Smile sweetly.
Today is a new dawn.

Jesus says
-Barbara Holston

Prayer: Dear Jesus, when someone has fallen, help me to drop the stone and extend a hand.

March 31st
John 8:21-30
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 33They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants[a] and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" 34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.[b]" 39"Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would[c] do the things Abraham did. 40As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41You are doing the things your own father does." "We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."

Jesus is trying, once again, to explain to His listeners who He is. There is agreement that He may be a prophet, an excellent teacher and truly a good man, but He is trying to get them to see that He is so much more. But we mere mortals "of this earth" can be dense, hard to reach; the Jews were back then and we can be today.
But, thankfully, Jesus keeps trying. He patiently, persistently speaks to us; for this I am grateful.
-Jo-Ann Hogan

Lord, forgive us,
for we are fragmented persons.
We go in many directions at once.
We seek opposite goals,
we serve contradictory causes.
We mouth liberation,
we live oppression.
We shout peace,
we practice violence and anarchy.
We shout justice,
we walk injustice.
We preach love,
we practice hate.
Through your compassion
have mercy on us and make us whole.
Enable us to discern your voice
among the dissonant voices. Amen.

Prayer: In the depth of my soul, dear God, allow me to find your hidden life there. Allow me to say “yes” to this life.

April 1st
John 8:31-42
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 33They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants[a] and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" 34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.[b]" 39"Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would[c] do the things Abraham did. 40As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41You are doing the things your own father does." "We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself." 42Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.

Have you never sinned? Then you can stop reading right now. Now, for the rest of us: The truth will set you free. I heard this the other day by a radio host talking about a conversation he had with his son in connection to a famous athlete who had admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. The point he was making was that if you’ve done something wrong, the best course of action is to admit it. Honesty is the best policy. Does this mean that telling the truth will exonerate you, like a “Get out of Jail Free” card in Monopoly? It doesn’t work that way, for society usually demands retribution unless the grace, mercy or compassion of man intervenes, which doesn’t happen often. But God’s love, grace, mercy and compassion are always there for us. For “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps 103:12). And just how far is the east from the west? From one scarred hand to the other of the man on the cross. And that is what the truth and freedom that Jesus spoke about really mean. Not from physical bonds, but we are free from the fear of separation from God that comes from sin. This is what Jesus brought us on the cross. OK, I would prefer not to dwell on such things and spend my time with God singing and praising. But time and time again His truth gets drowned out by the storm I’m in. Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away from His leaving me in the chains of the sins of the past. And that’s why I need a savior to set me free.
-Ken Paulsen

Prayer – Dear Jesus, I want to cross that abyss to reach the Promised Land to be with you. Please hear my cry for help.

April 2nd
1 Corinthians 13: 3-7
3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing. 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I agree with Paul. Without love, we have nothing. That is why we spend our lives acquiring so many things that we must have: relationships, houses, cars, pets, wardrobes, degrees, money, toys, do-dads, and nick-knacks, and we love them all. But this is not lasting love. This is love that can be given, bought, sold, or lost... This is not God’s love. God’s love cannot be bought, or sold, or substituted for good deeds, or even acts of self-sacrificing. But, to accept and feel God’s love is to have the ultimate gain, the template for real love.
My Bible, NIV, gave a suggestion for reading verses 4-7, and I want to share it. Each time you read the word “love”, or “it”, substitute your own name. If the resulting statements sound true, great; if not, then you may have been doing things for others without the proper motivation. It may be time to ask God to change you and to make your life characterized by the love we read about in 1 Corinthians 13. What a Lenten discipline. –Pam Sayre

Practice – Do Pam’s exercise. Substitute the word “love” or “it” with your own name. See what happens.

April 3rd
John 10:31-42
31Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" 33"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." 34Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'[a]? 35If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? 37Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles,that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." 39Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. 40Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed 41and many people came to him. They said, "Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true." 42And in that place many believed in Jesus.

I like logic. Lists are my friends and a cool, well-worded argument makes me happy. So I enjoyed this passage because Jesus gets all logical in the face of
angry hordes of stone-wielding people. He asks why they are going to stone him when he has done good deeds. When they reply that they are stoning him for
claiming to be God, he paraphrases scripture. (Jesus likes to quote scripture, like, a LOT. And it always helps him...and calms people…and maybe I’ll be
going back to bible study…) He gives the people a logical suggestion: if he doesn’t do God’s work, then don’t believe him, but if he does, then at least believe in the good he does if not that he is God’s son. The crowd is too riled up to listen—gosh darn it, they want to stone someone and logic isn’t gonna get in their way! —so Jesus wisely slips away. People who
aren’t thirsting for a good stoning follow him near the Jordan River and become believers.
Just as God sent Jesus into the world, He has sent us, as Christians, into the world to do His work. And like Jesus, we should not be deterred by
nonbelievers’ anger or disinterest. Calm, cool, and collected, and with scripture knowledge to boot, we can spread God’s light through his word. But
even Jesus knew when to cut and run to the Jordan. Logic doesn’t work with every situation. *Sniffle* When the going get tough, the tough get going…to
wherever other believers gather. Confidence and community is a good thing. Yay church.
–Madeleine Stiriling

Another Take –
Everything that Jesus says has a meaning, not just a meaning, a special meaning, and anyone can understand it. The meaning is believe in God, trust God, praise God, and love God, he will lead you out of hard times and guide you to happiness. God will love you forever. –Clare Pasley

Prayer – O God, we are not glorified in our good works. In them, we glorify only You.

April 4th
Ezekiel 37:21-28
21 and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, [a] and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
24 " 'My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.' "
Maybe it’s because I’m not an Israelite, but I for a long time I felt as though I was still divided into two. No, I was not a conjoined twin separated at birth, nor was I missing the left part of my body. Instead, my rift existed on the spiritual plane: I wasn’t sure I believed in God. Actually, I knew I didn’t.
Exactly when I first formed this blasphemous notion I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, it would be sometime during ninth grade when I critically read the Bible in my English class. Before then, I had considered the Holy Book exactly that: a book people revered as Holy—with a capital H. Personally, I never had had much contact with It beyond hotel rooms and church school, but knowing other peoples’ strong beliefs, I respected It. But in ninth grade English, we approached the Bible as only another, lower-case “b”, book; I high-lighted it and annotated it just as I had with The Oedipus Cycle: furiously.
As I scoured over my rainbow-colored pages of Genesis, prospecting for an essay thesis, I began to see exactly what was going on behind this God guy. I won’t regurgitate my entire five-page essay, but, in a word, I argued how God created the earth and man solely for His glory: “Let us make man in our image…let them have dominion…over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26). Because he mirrored God’s image, man’s prominence as the ruler of the earth directly reflected renown to God; God sought to add meaning to his glory by giving man free will—the choice to worship Him. This created a problem with both Adam and Eve and the Tower of Babel—wherein man tried to be his own master and reap his own glory and was swiftly punished for it. However, after Noah and Abram, God finally figured out how to compromise in order to convince man to choose to worship and glorify him.
Needless to say, after arriving at this conclusion, I had trouble sitting through a church service. It all seemed so false. It was scary, too. Scary, because as I stood in my pew—and even worse, sometimes in an acolyte’s robes!—I thought my presence was a lie to myself, God, and the community. As I listened to the Nicene Creed, refusing to chant words in which I placed no belief, I wondered if I should excommunicate myself from the church before I was struck down by lightning.
So I suppose my internal division was not so much spiritual as it was congregational. I knew I believed in some greater being who blessed the earth with its natural beauty, who watched and guided my life, and who caused everything to happen for a specific reason—this just wasn’t the Christian God. I was spiritually whole; my spirituality just didn’t reconcile with that of the Church.
Yet the prospect of leaving behind the place and the people I had known and grown up with since my infancy was distressing; from the years of running around the altar in a sheep costume on Christmas Eve, to the years of watching tiny sheep run around the altar on Christmas Eve, and all the pizza lunches, church school classes, and baptisms in between, I knew I was a part of Christ Episcopal Church. And it was a part of me.
I realized then that for me, Church had never been about worshipping the same God as everybody else; Church is about sharing the same laughs, the same hymns, the same Easter egg hunts, and the same May Fairs. It is about community, not so much religion; I go on Sundays to be a part of the family there, not to worship a God defined by a Prayer Book or a Holy Book. In some way, I think the same can be said for us all, because I think we would be hard-pressed to find even two of us who have exactly the same conception of God. Our church has been described as a “broad church,” meaning that it is composed of and accepts all variations of belief. To me, it also means that we emphasize a common sense of family, community, and friendship over a common rigid and narrow doctrine. I like that. It means I can walk through our doors and be a part of our family believing what I do—without looking up and dodging lightning bolts. –Bryan Pannill

Prayer: “Make me to know your ways, O Lord:
Teach me your paths.” Psalm 25:4

April 5th
Palm Sunday
“So it is ourselves that we must spread under Christ’s feet, not coats or lifeless branches or shoots of trees, matter which wastes away and delights the eye for only a few hours. But we have clothed ourselves with Christ’s grace, with the whole Christ-“For as many of you were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”-so let us spread ourselves like coats under his feet.”
-Andrew of Crete

Ephesians 3:17-19
17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Love and Faith, Faith and Love, Faithlove, or Lovefaith. Which comes first, or are they birthed together in our hearts? Belief in the crucifixion and the resurrection require both deep faith and deep love in, and for, God. If we only use our rational, analytical minds, then we are really in for a long and exhausting journey. But if we understand faith, and practice acts of love, the 1 Corinthians 13, love, then we will experience Christ rooted deep within our souls. Faith frees us up to have the love we may otherwise shy away from. It is the moment when we understand, it is not about me. – Pam Sayre

Prayer: Every prayer we pray, heavenly Father, is a sign of our love, our hope and our trust in you.

April 6th
Isaiah 42:1-7
1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope." 5 This is what God the LORD says— he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: 6 "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Who IS this servant, this chosen one in whom God delights? Biblical scholars are of differing minds on this question. Some say this is a passage commissioning the messiah, and, by extension, some understand the servant to be Jesus. Other scholars view these verses, known as the first ‘Servant Song’, as a call to Israel, the nation, to speak the word of God to both Jews and gentiles. Part of the confusion about the identity of the servant arises from the fact that the prophet’s beautiful poetry, much like poetry throughout the ages, is meant to be understood at many levels. What follows is MY understanding.

MAYBE this servant is YOU, or ME, or US!

Read this passage as a personal commission/call/anointing. Isn’t it inspiring?

God delights in US! God sends the Spirit upon us so that we might bring justice to ALL.

Does that feel like an impossibility?

One scholar asserts that the Hebrew word ‘mishpat’, which the NRSV translates as ‘justice’, is actually more correctly understood to mean a ‘way of life’ in which people relate to one another in such a way as to promote the value and dignity of all.

Is THAT impossible?

God doesn’t seem to think so! Having given us the Spirit, God is confident that we will fulfill our commission with compassion and enduring strength.

Do you STILL feel you’re not up to the task?

The prophet interrupts God’s call to us with a reminder about WHO, exactly, God is: the creator of all that we experience, who breathed life and Spirit into us, who, in fact, KNOWS us, AND who continues to speak, reminding us that in calling us, God has ‘taken us by the hand’.

In other words, we do NOT do this work ALONE! We walk and work hand in hand with God, empowered by the Spirit.

God WITH us is giving YOU/ME/US as a ‘light to the nations’!

This Lent, let us heed God’s loving call to promote the value and dignity of all. Let’s shine OUR/YOUR/MY light so that it might ‘open the eyes of the blind’, and reach into the dark corners of other people’s prisons.
We can do it with God holding our hand: Yes, we can!
-Caron Stebinger

Prayer- God, fill us with a spirit of justice, humility and compassion.

April 7th
Psalm 71:1-6
1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me. 3 Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men. 5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. 6 From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise you. …15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. 17 Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

This psalm is the epitome of reliance on God. It lifts my soul, it makes me want to cry out, “God, I am yours!” The psalmist says there is nothing God cannot do for him, “From birth I have relied on you”. This is incredible, beautiful trust in God, trust to which we all should aspire. And how does the psalmist display his gratitude for God’s loving protection? With praise: “and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.”
Go ahead. Take that giant step and put all your trust in God. It’s not easy, is it? Not for those of us who want to be in control. But He’s there for us, to protect us, to be our refuge, our rock and fortress, to deliver us from those who wish us ill. God wants to do that for us-that’s what it’s all about. And how shall we show our gratitude? Be “declaring his splendor all day long.’ Let us praise!
-Babs Ross

Prayer: We trust, Lord, We trust. Help us to trust you more.
April 8th
Matthew 26:14-25
14Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests 15and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. 16From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. 17On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" 18He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' " 19So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. 20When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me." 22They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely not I, Lord?" 23Jesus replied, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born." 25Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."[a]

In three short sentences Matthew tells us that Judas offers to betray Jesus for the mere sum of thirty pieces of silver. On one hand, this all too human scheme can be understood as part of God’s saving plan and purpose. Still, I can’t help but go back to the earlier chapters of Matthew where Judas became an Apostle. I wonder if he eagerly left his nets like Peter and Andrew did. Or did he immediately get of his father’s fishing boat like James and John? Or maybe he was like Matthew himself, sitting at work one day, and heard Jesus call, “Follow me” and Judas got up and followed him. However he began, we learn that Jesus sent all twelve out on a mission. He told them to proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” He empowered them to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons. There is no reason to believe that Judas wasn’t part of this mission. Did he get discouraged? Did he face persecution in his ministry? Did he get tired of the poverty and dusty travel? Maybe he’d just had enough and he couldn’t see any other way out. When I meditate on Judas, I uncover not so much the gospel “bad guy,” but a flesh and blood Apostle who found his life as Christ’s follower just too tough. He helps me see that being a Christian isn’t about living my comfortable, safe life, but that it can be challenging, dangerous and risky.
-Merle Troeger

Prayer: Dear Jesus, forgive my betrayals.

Maundy Thursday
Lord Jesus Christ,
Because you broke bread with the poor,
You were looked on with contempt.

Because you broke bread with the sinful and outcast,
You were looked on as ungodly.

Because you broke bread with the joyful,
You were called a winebibber and a glutton.

Because you broke bread in the upstairs room,
You sealed your acceptance of the way of the cross.

Because you broke bread on the road to Emmaus,
You made scales fall from the disciples’ eyes.

Because you broke bread and shared it,
We will do so too,
And ask your blessing.
–San Antonio Conference on
“Mission in Christ’s Way”, 1990

Good Friday

In the pain, misfortune, oppression,
And death of the people,
God is silent.
God is silent on the cross,
In the crucified.
And this silence is God’s word,
God’s cry.
In solidarity,
God speaks the language of love.
-Jon Sobrino

Easter

It is the Lord, in the dawning,
In the renewal,
In the arrival,
In the new day.

It is the Lord, in the crowd,
In the church,
In the conversation,
In the crisis.

It is the Lord, in our joys,
In our sorrows,
In our sickness,
In our health.

It is the Lord, in the stable,
In the humble,
In the stranger,
In the poor.

It is the Lord, risen and returned
Alive for evermore,
Giving me new life,
Saving me in strife,
It is the Lord. -David Adam

Today, Lord I Will Listen for Your Word

2009-03-12T10:41:00.001-07:00

16th
Jeremiah 7:1-15
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 "Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: " 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. 3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers forever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. 9 " 'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, [a] burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"-safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a atching! declares the LORD. 12 " 'Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. 14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. 15 I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.'
Jeremiah was an Old Testament prophet who lived religion as an inner personal feeling and God as a being with whom one could communicate. Israelites, on the other hand, put their trust in the Temple, feeling confident that as long as it was there, they were safe from any evil. They assumed they could do almost anything and then come stand in the Temple and say, “We are delivered!” They did not comprehend religion in the prophet’s personal way. To the prophet, the Temple services in Jerusalem were too formal and were not caring for the spiritual lives of the people.
The prophet knew that Israelites needed to understand the true meaning of religion and had to change from within. They had to learn that religion was a personal relation with God, not with external objects: “other gods.” Jeremiah had to do something drastic to wake them up to their wickedness and undercut their trust in their objects. So he delivered an address at the gate of the Temple in Jerusalem recalling to the people that the Lord destroyed His earlier Temple at Shiloh, and if people did not turn from their wicked ways, Jeremiah declared, He would destroy His Temple at Jerusalem.
This Lenten season, let us ask ourselves if we put as much trust in the Church as the Israelites did in their Temple? Can we do just anything we please during the week and come to church on Sunday and say, “We are delivered”? It is true that God forgives our sins, but as Jeremiah points out, we need more: we need to build a personal, inner relation with God. Lent is a good time to do this. Let us pray to God for His help. When we do this, we will no longer desire to indulge in wickedness that God does not like and that hurts Him. Our faith will be stronger. God will be pleased, and we will live blessed lives. –Loretta Smith
Prayer –Today Father, I will spend some time listening to your Word for my life.

Jesus, I Trust You, Help Me to See You for Who You Are

2009-03-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

March 15th
1 Corinthians1:22-25
22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

And the Son of Man was not crucified once for all,
The blood of the Martyrs not shed once for all:
But the Son of Man is crucified always,
And there will be Martyrs and Saints. –T.S. Eliot

Prayer – Jesus, I trust you. Help me to see you for who you are; God’s Word made flesh.

Pray For The Homeless Today

2009-03-12T10:01:00.001-07:00

March 14th
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
1Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." 3Then Jesus told them this parable: 11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[a]' 22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. 25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

“Not fair!” cried out the older son that day,
when father drew his friends and slaves to hand
and ordered that a fatted calf be slain
to celebrate his older son’s return.

Bedraggled, filthy, desperate and lean,
the prodigal crept back through father’s fields
his riches lost, his baggage filled with shame
no longer worthy to be called a son.

But father ran to meet this hobo son,
to wrap his shrunken frame in furs and silk,
to fit his crusted feet with shoes of gold,
and weepfully embrace him in his joy.

“You’re not less dear to me,” the father said
“but look, the lost one has come back to us.
We feast and dance and pour the finest wine
because your brother’s come to life again.”
–Kathie McKiernan

Prayer – Father, no matter how far we travel, we still yearn for the comforts of your house. Pray for the homeless today.

Free Us Lord to Serve Your Little Ones

2009-03-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

March 13th
Matthew 21:33-46
33"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." 42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone[a]; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'[b]? 43"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."[c] 45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

In the Old Testament you hear of people shouting and praying for a savior. God hears them too, and sends a prophet, and then another, and another. Only some of the people listened. Finally, God sends his son. The people don’t listen to him either, and eventually kill him.
The people wanted a savior, and God’s son wasn’t exactly what they pictured. Only the true Christians knew it was him. Which ones are we? –Maura Pasley

Prayer and Practice –Free us Lord, to serve your little ones; the poor and rejected. Bring a donation in for St. Andrew’s food pantry this week.

The Kingdom of God is Upon Us

2009-03-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

March 12th
Jeremiah 17:5-10
5 This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

The first part of today’s reading offers a beautiful take on the lesson of trusting in people versus trusting in the Lord. Perhaps we can personalize Jeremiah’s vision of wastelands and water by searching our own memories for sights, smells and textures. For me, it’s spindly coyote bushes barely hanging on to life in Death Valley, versus grand cottonwoods thriving along the riverbanks of the dry High Plains. Then comes the zinger in verse 9 “ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
At first, I was taken aback. Are we really that messed up? But after spending some time with this, I almost felt relieved that Jeremiah understood me so well. It is very hard for me to discern God’s path among the confusing and shifting mess of desires, hopes, fears, and intentions of my heart. The heart is quite tricky. Even to the point of being beyond figuring it out. Thankfully, there’s verse 10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."
Comfort the suffering, feed the hungry, make peace among communities, laugh with family and friends, walk the walk. Let the Lord do the thinking, and our journey will become clear. –Steve Nagy

Prayer – The kingdom of God is upon us. May we welcome its power into our lives.

In You O, Lord, I have Taken Refuge

2009-03-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

March 11th
Psalm 31
1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.
3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
4 Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.
6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in the LORD.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.
8 You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.
9 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.
10 My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, [a] and my bones grow weak.
11 Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends— those who see me on the street flee from me.
12 I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.
13 For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life.
14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."
15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.
16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.
17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave. [b]
18 Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.
19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.
20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues. 21 Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city. 22 In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. 23 Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full. 24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
I’ll admit it. My pet peeve while driving happens when I’m in the left lane on the Merritt Parkway on my way to work and traffic slows down. But it seems that the right lane doesn’t slow down as much and sure enough, one or more of the cars that passes me on the right will move over into the left lane ahead of me. Noooo,,,I cry out. You don’t deserve that. Now, these people aren’t necessarily evil or wicked, just more resourceful and maybe less courteous. But I keep hoping that they’ll get theirs. This brings me to verse 23 of this Psalm, “The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.” We love to see people who profit unjustly get their comeuppance. But when? But should this really be our concern? Shouldn’t we focus and pray about the good things God has given us instead of being envious of the prosperity of others?
A few years back I heard our own Father Peter say that one of his Lenten disciplines was to allow at least one person to get ahead of him that wasn’t necessarily their right. That’s something I try to follow, especially in Lent, but at other times I’m not always as successful. But Sue will attest to seeing me wave my hand in the sign of the cross and say, “My prayer is that you don’t kill anyone driving that way.” It doesn’t have to be while driving, it could be in the checkout line at the grocery store or the lunch line at school where we allow someone to get ahead when it’s supposed to be our turn.
So if you find yourself in tough times and circumstances, pray to God for His mercy. But put the retribution aside.
-Ken Paulsen

Prayer- Lord, we are surrounded by enemies of your love. Still, we look to your salvation.

Develop a Dangerous Unselfishness

2009-03-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

10th
Isaiah 1:10-16-20
10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 16 wash and make yourselves clean.Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. [a] Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. 18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Oh Isaiah! One is tempted to say - Oh Prophet of Doom! But then wait! Somehow the dire descriptions of the evils of an ancient society seem all too familiar. Seem all too apt. Here we are again, after 3000 years. Greed and selfishness and heartlessness have risen up and unbalanced our country. "Eat what you kill" is the playful mantra of young stockbrokers. Isaiah is clear "thy princes are rebellious and companions of thieves; every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards."But is Isaiah speaking to US? What are we to do, caught as we are in this crisis not of our doing? Do we turn away and hunker down around our families, each on our own little life-raft? Fifty years ago the great Christian mystic Thomas Merton taught "Alienation is our great crisis... We have forgotten that of all creation, only human beings possess awareness of self. We are therefore responsible for being the caretakers of all the rest of creation, whether it be other humans or animals or 'the great globe itself'.'" He goes on Isaiah-like " we are all guilty bystanders. We have all helped to create this violence.' In order to make peace we ought to be willing to do what soldiers do - to offer our lives." Offer our lives as Isaiah says to those who are outcast, people without safety, protection, family or friends, home or shelter. To turn to love for our strength and leave behind the temptations of our own needs and fears. To trust in the God that Isaiah describes as passionately concerned with the welfare of our world. who doesn't turn His back on us but speaks to us through his powerful prophets, through His own Son. Who reassures us through His wrath that justice does exist, and He wants us to fight for it. That Love transforms and we can be the transformers. –Ann Calabresi

Practice – Today, develop a dangerous unselfishness. Give something away you normally hold close.

The Lord's Mercy is Best Seen ...

2009-03-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

March 9th
Daniel 9:4-10
4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 "Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10 we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.

When I was a child, Daniel was one of my favorite Biblical characters. Maybe that was partly because my father was named Dan and my grandfather was named Dandridge, but I think it was mainly because I was growing up as a member of a minority religious group within a majority culture and identified with Daniel as an exiled Israelite who became a high government official in the kingdom of Babylon during the captivity. Daniel owed his high rank to his ability to interpret the king’s dreams, as well as omens such as “the handwriting on the wall,” which is still an item in our own vocabulary.
The first part of the Book of Daniel is a narrative of his life. The reading for today is from the second part of the book, which contains Daniel’s own dreams, or prophetic visions. The passage is part of his prayer for understanding of Jeremiah’s prophecy of the end of the Babylonian captivity and the return of the Israelites to Jerusalem, after they have expiated their sins which were the cause of the exile in the first place. The answer to the prayer is a visitation from the archangel Gabriel, who expands Jeremiah’s prophecy.
We all have dreams. Some of them are trivial, some of them are evil nightmares, and some of them are idealistic. I believe that every one of us has at least one important idealistic dream, the first example that leaps to mind being, of course, what Dr. King had in mind when he said, “I have a dream,” which might not be all that different from Daniel’s vision of the return to Jerusalem.
Of course making the dream come true might not be easy. And for many of us discovering exactly what our most important dream is might be even harder. King Nebuchadnezzar might have lived a long time ago, but he wasn’t born yesterday. When he called on Daniel and the soothsayers for the first time, he told them he expected them to tell him not only what his dream meant but ALSO what he had dreamed. If they could do that, they would receive great rewards. If they could not, they would be executed. Anybody can interpret a dream. Identifying a dream is a different ball game.
–Bill Brown

Prayer-God, help us to remember that we see the Lord’s mercy best in the face of our own sinfulness.

Perfect Love

2009-03-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

March 8th
Romans 8:31-34
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Words of comfort, or words of warning? The answer might well be “both.” For this passage tells us that we need only concern ourselves with following Christ. If we do, then there is no point in worrying about living up to the standards of others. There is certainly great comfort in knowing that, if God is on our side, we have no need for other allies. At the same time, we must remain mindful that God, in fact, holds us to a fairly high standard—for just as it Jesus who sacrifices himself for us, who invites us to become one of “God’s elect,” it is also Jesus who condemns us when we wander from his path. The season of Lent offers us an excellent opportunity for self-examination, to reflect upon the love that God shows for us by not withholding anything from us—even sacrificing his only son for the sake of our sins. It is also a time to reflect upon the areas of our life that need attention, to tackle those spiritual home improvement projects that call to us. Let’s be grateful for that opportunity, and seize it with joy and enthusiasm! –Tom Sansone

“God did not spare his only Son, and God is not going to be soft on his adoptive ones either.” – The Hermitage Within

Practice – I will practice one act of perfect love today.

Love Your Neighbor

2009-03-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

March 7th
Matthew 5:43-48
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies[b] and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Loving your enemy is a very hard concept for most of us to comprehend. Our immediate reaction when someone hurts us is to retaliate in the same way. What God is asking us to do here is to respond with kindness.
Anger and hate can get totally out of control when fed with more of the same. If, on the other hand, we were to respond with kindness and love towards our enemy the anger would diffuse because it would have nowhere to go.
Think what would happen if all of us treated our enemies in this way. Anger and hate would no longer exist and, perhaps, we would have the kind of world that God originally intended for us to have.
–Marcia Smith

Practice – Write down some of the steps on your spiritual journey.

Lift my feet when I fall.

2009-03-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

March 6th
Ezekiel 18:21-28
21 "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. 22 None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. 23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? 24 "But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die. 25 "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? 26 If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. 27 But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. 28 Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die.

Surely you shall live forever
As God will strengthen you.
Are your ways transparent?
Welcome to the Kingdom of the Lord.

Admit and astonish the Lord
Commit and call Him now.
Seek forgiveness and hope
You shall surely live forever.

Say what you mean
Live knowing His teachings.
Banish a mind on the threshold
You will be honored on His glory.

Fairness is a state of mind
Belief is a worthiness
Love is a committed act.
You shall surely be

KINGS IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
-Barbara Holston
Prayer – God, I sin, more than I want to admit. Lift my feet when I fall.

I Bring Before You My Need

2009-03-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

Matthew 7:7-12
7"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

I am always speechless when I read this passage – I am overwhelmed by the boundlessness of God’s love. If I ask, sinner that I am, I will receive? If I knock, the door will open? It is too vast to comprehend. The passage says the gifts of God are so much greater than what an “evil” man would give to simply do right by his child. It makes me feel special, I feel loved.
But then two things jump out. In order to receive these gifts, this bounty, one must ask, seek, knock. It is not a passive process, we must ask the Lord for what we need. Secondly and probably more importantly, Jesus ties this concept, as always, to the way we are to live; “do unto others as what you would have them do unto you.” That is always the bottom line.
This passage brings to mind the contemporary chant:
Let it rain, let it rain, open the Floodgates of Heaven.
Let it rain, let it rain, open the Floodgates of Heaven.
Let it rain, let it rain, open the Floodgates of Heaven.
Amen.
-Babs Ross
Prayer- Lord, I bring before you my need, my real need, so that you can help me love more fully.

Forgive My Reluctance

2009-03-04T03:46:00.000-08:00

Luke 11:29-32

29As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one[a] greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.

The Sign of Jonah

Driving home recently I saw the moon hanging on the horizon, a great orange disk with wispy clouds crossing it in an almost artistic manner. It was so magnificent it proclaimed to me "God is here."

We all would like to witness signs and wonders in this time of war and economic and political turmoil, as did the Jews in Jesus' time. And yet he berated them for seeking miracles, stating that the only sign that they would receive is the sign of Jonah.

And what is this sign of Jonah? It is the prophet's call to repentance. Just as Jonah called the Ninevites to repent, so Jesus, greatest of all the prophets, calls people of every age to turn from their wicked ways and come to him.

Once we hear and heed this call, we will not need to look for signs and wonders. We will find them all around us.

-Sue Jefferson

Prayer – Forgive my reluctance Lord, as I strive to do your will today.

Help Me to Remember That You Hear My Prayer

2009-03-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

Psalm 34: 4-7,16-19

4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. 6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 16 the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.

Something momentous has happened to this psalm-maker! She has come through a terrible time and now she is delirious with joy. She wants everyone within earshot to join her in praising the Lord. Maybe she’s come through a difficult pregnancy and delivery. Maybe the crops were about to fail and rain came in the nick of time. Maybe a dear family member was near death and recovered. We can never know. But we do know about our own times of frantic calling on the Lord. We know when our poor soul has cried, “Help!” Perhaps the worst thing about those times is the fear we experience. Fear can make us incapable of having a coherent thought or doing anything constructive. We become almost lifeless. The only thing we can do, if we choose, is to take refuge in God. The psalm-maker reminds us that the Lord encamps around us, ready to deliver us from fear. And the psalmist is quite clear. “I sought the Lord and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” The Lord is near the broken-hearted. And when the crisis is over, there are times when we just have to shout from the rooftops, “O taste and see that the Lord is good!” -Merle Troeger

Prayer – God, help me to remember that you hear my prayer just as a good parent listens to the desires of each child.

Rejoice in Every Small Act of Kindness

2009-03-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Matthew 25:31-46

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

The Parable of the Sheep and Goats - In part the King says ‘to those who have fed, clothed, nursed and visited me – you will live in the Kingdom of God forever.’ And ‘to those who have not fed, clothed, nursed and visited me, you are cursed into the eternal fire.’ It seems the King is sorting people like we sort good socks from those with holes in them. Are the socks with holes in them not repairable, can they not be mended? I certainly hope so, for I know very few (if any) people in my life that don’t have a few holes in them.

Parables such as this are difficult for me to wrap my brain around. Incredibly, the Bible says that Jesus told parables to make the lessons easier for us to understand – HUH?? To that I just scratch my head. How can we ALWAYS feed, water, clothe nurse or visit people. How often have I driven down an exit ramp past a person holding a sign saying ‘I will work for food’? How many times have I let that person in my car, brought them to my home, had them rake some leaves, and then given them a meal? Isn’t that what Jesus is asking me to do? How many people do I walk by with my eyes cast down, so as not to make eye contact, on the streets of New Haven, Harford, or New York City with their hands out? How many of those have I helped. Not many is the sad answer. I had one guy stop me in the Linens and Things parking lot one day – he said ‘I’m just parked over there (pointing to the left) and I ran out of gas, my wife needs to get our baby home to eat – can you spare anything at all.’ In my wallet I had a $50 bill; I certainly could not give him that. But I knew I had some money in my car that I keep on hand for quick stops at McDonald’s for the kids. So, I grabbed some singles and handful of quarters and gave them to him. He seemed very thankful, and I was happy to help him. I started walking into the store and looked back; I noticed that he was not walking to where he said he was parked, but the opposite direction. Initially, I was a little annoyed, thinking I was scammed, which is why I hold back on helping people I don’t know, but then I thought, so what if he was lying, perhaps he will buy himself lunch with that handful of pocket change and that will help him make it through another day.

Still not completely understanding the parable I read it again, searched other translations looking for a clue as to how I might be sorted to the right with the sheep and not to the left with the goats. And there it was, in ALL the translations ‘Lord, when did we see you, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick or in prison?’ And the Lord said to them 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for ONE of the least of these you did for me. I don’t have to take care of everyone, but I do have to take care of the ones I can. If I can’t take a person home with me, surely someone else in the line of traffic can help that person. But, if someone calls me because they need my help with feeding an elderly member of community, or someone who is recovering from an illness I can do that. That is my part in darning the holes in my sock. We are all called to help in different ways, we just have to accept what we can do and have faith in God that he has tapped others to help in the ways we cannot. I’m still hopeful that I will be welcomed in the Kingdom of God. – Stacey Wadey

Practice –rejoice in every small act of kindness, for in them Christ is served.

Awaken Us to Your Presence

2009-03-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

Mark 1: 12-15

¹²At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, ¹³and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. ¹⁴After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

The desert, good place, quiet place, scary place? In Mark's version of the temptations I realize something new, the possibility of Jesus being simultaneously with the wild animals (representing perhaps freedom without morals), Satan (the opponent of all God wants, the great deceiver) AND the angels (messengers of God, sources of good).

And that seems a lot like our lives, doesn't it? It would be easier if our choices were simply between good and evil starkly drawn. But in this life they are not. Rather we are faced with something more like salad dressing; a mixture of elements, some bitter, some sweet, some spicy, some just taking up space, all of which together make the reality we experience. And since our lives are so often shaken up we may never seem to have time to let them settle out so we can see what is what for us.

It took Jesus at least forty days in the desert, the empty place, to sort it all out and then move forward to begin his proclamation. Is there something you need to sort out this Lent? Take the time. There will be challenges, perhaps even evil to confront, but there will also be angels. -Peter Stebinger

Prayer- Awaken us to your presence, Spirit, and fill our tongues with good news.

Set Sometime Aside Today

2009-02-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-27T03:39:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-26T19:11:00.000-08:00

Luke 9:22-27²²And 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

2009-02-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

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

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

Welcome

2009-02-25T03:40:00.000-08:00

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.

We want to thank our friends at Christ The Healer Stamford and St. Francis Stamford for the wonderful idea of sharing Lenten devotions online, and encourage you to visit their site, Walking Together as well