AN ALTAR IN THE MESSINESS OF LIFE

Each of us is the artist of our own life.

Lent is a journey.  It begins the seventh Wednesday before Easter on what the Church calls Ash Wednesday and ends in the glorious victory of Easter Sunday.

Lent is a season of examination where followers of Jesus remember from whence they come.  It is a time of entering into the desert Jesus was led into after His baptism.  It is a time of Spirit embraced reflection, solitude, listening, and self-searching, all for the purpose of seeking to be still, of quieting one’s heart, and of drawing near the cross of Christ.

Lent is an altar where followers of Jesus meet God and pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139:23-24).

In a way Lent is no different from any other season of the year because followers of Jesus live in a spirit of “Search me, O God.”  This season is simply an intentional act of devotion where we remember our brokenness and God’s restoration.  We remember that in ourselves we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but that “while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6).

Lent is our saying to God that we will never take His grace for granted and that we will live conscious of God’s eternal love for us.  It is a way to reveal that we take seriously Jesus’ call to take up our cross and follow Him.  As Augustus Toplady wrote in the Eighteenth century,

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress

Helpless, look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, our I die.

In these devotional thoughts for Lent 2023 we are focusing on God’s invitation to draw near to Him and to listen for His voice in the busy-ness of our lives.  This Lenten journey is one attempt to participate with God who calls us to, “Be still, cease striving, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).  

Be still.  Cease striving.  These words describe the spirit of Lent.  There are times we need to slow down, catch our breath, and relax.  For some, this is what holidays and vacations are for, and we do need these times.  Lent isn’t a holiday, though.  Lent is going about the business of living, intentionally slowing down, intentionally listening, and intentionally moving forward.  It is intentionally doing the work we need to do that helps us refresh our memories as to who we are in Christ.

Elizabeth O’Connor speaks to us of these things as she shares a challenging, thrilling, and empowering thought:  

 

Each of us is the artist of his own life.  The materials we are given to work with, the conditions we work under and what happens to us, are part of the drama of what we shall do with our lives.  But materials and conditions and events are not, in themselves, the determining factors.  Whether a man arrives or does not arrive at his destiny--the place that is peculiarly his -- depends on whether or not he finds the Kingdom within and hears the call to wholeness--or holiness, as another might say.  The man who hears the call is chosen.  He does not have to scramble for a place in the scheme of things.  He knows there is a place which is his and that he can live close to the One who will show it to him (Quoted in Bob Benson, The Quest of the Shared Life (Nashville: Impact Books, 1981), page 85).

And so, we listen.  We open up our hearts, and intentionally move forward, aware that under the leadership, power, visions and dreams of God, each of us is the artist of our own lives.  And, we pray.  “Search me O God…lead me in the everlasting way” (Psalm 139:23-24).

Each devotional reading in Lent is divided into three sections: (1) Scripture reading, (2) Focus on the Word, and (3) Today's prayer.  

The Focus on the Word is a brief devotional thought based on the Scripture reading for that day.  

The prayers are written prayers that come to us from Church history, some ancient, and some more recent.  

Whenever a Biblical text is found in quotes, there will be a reference to which translation is printed.  This is for clarity only.  Any translation you choose will be beneficial.  Three translations are used throughout: (1) New American Standard Bible, NASB, (2) New International Version, NIV, and (3) The Message, MSG.

A story before we begin our journey through Lent.  

A Russian priest who was discouraged and disappointed about his ministry took a walk one evening in the woods and wandered into a military installation.

The young, armed guard at the perimeter shouted, “Halt!  Who are you and why are you here?”

The priest perked up and asked, “What did you say?”

The solder became even more stern and said, ‘Who are you and why are you here?”

The priest asked, “How much do you get paid?”

The young man caught off guard by the questions, said, “Why does it matter to you?”

“Because,” the priest replied, “I’ll pay you that much to ask me those same two questions every day.”

TODAY, TOMORROW, AND YESTERDAY

On the road to tomorrow

Take one step at a time.

Live in the moments;

Don’t wait for the sublime.

Life flies by too quickly

The days become a blur.

What might be someday,

Quickly becomes yesterday.

Live and embrace your span

Don’t dream your life away.

Do dream, but don’t delay,

Embrace your journey today.

A PATHWAY TO CULTURAL HEALING

 In these bewildering times have you ever felt like all things sane have taken a turn for the worse?  What with a politicized medical pandemic, a rise in racial hostility, a bitter division within families, churches,  neighborhoods, relationships, and every other group in which people are involved it seems that life has taken a devastating blow to all things normal, if things have ever been normal.

The condition of our world makes me think of something the humorist, Will Rogers, once said, “If you find yourself in a hole quit digging.”  Sadly, not too many people these days seem to know how to “quit digging.”  In a world where everybody is right and everybody else is wrong, it’s hard to find a way through the maze.  

Maybe it takes a plague to awaken us to a true self-realization.  Maybe there are broken issues deep down inside each of us that stay hidden until they are forced to the surface.  Maybe we are not as civilized as we would like to think we are.  Maybe racism is a very real thing.  Maybe everyone of us needs a reality check.  Maybe all of us need to take a class on ‘How To Live Together On This Planet.”  Truthfully, speaking the right words without the internal moral foundation to live out those “right words” is an exercise in futility.  It was Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”  

Speaking of a moral foundation, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “ If there is to be peace on earth and good will toward men, we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe, and believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations.”  If my heart isn’t right I certainly can’t fix your heart if it needs fixing.  If my culture is broken, and I’m not dealing with the brokenness in my own heart, I really have nothing to contribute to the healing of my culture.

The problem goes deeper that self, however.  Robert Kennedy said something that resonates in my heart concerning things like this.  On the morning after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, Kennedy gave a speech at The Cleveland City Club, in Cleveland, Ohio.  It was not the speech he had intended to make.  In dealing with the murder of Dr. King, Kennedy spoke of the violence in the world and said,

And this too afflicts us all. For when you teach a man to hate and to fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies that he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your home or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies–to be met not with cooperation but with conquest, to be subjugated and to be mastered.

In the opening words of his speech Kennedy said,

It’s not the concern of any one race. The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one–no matter where he lives or what he does–can be certain whom next will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.

In his speech, Kennedy added these potent words: “Some look for scapegoats; others look for conspiracies. But this much is clear: violence breeds violence; repression breeds retaliation; and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our souls."

“Only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our souls.”  This is a probing and powerful admission.  Something is wrong in society.  Could it be that societies are simply the macro of the micro?  Enough human hearts gone bad will, eventually, work themselves into the whole.    

Our culture is not well, and we all know it.  We need a “cleansing” of some kind.  We are in a hole, and we had better stop digging.  And perhaps, in the words of Jesus, we all need to take the log out of our own eyes before we seek to take the speck out of somebody else’s eye.  

The Titanic is sinking and it is no time to rearrange the furniture on the top deck.

A PRAYER AND THOUGHT FOR EASTER

Hallelujah! He is risen.  “Thanks be to God!”

That Jesus lives, Heavenly Father, is enough for Me. 

Blessed be His holy name.  Amen.

A Resurrection Thought

As the Easter season begins and the church moves into resurrection life, may we remember the victory that Jesus brings into the world.  By the grace of God may we live out the meaning of defeat overcome by victory.  May we live in the powerful and life-transforming truth that JESUS IS LORD.. 

A PRAYER FOR HOLY SATURDAY

“'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."  Forgive us, too, because they only acted on our behalf.  We would like to blame ‘them,’ but we can't.  We know the truth’” - Unknown

“In the old rugged cross, 

stained with blood so divine, 

a wondrous beauty I see;

For ’twas on that old cross 

Jesus suffered and died, 

to pardon and sanctify me.

    -From "The Old Rugged Cross," by George Bennard, 1913 

A PRAYER FOR GOOD FRIDAY

I adore you, O Christ, and I bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.  Amen.        - A prayer prayed at each station in the liturgy of praying the Stations of the Cross 

A PRAYER FOR MAUNDY THURSDAY

Leave me alone with God as much as may be. As the tide draws the waters close in upon the shore, make me an island, set apart, alone with you, God, holy to you. Then with the turning of the tide prepare me to carry your presence to the busy world beyond, the world that rushes in on me till the waters come again and fold me back to you.  - St. Aidan of Lindisfarne (ca. 600-651 A.D.) 

A PRAYER FOR WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK

Almighty God, Your name is glorified even in the anguish of your Son's death. Grant us the courage to receive your anointed servant who embodies a wisdom and love that is foolishness to the world. Empower us in witness so that all the world may recognize in the scandal of the cross the mystery of reconciliation. Amen.

                     - Revised Common Lectionary

 

A PRAYER FOR TUESDAY OF HOLY WEEK

I am bending my knee in the eye of the Father who created me, in the eye of the Son who purchased me, in the eye of the Spirit who cleansed me in friendship and affection. Through Thine own Anointed One, O God, bestow upon us fullness in our need, love towards God, the affection of God, the smile of God, the wisdom of God, the grace of God, the fear of God, and the will of God to do in the world, as angels and saints do in heaven.            

                                - A Celtic prayer

A PRAYER FOR MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK

God of steadfast love, light of the blind and liberator of the oppressed, we see your holy purpose in the tender compassion of Jesus, who calls us into new and living friendship with you. May we, who take shelter in the shadow of your wings, be filled with the grace of his tender caring; may we, who stumble in selfish darkness, see your glory in the light of his self-giving.  We ask this through him whose suffering is victorious, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.                         - The Revised Common Lectionary

A PRAYER FOR PALM SUNDAY

Almighty and everlasting God, who in your tender love towards the human race sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take upon him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross: grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

- The Collect for Palm Sunday from Lay Anglicana, the unofficial voice of the laity throughout the Anglican Communion

A PRAYER FOR LENT DAY 34

"Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly;

While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high!

Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life is past,

Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last!

- Charles Wesley, 1740

A PRAYER FOR LENT DAY 33

Almighty, eternal God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Creator of heaven, earth, and humanity, together with Your 

Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Word and Image, and with 

Your Holy Spirit: Have mercy upon us and forgive us our sins 

for Your Son's sake, whom You have made our Mediator 

according to Your wonderful counsels; and please guide and 

sanctify us by Your Holy Spirit, who has been poured out upon 

Your Church. Grant that we may truly know and praise You 

today and throughout eternity! Amen.

            - based on a prayer of Philip Melanchthon,       

               Reformer, 16^th century 

A PRAYER FOR LENT DAY 32

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.  Amen

- Robert Robinson (1735-1790)

A PRAYER FOR LENT DAY 31

You’re all I want in heaven! You’re all I want on earth!

When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,

God is rock-firm and faithful.

Look! Those who left you are falling apart!

Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again.

But I’m in the very presence of God—Oh, how refreshing it is!

I’ve made Lord God my home.

God, I’m telling the world what you do! 

- Psalm 73: 25-28, The Message

A PRAYER FOR LENT DAY 30

O Lord my God, I believe in you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Insofar as I can, insofar as you have given me the power, I 

have sought you. I became weary and I labored. O Lord my 

God, my sole hope, help me to believe and never to cease 

seeking you. Grant that I may always and ardently seek 

out your countenance….Enable me to remember you, to 

understand you, and to love you. Amen.                                     -  Augustine, Late Fourth, early Fifth century

A PRAYER FOR LENT DAY 29

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.   - From Psalm 63:1

A PRAYER FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

God of the covenant,
in the glory of the cross
your Son embraced the power of death
and broke its hold over your people.
In this time of repentance,
draw all people to yourself,
that we who confess Jesus as Lord
may put aside the deeds of death
and accept the life of your kingdom. Amen.

- https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

A PRAYER FOR LENT DAY 28

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that I may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.    - Based on a prayer from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, published by the Episcopal Church

A PRAYER FOR LENT DAY 27

Holy Spirit, living Breath of God, Breathe new life into my willing soul. Bring the presence of the risen Lord To renew my heart and make me whole. Cause Your Word to come alive in me; Give me faith for what I cannot see; Give me passion for Your purity. Holy Spirit, breathe new life in me.

    -  From the song, "Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God,” by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend © 2006