Ash Wednesday

Isaiah 58:1-12

Psalm 51

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

During Lent we Christians often reinforce the solemnity of the season by reciting the sacrifices we make in our effort to join Christ in the forty days of fasting he underwent prior to beginning his ministry.  Concealing any discomfort may seem to be one of the greatest challenges of our time, but we see from the scriptures leading us into Lent that whining has been with people for all time. Today’s scriptures guide us in putting our actions in perspective and gaining the most from our active involvement in God’s kingdom.

Isaiah challenges us to consider why we do the things we do. The prophet addresses the people who publicly make a show of their fast. Are they doing it to argue over who is doing a better job at being miserable – rising in the hierarchy of humility? Instead of giving up comfort to magnify their misery, the prophet reminds them that it is not what they are giving up, but what they share that matters.

Just as the prophet of Isaiah called the public behavior of the people into question, Jesus challenges the public worship of the people. We leave God out whenever our piety, generosity, or verbosity becomes the focus of the worship. The next six weeks give us the opportunity to practice putting God in focus through quiet sacrifice – and quiet service.

The fast is about stopping and starting. Stop sinning and start serving.

Lent is about giving-up and taking-up. Give up a comfort and take up a cause.

Above all, Lent is making God the focus of our actions.

June 2 Ordinary Time

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C 1 Kings 18:20-39 Psalm 96 1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43 Galatians 1:11-24 Luke 7:1-10

Today’s Reflection: I watch too many reality cooking shows. As I began reading the story of Elijah and his battle with the Baal priests, I couldn’t help but title it: Iron Priest – Israel! The secret ingredient: FIRE! with the announcer greeting the crowd, “Welcome to altar stadium.” Anyone who has ever tried to build a fire with wet wood knows what a disaster it can be. It generally ends with lots of smoke, and frustration. That may be, for me, why the story of Elijah’s battle with the Baal priests remains so fascinating: if God can set wet wood on fire, then he can do anything! Today’s passages help point us in the direction that guides the power of God with humankind. The themes that resonate from the 1 Kings passages as well as the other passages for me are the proximity of God and who can call on the Lord. Elijah mocks the priests when Baal does not respond to their loud cries. He wonders if the god has “turned-off (meditation/sleep),” or “wandered away.” The priests’ increasingly frantic (and increasingly bloody) cries continue to go unanswered; their ordinary offering remains untouched. Elijah ups the challenge by making his offering extraordinary through the soaking of the wood, and his request is immediately answered; everything present, including the altar is gone. Elijah’s mocking of the priests with the suggestion that their god has wandered away is turned on its head in the Luke passage. The faithful centurion realized that Jesus did not have to be “present” in the physical, tangible sense to accomplish his wishes. All he had to do was declare it done and it was. The element in both stories is faith: no matter who you are, a powerful prophet called by the Lord or a foreign military leader, true faith allows the Lord to work his will in the circumstances of our lives. When we accept the “Godness” of God faith can become a lifestyle. This does not mean we have to understand the “Godness” of God for that exceeds human understanding; we are called to believe it exists and act accordingly. Each passage confirms that anyone who has this belief, Israelite or “foreigner,” can call on the name of the Lord. Although I do like my reality cooking shows, I tend to be analytical and struggle with a demand to understand God’s being rather than accept that it is. Today’s passages give a perspective to accepting the nature of God, and at least for this week, help me live in the way of faith.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

Holy Week - Holy Friday

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 Psalm 22 Hebrews 10:16-25 John 18:1 – 19:42

Today’s Reflection: A few months ago a friend of mine was mugged and assaulted as he walked through his neighborhood. When I arrived at the emergency room to be with him, I was shocked to see the swelling and bruises on his face. Despite this my discomfort at seeing his wounds, I recognized him and felt great sympathy for his situation. I never want to get beat and kicked the way he was; seeing his wounds proved quite enough for me. Today we remember the abuse and execution of Christ. Through the hours leading to his death, Jesus continues to teach lessons and demonstrate who he is. Through the interrogations and torture he resisted using the full power of his “Godness.” At a word he could have called down forces and an angelic response that would have made atomic explosions look modest. Jesus’s final lessons reinforced the condition that he was the ultimate sacrifice that bridges the gap between all humanity and God. He lived love in a way that very few ever do. While we remember this sacrificial love, we too are challenged to love so completely.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

Holy Week - Monday

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C Isaiah 42:1-9 Hebrews 9:11-15 John 12:1-11

Today’s Reflection: If Holy Week had a theme, the one for 2013 could be the definition of Christ. The scriptures examine his purpose and the role he plays in the God/human interchange. We come to know a servant and a king, a warrior and a sacrifice, and a God and a man. Isaiah describes the functions Christ will accomplish while Hebrews names Jesus “high priest” and “mediator of a new covenant.” Identifying Jesus as the high priest held particular significance for Jewish readers. The high priest served as the intermediary between the people and God. Hebrews, without using the word, describes Jesus as the sacrifice that replaced all others. As both the high priest and the sacrifice, Christ alone could implement the new covenant that leads to eternal life. Unlike the high priests of antiquity, Jesus does not serve a limited term; he continues to be our connection to God. This Holy Week we can celebrate the direct go-between we have in Christ.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

Sixth Sunday in Lent - Palm Sunday

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C Psalm 118 Luke 19:28-40

Today’s Reflection: Palm Sunday has always baffled me. So much celebration fills the day. In the days that follow we remember the deepest despair in the church: our Savior is executed. After 2000 years we know the outcome and that despair does not dig nearly so deep into our souls as it must have for the apostles and the other followers of Jesus, yet as we consider the events, we do experience some degree of the overwhelming sorrow those believers must have felt. In the context of the day, the one verse that stands out most for me in the Psalm is twenty-four, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” The rejoicing bit can be a challenge. Every day we are flooded with the not-so-good news of the world around us and challenges faced by friends and family. Nevertheless, the Lord gives us reason to rejoice through the good things he has given us as named throughout the Psalm and other passages. Rejoicing may challenge us, but it when we do it right, it turns around those otherwise dreary times. Growing up on a farm, I know well the perils of riding an unbroken colt. For that reason, this passage in Luke has always been one of my favorites. The history, Psalms, and prophets all contain tales of God’s power over nature, but few of them are such common man-v-beast tales as Jesus sending for, and then riding a never-before-ridden colt. Even more amazing is that the colt remained calm as the crowds shouted praise, and waved cloaks and palm fronds in the path of the approaching Jesus. Even a well-trained horse could prove skittish in such a circumstance. All this celebration, of course, disturbed the Pharisees. Jesus’s answer that the stones would take up the cry if the disciples stopped did not make them any happier. That power over nature that Jesus, as God, had reminds us on this Sunday, just what was involved in the coming week. On this day when Jesus was riding his popularity with the crowds, the events that end the week seem impossible. When we see a Jesus who commands nature, even inanimate objects, to do his will, we begin to understand just how much of a sacrifice it was for Christ to let himself be taken, tortured, and crucified. The events in Jesus’s last week did not happen by accident or without purpose. Everything led up to the climactic overcoming death and becoming the New Covenant. Events like the triumphal entry into Jerusalem show us just how much the crucifixion later in the week was a gift to us all – one that we cannot afford to underestimate or overlook on our way to Easter. We need to rejoice today, mourn Friday and Saturday, so we can truly rejoice knowing that we need do nothing more than believe to enter into our ministry with him.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

Fifth Sunday in Lent

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4-14 John 12:1-8

Today’s Reflection: Every once in a while I discover something about a close friend or coworker that I never knew before. Out of the blue comes a hobby they had practiced for years or an illness from which they have recovered in the time that I knew them. I am suddenly forced to look at that person in a different light than I had before. While I considered them a close confidant, I did not know some prominent part of their life. If I were giving a sermon this week, I would title it, “The God We Thought We Knew.” The scriptures today deal with people coming to a new understanding about God as they learn new qualities of God they had not known before. In Isaiah and Psalm 126 God’s power over man and nature is presented in the context of Israel’s history and the world’s future. Well known events of God’s intervention for his people are told and the Israelites count on that connection (protection) to continue, yet God’s plan is far larger than just the Israelites. Isaiah foretells a future when even the animals worship the Lord. Israel knew a very personal God who intervened on their behalf throughout history. In both passages the writer is confronted with a God with other plans: it will not just be the Jews worshipping God (Isaiah) and the relationship with God is so fractured that the Lord has removed his protection from them. The God they were so certain of was suddenly much bigger. Paul shares some harsh revelations he was forced to accept when he realized who Jesus was. He went from being the perfect Jew to someone who had spent his life to that point on activities that were meaningless. Everything he had done so passionately he had done passionately wrong. He went from the righteousness of what he saw as a black-and-white law to a righteousness founded on faith that was an ongoing command. The righteousness through faith is a daily striving for a lifetime. We do not complete that journey until we come into our reward in Heaven. Those closest to Jesus, his apostles, never accepted that he was a sacrificial messiah instead of a conquering ruler. The dinner leading into Christ’s final week demonstrated this as clearly as all the misguided questions and misunderstood teachings documented throughout the Gospels. Judas again serves as the scapegoat, but he represented the entire group who missed the message that the Messiah was a sacrificial savior. Whether they could not or would not see the purpose of the ministry while Christ remained alive does not matter at this point: the fact remains they did not understand who the man they had been following really was. In this Lenten season as we refine our spiritual practice, the scriptures challenge us to consider the question: Is the God we serve the God we know or is God being revealed in a much bigger way? How we answer the question shapes the success of our spiritual journey.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

Lent 2013

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 51 2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Today’s Reflection: (Originally written for and based on the scriptures for Ash Wednesday, 2013. Due to the deaths of a family member and a co-worker that interrupted timely posting, I have adapted it as an overview of Lent 2013)   Growing up in a church that never mentioned the liturgical calendar, I was always fascinated by my friends’ talk of what they had to give up for Lent. (I also liked that we had fish in the school cafeteria every Friday.) It seemed like a very depressing time with all the pleasures taken from life. As I learned more about the purpose of the Lenten season, I learned to use it as a time of personal reflection and growth. It is about as adding on as much as it is about giving up.   Just as the Lenten season is shaped by Christ’s fast in the dessert which was a time for him to draw closer to God, we have the opportunity to draw closer to God as we refine our spiritual practices. The passages today help us see the way to grow in fellowship with God. All the passages unite in guiding us toward the right behavior in public and private worship.   My friends, in their childhood understanding of sacrifice in Lent got it entirely wrong. There is an either-or to rewards for our actions. The passages concur in that message: we can either have our rewards now through public recognition of our pious behavior (by bragging about all that we are doing without) or we can have our rewards for eternity by exercising our faith in a way that only strengthens our relationship with God and brings glory to him (sacrificing in quiet with a smile on our face in public). Isaiah, Psalms, and Matthew state as clearly as possible that we are to worship in a way that builds up the relationship without drawing any attention to ourselves.   During Lent we give up excess(es) in our life in order to take up a spiritual activity that helps us grow our relationship with God. It is not about bragging that I am going without chocolate until I break out the chocolate bunnies on Easter morning. Lent is our time in the wilderness developing our spiritual practices not our six weeks of misery developing our frown. Let’s smile as we celebrate (privately) our growing connection to God.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org