Lent Day 35: Thankful for endings

You probably have deadlines looming. Something that you can't wait to finish. I'm there too.

Jesus walked into Holy Week determined to stay on task. He did not abandon his followers, knowing the hardest obstacle was on the horizon.

Imagine knowing that by week's end you will have been killed in a horrible way, disgraced by the manner of death, and deserted by those in whom you've invested your life. Would you have the stamina to give your best teaching, show love most deeply, and graciously give your betrayer an opportunity to repent before exposing your knowledge of his intentions?

This Tuesday, thinking of Good Friday  and the wonderful Easter celebrations ahead, I can hardly fathom God's love for us. His determination to offer us––as his betrayers and antagonists––the chance for reconciliation staggers me to my knees in worship.

What hard thing has God called you to, for which you need his patience, self-control, and perseverance today?

Read more:
*Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for. Isaiah 40:2 (NIV)

*I call upon God, and the Lord will save me. Psalm 55:16

*Your eternal word, O LORD, stands firm in heaven. Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans. Psalm 119:89, 91

*On God we have set our hope that he will rescue us again. 2 Corinthians 1:10

*Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness. 1 Peter 2:24

Moravian Prayer: God of the ages, you have been faithful. We confess our faithlessness. As we call upon you today, we know that you have rescued us. You are our hope. Thank you for your grace and love today and every day.

We are so grateful that our debts have been released through the grace of your son, Jesus Chr-ist. May we strive to pay forward the grace and love you have given us. In his name. Amen.

Lent Day 29: Thankful for relatives

Jesus had parents, siblings, aunts - and lots of friends and acquaintances. We don't know exactly how big Nazareth was, but it's a fair guess that most people in town knew each other. They would have known family histories, silly games of childhood, and all the strengths and weaknesses of their neighbors.

With many people choosing not to endure the hard work of marriage or fleeing dangerous situations, we have a self-spawning culture of combinations and re-combinations called blended families.

I just heard that two of our acquaintances are splitting up as a couple. Nah, we don't know the whole story, but from what we've observed, a big part of it is a lack of maturity, forgiveness, and grace. They've had a rocky road off and on and one of them is fed up. Calling it quits. Unwilling to work any more at what has been a steep climb. Supposedly, they still "love each other." Whatever.

I look into another life window, where a friend's spouse is at death's door, the victim of cancer. They won't have the lifelong connections in common as one leaves the other behind. They had no choice and when they are parted, it will take time for the grieving partner to find a new normal.

One of the gifts of a long marriage, no matter how much work or stressful some years have been, is the mutual memory bank. W and I love each other more now than in the beginning (and than we did in parts of the middle!) We have many friends in common; he tells me about colleagues at work or church. I update him on FB friends and people who grew up with us in the church's youth group. You don't get those kind of memories or proven marriage benefits by running away to "find yourself" elsewhere.

I'm grateful for my folks. They've stayed married for nearly 60 years, through thick and thin: poverty and wealth; challenges with their parents and children; exciting adventures and boring chores. We've been married 34 years. Our kids have begun their marriages with a strong commitment to their spouses, too.

It's not easy to stay married without the social and religious pressure to keep a covenant in good and bad times. Among my first cousins, 6 of 24 have experienced divorce or abandonment. W and I also might not have made it through some very tough seasons without both of us honoring our covenant before God and buckling down to family expectations.

Today I'm thankful for all the aunts and uncles, the cousins, nieces and nephews, and other family members who have stuck it out. The extended web of friendships and trust remind us of God's faithfulness and the importance of self-discipline and perseverance. Life is not always easy, but it is worth doing with all our hearts and strength.

Loving others is second only to loving God, according to Jesus. And you do that by changing yourself (since you can't change others.)

The fact that my husband turned out to be my Prince Charming is an unexpected bonus.

Read more:

*Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars! For he commanded, and they were created. Psalm 148:3,5

*Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27 NIV

*You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. Revelation 4:11

Moravian Prayer: We offer thanks to you, Creator God, for all good gifts - the seasons of the year and of the spirit, and the experiences of joy, pleasure and gladness. We offer thanks also for the sorrow and grief and solitudes of life and for the strength through which we are able to meet them. We pray for those who work hard to preserve relationships and we commit ourselves to work with them this day. Amen. 

Lent Day 5: Thankful for new beginnings

"Yikes!" I just picked up the dissertation sent in last week. The editors and I missed a few things. How can there still be dozens of improvements after dozens of readings and hundred of dollars spent for edits?

Laying aside the copy (at p.35 of 350 already zoning out with all the qualifiers - get to the story, get to the story!), I'm reflecting on the grace of God at the cusp of another week. Some of you are hunched over your keyboards at work. Some are unloading tools for manual labor. Some stretch in their beds after a long weekend or a night shift.

God is extending his favor to each of us. Lent, the time for thanksgiving and meditation on Jesus as Savior, reminds us that God's mercy is new every morning. We do not have a Father in heaven who looks for the smallest infraction so he can thump us and cow us with power and anger. Our Father calls us into relationship, allowed us to kill his Son to ransom us from eternal banishment, and then--and then--lets us choose for or against his provisions. No other world religion or folk traditions can dream up a God so tender, so lovingly sacrificial, or so merciful!

This morning, I'm asking God for wisdom and understanding. I want to recognize him when he speaks. To obey him better. To follow more closely. To swim in his sea of new beginnings and surf his waves of grace. How about you?

Read more:

*Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. Psalm 25:8

*My child, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and people. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine. 

My child, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke because the LORD disciplines those he loves as a father the child he delights in. 

Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed. By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the watery depths were divided and the clouds let drop the dew. 

My child, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight. Preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked for the LORD will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you.

*I will set my eyes upon them for good. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. Jeremiah 24:6

*So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 1 Corinthians 3:7

Moravian Prayer: God of heaven and earth, as we worship, let us praise you as Lord who is able to shape us as a people of one mind. You are the one who also provides for us the life-giving water needed to sustain our growth. Amen.

*But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV

Lent Day 4: Thankful to be forsaken

"I feel so alone."

"It feels like no one cares about me."

We've all said (and heard) those words. The cry of Jesus on the cross, "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?" echoes our hurts and feelings of abandonment.

I am thankful today that God experienced all the pain of humanity and humiliation. Christ, God and man, knows the depths of our despair and the heights of our joys.

Jews, hearing Jesus call out, would have known the entire Psalm 22 - (read more below), in which his expressions of loneliness and his anguished tears balance with abandon to God's will and assurance of His triumph. Like our Savior, let us rest in God's goodness, which reveals itself as most abundant when we feel most helpless.

Read more:

*I rejoice in your salvation. 1 Samuel 2:1 (NASB)

*My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

But you, LORD, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.

The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise him— may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it! Psalm 22

*When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. Mark 16:9,10

Moravian Prayer: Precious Lord, we rejoice with the angels and the disciples in the salvation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died for our sins and was raised as King of kings. Amen.

Lent Day 13: If he had faltered even once...

I am reposing this with permission from Kevin. I couldn't say it better. More of Kevin's poetry at Desiring God Blog (click link below).

If He Had Faltered Even Once

Desiring God Blog

A poem to ponder during Lent:

They spit upon His meekness, 
And struck Him in the face. 
Their floggers swung with hatred; 
They stripped Him in disgrace. 
Deep worked the Roman anger 
That tortured Him, a Jew; 
Yet this His contemplation: 
“They know not what they do.” 

His people cheered “Hosanna,” 
Then had Him crucified. 
They freed corrupt Barabbas; 
To sentence Him, they lied. 
He hung outside their city, 
Where leaders mocked Him too; 
Yet this, the hurt He carried: 
“I would have gathered you.” 

No angels came to help Him 
When Heaven on Him fell. 
The Devil tried to reach Him 
Through ev’ry lie in hell. 
Unthinkable the anguish 
As Father crushed the Son, 
Yet this His firm conviction: 
“Thy will, not mine, be done.”

No selfishness, no hatred, 
No spitefulness was there. 
No unbelief, no cursing, 
No pity from despair. 
One sinful thought; one failure, 
And Love would not succeed. 
The ransomed souls of hist’ry 
Must His perfection plead. 

If He had faltered even once, 
In flames of hell would men abide. 
Then ponder Christ, and praise at length 
The strength of Him there crucified.

               -- K. Hartnett, May 2007
Kevin comments:

I wrote this one backwards, i.e. having the idea for the last four lines before writing the rest.  Verse one highlights Christ's physical sufferings; verse two, His emotional/mental and verse three, His spiritual.  The colossal irony that the very men who tempted Him to failure were among those He died in perfection to save captures my imagination - and praise.

Kevin Hartnett works for NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, overseeing the science operations activities of the mission. He was selected in 2003 from a thousand candidates as the “Poet of the Year” by the Fellowship of Christian Poets.

Read more:
But now, this is what the LORD says—
   he who created you, Jacob,
   he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
   I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
   they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
   you will not be burned;
   the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD your God,
   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
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Isaiah 43:1-3A     NIV