Lent Day 30: Cut up your running shoes

We were bemused by the students' Twitter storm last week when we spoke in chapel. "We want to have that kind of a marriage," they tweeted while W and I were preaching together.

Well, you guys, in that case, cut up your running shoes and hunker down for the grit and grace that is marriage. It's a huge effort to earn anything worthwhile in the long run. There are days and months - years even, if you're as stubborn and resistant to change as we've been - when you'll wake up and wonder, "Who is this awful person in my bed?" (and it won't necessarily be your spouse; it may be you.)

Reading the story of Jesus' last weeks among us, I wonder how many times he tied himself to his mission. How many times did he feel like disappearing to where no one knew him? How many times did he long for an escape from the cross? If he was tempted in every way as we are (Hebrews 4:15), he must have thought about alternatives to the hideous death ahead.

I don't know why we have to suffer. I have an ongoing, internal resistance to the idea of suffering. I hate when our kids are ill, when we have a financial crunch, and when friends are in trouble. I hate the beastly takeover of cancer, the violence of robbery and murder, and the neglect of orphans, widows, and the poor.

But suffer we do. My mom used to say, "You look in anyone else's window and you don't want to live there. The cross is shaped for our own backs."

God, whose son Jesus bore all the suffering of the world on the cross of Calvary, allows human life to go on around us. We can identify with his suffering. His gift of free will means people make choices that hurt them and us. We make decisions with terrible consequences for ourselves and others.

Through it all, over and under it all, are everlasting arms of kindness and love. Our debt of sin and our illnesses were carried to the cross. Paid. Done. I've just finished reading Revelation (the last book of the Bible, with it's 101 things that I don't understand). What resonates and what thrill me is this: our great and wonderful God is in control. We do have a vile and vicious enemy. And we will choose whom to serve. The outcome is ours to determine: we gain life for bowing our knee to God and banishment from all that is good if we refuse.

In the end of the Bible, we read how God prepares a city for his people, It is so stunning that it is lit by his glory. The river of life sparkles through it. The leaves on the trees provide medicine and nourishment. Nothing broken comes into the city: all is wholeness, Presence, and well-being. Tears are wiped away and the pain of human existence is only a memory.

How is this possible? It's because Jesus persevered. He stuck it out. Knowing the betrayal of his best friends, he ate with them and washed their feet. He cared for his mother from the cross, choosing a trustworthy friend as her provider. His heart broke with the weight of our sins and suffering - but he willingly agonized to win our freedom and joy.

I don't get God's plan and that's ok. "The servant is not greater than the Master," Jesus warned. "I'm suffering, but you will suffer too." Times will be tough and people will hate and revile us. They may malign and torture us. That's when the cross may hurt our backs.

But I've cut up my running shoes. I'm waiting for the salvation of God. That's what followers of Jesus do. We look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, for stamina and strength. He said, "Greater things than these will you do," speaking of miracles and overcoming challenges.

Where do you need God's help today? What is weighing you down or hurting you - a person, a circumstance, an illness, a special need?

Every provision has been made to get you through. Take off those sneakers, stand your ground, and call on the name of the Lord. The host of heaven will surround you. God's wisdom and mercy will make a way where there is no [human] way. Thanks be to God.

Read more:
 *Israel, you are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off. Isaiah 41:9 ESV

*Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her! Rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her. Isaiah 66:10 ESV

*You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. John 15:16 ESV

*Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?" For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:33-36 NIV

*Paul wrote: I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you. Philippians 1:3-4 ESV

Moravian Church: Ever-living God, it is so easy for us to say that we chose you. Forgive us, for we know that you chose us for a purpose—to bring the love of God in Christ Jesus to all we meet. May our endeavors be pleasing in your sight.

God, we thank you for the joy you bring into our lives. May we, like Paul, rejoice always in all circumstances and in all things. May our joy be a reflection to others of our love toward you. Amen.

Lent Day 12: Loving - and hating - the cross

Do you ever get caught up in little things or feel annoyed when things don't go as hoped? This morning I got a "free haircut" as a model in an expensive salon. After 1:15 in the chair, I tipped the stylist. Back home, it took 20 seconds for a surprised "What on earth!," 5 minutes to recut the back to hang right, a minute to make sure it was straight, and then I cleaned up the counter in the bathroom.

The salon cut...

a sinkful of chopped hair...

= a quick fix.

It's a bit of a waste to spend the morning on a task that usually takes 15-20 minutes. But let's face it, hair is a renewable resource.

In contrast, here's something worth agonizing about. The cross has been a true horror for me for as long as I can remember. My feelings accelerated when our anatomy prof at college described the agony of flogging and crucifixion. Could a crueler punishment exist for someone undeserving of ill treatment?

I skipped Passion shows at church and avoided Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. I could NOT watch the tearing of skin as the whips lashed Jesus or listen to nails going through human flesh. I hated the cross! the torture! Mary's tears! The disciples' loss of their dreams and hopes! It was too awful. Unbearable.

Yet I loved it, too. I've been drawn to the cross since I was a child. I've never been able to understand it. I'm overwhelmed that God chose the cross to intersect history.

How could someone endure such pain for me? Jesus carried the grief of ALL the sins of the world? He suffered the brokenness of ALL sickness. He died in anguish to win forgiveness for EVERY offense given and received.

I loathe that I pinned my Savior to the cross. I am ashamed that I continue to sin and transgress against God and others.

But since I was a little girl, I have loved the story of Jesus, winning my salvation. I'm drawn to the cross again and again.

Sometimes I get caught up in the little things of life. A bad haircut. Someone cutting me off in traffic. The failure of a project. Disappointment with people.

Then Jesus reminds me, "Here is what truly matters. I carried the cross for you." He eases the burdens of worry or unforgiveness from my backpack of grievences. He lifts the annoyance or dismay from my shoulders. He robes me in his grace, because of the cross.

What does the cross mean to you?

Read more:
*Give ear to my words, O Lord; give heed to my sighing. Listen to the sound of my cry, for to you I pray. Psalm 5:1-2 ESV

*For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

*In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Hebrews 5:7 ESV

Moravian Prayer: In the throes of pain and suffering, we cry out to you, holy Jesus. In your own pain and suffering, you cried out to God. Comforter, you have cried our tears and you are the one to wipe our tears away. Amen.

Lent Day 40: Grateful

Early on Good Friday morning, I tune in to the YouVersion reader to hear Mark 14-15. Each year, believers read the Story, think about God's love, and say thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

This year it's particularly meaningful to me. I listen and imagine Jesus' Friday, which includes:

• a feast with friends
• warning those expecting promotion and political wins about hardships and sorrow ahead
• fervent prayer to endure and stay the course, if there is no other route forward
• rousing sleeping followers, who fade away instead of supporting you
• betrayal by an insider ... then watching trusted friends melt away
• healing someone who's coming to take you away
• looking a best friend in the eye after he swears up and down that he's never had anything to do with you
• hearing a mob scream for your blood
• a politically-rigged trial results in a death sentence
• humiliation by religious leadership, mockery with a purple robe and thorn crown; then being struck, beaten, beard yanked out, spit upon by foreign oppressors
• needing a stranger's help to carry your load
• 3 hours of excruciating physical pain on the cross, while your mother and supportive women watch and cry
• being shamed in public, knowing that shame will be applied to your family and friends
• calling out the Psalms to focus on God's plan instead of your human desires
• letting go of human desires and life itself, to do the work of God - the work that God could do only through you

I am in tears when the reading finishes. What amazing love! What a sense of mission!

What parts of Easter speak loudest to you? What in your Passion week readings brought you to a grateful pause?

Read more:
*Psalm 40:9-17; Esther 8:1-9:17; Romans 10:1-13

*When you said, "Seek My face," my heart said to you, "Your face, O Lord, I shall seek." Psalm 27:8 (NASB)

*Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,  that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in thename of God’s one and only Son. John 3:14-18 NIV

*Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” John 19:5 (NKJV)

Moravian Prayer: We look at the cross, O Christ, and see your abandoned, broken, suffering face – looking upon us only with love. May we deeply feel your gaze, making us more acutely aware of the pain in our world and your love for all. Amen.