Lent Day 3: Who are you with?

Who are you with? And who is with you?

Last morning, I met with credentialed women (including a pastor, therapist, and missionaries), cup of tea in hand.

I had lunch and shared our new calling to Indonesia with 15 women. They've met for decades to pray for missionaries and each other. Most are in their 70s-90s. The food was home-cooked, the company warm and inviting, and the prayers sincere.

Finally, W and I relaxed with six dear friends in a nearby suburb. The candles were lit, the cheesecake looked delicious (can't have any = Lent, but it looked good!), and the conversation and prayers were uplifting.

We don't often get so many hugs and affirmations in a day. When we do, we tuck them away to treasure as memories later.

Jesus likewise drew a small circle around him. He had many followers surrounding him with their curiosity, interest in the things of God, and their needs.

His transparency - the laughter, the jokes, the crying, the preaching, the teaching - amazes me. There was no coverup or pretense. No hiding behind social conventions. He asked his closest friends, "Are you with me? Who do you think I am?"

And he felt abandoned and lonely when they fell asleep and left him to pray on his own. "Couldn't you hang out just for an hour?" he asked them. He needed their support and companionship for the final walk to crucifixion.

I wonder, would you and I have stayed awake? Would we have stayed close if our Friend was threatened and on the road to the cross? Probably not.

Would you and I have understood the enormity of Jesus' accomplishments in life and death? Could we have grasped the power of the resurrection? That's doubtful, too.

Yet Jesus invites us to live in His presence - today, tomorrow, and every day. Knowing how imperfect, how faithless, and how fickle we are, He says, "Come. Drink of the water of life. Come close. Find abundant life with Me and in Me."

Today I say, "I'm with you, Jesus. I'm in!" Then, when I dash away, distracted or look away, ashamed by my sleepiness or sin, I'm coming back.

You also? Who are you with today?

Read more:
*David found strength in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30:6 NIV

*O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. Isaiah 25:1 ESV

*For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 ESV

Moravian Prayer: God, lift us. Hold us. Support us. Empower us. Grant us the courage to throw off the shackles of sin. We long to stand before this world worthy to be called the people of God. Strengthen us, O Lord! Amen.

Dead to the world

I opened my eyes to squint at the time on my computer = 6-something. "Why did he turn on the light in the other room?" I groused silently at my husband. "He knows light wakes me." But I got up.

Ummm, the light wasn't coming from a bulb. We have a 2'X3' window in the other room. It was sunlight insisting it was day. I checked my watch: it was actually 8:30 a.m. That fine man was long gone to teach. And I'd slept like the dead through his departure. "Sorry, dear."

"Dead to the world" has several meanings besides sleeping deeply. When we were young, the pastor would immerse converts in baptism with these words: "... by which I demonstrate I am dead to the world and the world is dead to me." Have you heard that lately?

Seems we forget that, just as we are present while sleeping, we are fully alive in the world. For most of us, being "dead to the world" won't mean fleeing into a monastery or living in the dark woods far from civilization. When we're dead asleep, we're completely on the bed. Our bodies, minds, spirits, and emotions stay with us.

But our state is altered. We wait unconscious to surroundings, our bodies and minds renewing themselves in rest.

That's how it is to be spiritually "dead to the world." The affections and attractions of our surroundings no longer capture our attention. We are attuned to the Father's presence and His work. Though we are in the world, we wait for God's direction, uninterested in participating in impure or evil thoughts or actions.

Would you like to spend the day with God, watching only Him, doing only what He asks of you? That's what we promised Him and our witnesses when we were baptized.

God opens our eyes to the needy, shares our skills with the helpless, and spreads our love among the broken ... as we live dead to the world and alive to Christ Jesus our Lord.

Read more:
*What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. Psalm 50:16-17 NEV

*Jesus said, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you?" Luke 6:46 NEV

*What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. From Romans 6 ESV

Moravian Prayer: We thank you Lord for your willingness to forgive our foolish acts and decisions. May we find ways to follow your example and lead more honest lives deserving of your love. Amen.

C.S. Lewis: He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.

Lent Day 38: Almost there

At this point in Passion week, Jesus knows he's headed for the cross. He has another day. What will he tell his disciples? How will he say good-bye and see you again? What kind of organization will he set up so his followers stay on track in the Kingdom of God?

The final chapters of John summarize the interactions between Jesus and his disciples. How tender he is! How grace-filled. Even Judas seems to have the chance to change his course ... until he commits to betrayal.

There's no frantic micromanagement in Jesus' last days before the cross. No: "Let's get this perfect, guys! We're making history here, so let me make sure everything is A-1 for the Passover performance. Hey, you sit there. ... Hmmm, I think we should have a blue towel, not the one the host brought..." (You get the picture.)

Sometimes we fuss over details because the outcome and the moment is so special. What if we took Jesus cue of being fully present, reviewing what we know about God (His life-giving grace and goodness), while preparing others for challenges and difficulties. Jesus acknowledged (warned of) failure, abandonment, and broken trust. But he didn't attack or demean Peter or Judas or the disciples. After all, he was going to the cross for their brokenness and weaknesses, alongside everyone else's.

When I'm tempted to huff and puff, to stress out, and to juggle details so I can control the presentation, I need to remember the "in-the-moment, with-you-always" Jesus. Eating. Drinking. Communing. Teaching. Loving. Praying.

• with death on the horizon
• with the cross at the end of the path
• with the pretense of "all is well" by those around him
• with his reputation about to shatter through accusations by hateful leaders

 "For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross," wrote an early Christian (Hebr. 12:2).

What joy would help you to endure what is before you this week? This season? This year?

Read more:
*If the godly give in to the wicked, it's like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring. Proverbs 25:26 NLT

*The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Psalm 50:1 NLT

*Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV

*See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. Hebrews 12:25 NLT

Moravian Prayer: God of light, promise, and hope, may we hear your voice calling us again, as if for the first time. May the stories of this holy week dare us to take part anew in the unfolding drama of your love. Amen.