Lent Devotional: A Saturday Psalm

This is one of our Scripture for worship tomorrow.  When this comes around in the lectionary I am always curious how people relate to it.  This Psalm contains a deep meaning for those of us who live, though it is often read during times of grief.  Take a few minutes and read it.  How does it speak to you?

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Which images from this Psalm resonate with you tonight?  Do you long for a walk with our Shepherd near the quiet waters?  Do you long to stretch out on green pastures?  What does it mean that we never walk alone?

Prayer:  God who leads me along right paths, in time of beauty and in times of pain, I thank you for your companionship.  Help me to have courage in all things, for you are with me.  I pray for all who grieve this night and thank you for the opportunity to live another day by your grace.  Amen.  

Lent Devotional: This Really Happened

There are lots of people in this world who don't believe that God exists. Trying to prove God's existence can be a futile endeavor, belief in God takes faith and trust.  For those of us who live our lives through the lens of God's existence and presence in the world it is quite difficult to even begin to think about a God-less world.  

I want to share with you a news story from the 17th of March.  I have always been told that there are no coincidences, only God-incidences.  That sometimes we just catch a glimpse of God's hand at work right in our midst.  You just might call these moments miracles.  I think this is evidence of a miracle:

(This article has been taken from breitbart.com and was written by Robert Wilde)

Timing is everything, and no one believes that more than Konrad Lightner and his wife Jennifer, who happened to be carrying a box spring mattress under a third-story apartment window when a three-year old toddler was about to fall to the pavement below.

"The child climbed out of the window and was actually hanging out on to what appeared to be a telephone line or a cable line. They placed the mattress underneath the child, and at that point the child released and fell to the ground," said Burbank Police Lt. John Dilibert. Konrad stood by the mattress and actually caught the child, breaking the fall and then gently gliding onto the mattress, saving the child. The Lightners, who were moving from their Burbank apartment on Saturday, were moving their bed at the time of the incident.

What’s more, earlier in the day the couple had spent 30 minutes trapped in an elevator, which set their day back by just the right amount of time allowing for them and the young boy to perfectly synchronize their introduction and determine the boy’s fate. The child was taken to a local hospital for evaluation; fortunately, he did not suffer any major injuries.

The toddler’s parents were alerted by a neighbor, and they quickly rushed to the scene. Photos from the paramedics at the scene showed the father hugging the child and appearing grateful that the boy was rescued.

“It was very surreal afterwards,” Jennifer Lightner told KABC-TV

“We were just moving the rest of the day and every once in a while we’d look at each other and just be like, ‘That happened. That was real.’” Konrad said, "It feels like I watched a TV show, like it didn't happen to me.”

That happened.  That was real.  Now I know that there are so many moments in our lives when we pray for a miracle, and often the miracle we hope for is not the outcome that takes place.  We are quick to discount the fact that God is still in the miracle business, even when the miracle doesn't happen on our terms.   All I know is that for some reason these folks were carrying a bedspring the exact time this child crawled out of the third-story window.  

Do you believe in miracles?  Have you ever experienced a co-incidence that just may have been God at work in your life?  What is your reaction to this story?  How might God be working a miracle in your life, though it might be different than you hope for?

Lent Devotional: Plaque

I knelt behind my desk to plug in my computer today and lo and behold I found a plaque!  Though I am still in my first year here I have begun to realize that there are many of these little golden gems within the walls of this church.  A few months ago there was a debate about some chairs that were broken and had been put into a small room.  Could we possible get rid of these chairs?  They had plaques on them and had been donated in memory of someone (that nobody could remember anymore).  We have plaques on file cabinets, hymnals, stained-glass windows, pulpits, candlesticks, altars...and the list could probably go on and on into eternity.  

I have no idea who Bonnie was, I found this on the internet today.  It made me chuckle, in light of my other discovery.  Discovering the plaque on the back of the desk only got me to thinking that when I die, I don't want people to put a gold plaque with my name on it on some piece of furniture.  Sure, I am grateful that people are willing to donate these things in order that our church function with beauty and efficiency.  I love it when someone's family donates funding for projects to the church after the loss of a beloved member of our community of faith.  I guess what this made me realize is what Jesus was trying to teach so long ago: 

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6)

Now I'm no biologist but I do find it interesting that in our bodies plaque refers to this stuff/gunk that builds up whether its on our teeth our in our arteries.  Either way plaque is nothing to joke about, and must he attended to in order that one remain healthy.  Plaques of both kinds like to stick around, don't they?  If we tossed the broken chairs out with the garbage, it was like we were tossing out the memory of someone who at one point meant a great deal to this church.  But, if we continue to save everything that had been donated in someone's memory, much like our arteries, the church would become clogged and not run smoothly.  

The real question that came to me this morning was, "What kind of legacy do I want to leave?"  I'm not planning on going anywhere, but the reality of it is that we never really know when our time on earth will end.  While I want to be remembered, I don't want someone to have to hold onto something with my name on it.  I imagine that all of us have items in our homes that represent someone we love, things that we don't want to get rid of because of the memories attached to them.  This is certainly a normal thing, yet also a challenge for us.  What kind of treasures are we storing up?  

You see, no matter how special a "thing" is, it will only last so long.  It is the time we spend with people that lasts forever.  It is the goodness that we put back into the world that matters most.  These are the kinds of things that we cannot put a plaque on.  

Do you have things in your life that are cluttering up your ability to live freely?  What would it take for you to hold onto the memories rather than the "things?"  

Lastly I leave you with the words from a song that I love, "When it's all Been Said and Done":

When it's all been said and done

There is just one thing that matters

Did I do my best to live for truth

Did I live my life for You

When it's all been said and done

All my treasures will mean nothing

Only what I've done for love's Reward

Will stand the test of time

Lord Your mercy is so great

That You look beyond our Weakness

And find purest gold in miry clay

Making sinners into saints

I will always sing Your praise

Here on earth and ever after

For You've shown me Heaven's my true home

When it's all been said and done

You're my life when life is gone

When it's all been said and done

There is just one thing that matters

Did I do my best to live for truth

Did I live my life for You

Lord I'll live my life for You

Prayer:  Lord, help me to store up treasures in heaven, to leave a legacy of good in this world.  Help me also to remember with great fondness and joy the many people that have helped make me who I am.  Thank you for the teachers, friends, and family members that I will never forget.  Help me to release the things that clog up my ability to live freely and abundantly.  I want to live my life for You.  Amen.  

Lent Devotional: Too heavy.

It is always nice to do things for other people, isn't it?  Especially is if it something pretty easy and doesn't really take you too far out of your way, right?  One of the great challenges (and greatest blessings) of life can be our desire to "help" or have compassion for others.  One challenge in this comes when we have to step back and ask ourselves if we are enabling someone to remain stuck in their situation.  Another comes when we find ourselves so busy helping others, that we become too burdened to accomplish God's leading and will for our own lives.  

A story that has remained in my memory for years comes from the book "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World."  The story is below:

The story is told of a man who met God one day. God asked him to take a wagon with three stones to the top of the mountain. God gave the man specific instructions, sketching a map in the dust. The man cheerfully set off pulling the wagon behind him.

As he was going through a small village, a friend stopped him and asked him what he was doing. He explained that he was taking the wagon of rocks to the top of the mountain. The friend became excited as he explained he was just thinking about how he was going to get his rock to the top of the mountain, and would the man be willing to take the rock in his wagon as well? Happily, the man with the wagon took the friend’s rock and started on his way.

As he went along, more and more people asked him to take their rocks with him until the wagon grew fuller and fuller. The wagon felt huge and awkward as it lumbered and swayed over the ruts in the road. No longer was the man singing praises. Instead, resentment began to build inside. Frustrated, the man was beginning to have visions of giving up and letting the wagon roll backward.

About that time God came to his side and asked what the problem was. “You gave me a job that is too hard for me,” the man sobbed. God walked over to the wagon. “What is this?” He held up a big piece of shale and tossed it on the ground. The man explained about his friend who asked him to bring it up the mountain. God continued to unload the wagon, removing both light and heavy items until only the three stones God had given him were left in the wagon.

“Let others shoulder their own belongings,” God said gently. “I know you were trying to help, but when you are weighted down with all these cares, 

you cannot do what I have asked of you.”

Obviously, part of living out Christ's commandment to "Love on another" does challenge us to help and care for others.  I am not suggesting that we stop being kind and compassionate.  This story speaks to a different extreme:  when we get so busy shouldering everyone else's burdens that we do not have the freedom to be the people God wants us to be.

 What "stones" are weighing you down today?  Take a minute and write down those things that are too heavy for you.  How many of them are your burdens to bear?  How many are things out of your control?  What would it feel like to unburden yourself from this heaviness?

Prayer:  Dear God, help me to be available and open to your call in my life.  Help me to recognize where I can be of help to others and to release those burdens I bear that really are not my own.  I ask for your blessings to be poured out upon those I care for that struggle and need your guidance.  I lift to you my friends and family and thank you for placing them in my life.  Help all of us to receive the love and forgiveness you have for us, and show us how to shine the light of Christ in the world.  Amen.  

Lent Devotional: Pickled Pigs Feet

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

Philippians 4:13

This is a verse that many of us have memorized.  It's an easy one that can be breathed when we face trials or frustrations.  It's a good reminder for all of us that sometimes we cannot accomplish things without falling on the strength of Christ in us.  I know some people who have had this verse tattooed on their bodies after having been through a time of suffering or illness as a reminder that with Christ they can get through anything and everything that comes their way.  

I just got home from leading our Bible study on discernment.  Discernment is about being in-tune with the leading of the Spirit.  This class is helping us to refine our spiritual senses when it comes to making decisions.  Each week I am reminded that when connected with the Spirit we are capable of being more than just ourselves.  When we tap into the Spirit we are powerful and grace-filled vessels of God's love.

While I write this I have my television on to one of my evening favorites:  Chopped.  You might laugh at that because it is a cooking competition and as you probably know, I am not a very good cook.  On this show people are given a basket filled with mystery-ingredients which they then have to make into a palatable dish.  If they don't get "chopped" there is a prize of $10,000.  The appetizer round for tonight's episode featured pickled pig lips.  Have you ever eaten a pig lip?  Ew.

Unfortunately pickled pig reminds me of a situation in which I found myself in 2002.  I had just begun my first year of seminary and also started my first real gig as a youth pastor.  One of my first weeks on the job we attended a worship service put on by a local band.  This service was for all of the area youth groups and became one of our most favorite things to attend together.  This night there was an apple-bobbing challenge for a few youth that volunteered.  They had one minute to bob for apples and for every apple they got they would earn $5.  It was exciting and fun.  

As they asked for an adult volunteer I knew I had to raise my hand.  I was new, and I had to prove that I could hang with these kids.  So I did and I was chosen.  Bobbing for apples is no big deal, right?  Right...unless when you get to the stage you realize you are really bobbing for pickled pigs feet.  Ew again.  Double Ew.  I don't even like to eat meat that much, let alone use my teeth to pull a pigs foot out of a giant bucket.  

Six pigs feet later I was the proud owner of $100.  My hair smelled picked for a week.  But it was worth it because those awesome youth knew that I would do anything for them (we went out to eat with the $100).  I know it may seem silly, but this is one of those times when  "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" ran through my head.  

While this example may make you laugh, I know this same verse can help us when we feel defeated in life, or when we face something that seems like it might swallow us up.  Whether in good or bad circumstances it is helpful to know that we do not stand alone.

So, what situations do you face (or have you encountered) during which you had to rely on the strength of Christ?  Can you reflect on moments in which you felt power beyond yourself?  

Take a moment and commit this verse to memory.  It just might come in handy.

Prayer:  God of grace and of power I thank you for standing with me.  I thank you for the promise of your strength when I face things that seem overwhelming.  Help me to feel the guidance of the Spirit when I am uncertain.  Give me the confidence to face life unafraid.  Amen.  

Lent Devotional: Harmony

These are my kids.  Well, they're not really mine but I sure am proud of them.  They are a few of the Kenyan orphans that live at the Hope For Children Center.  One of the things I love most about visiting with them is the opportunity to hear them sing. It is really quite amazing.  Somehow their song leader gives them their pitches (by singing them) and then they just jump right in with all sort of harmonies blending together to make a beautiful sound.  It is also really awesome to see the younger children's excitement when they are invited into the choir to sing for the first time.  They can hardly wait to get up there and sing with their siblings.  
You might think that living in an orphanage with a hundred other kids would promote a lot of strife and struggle.  It might be a lot like living here in the US where often sharing things can just become a nasty process between brothers or sisters.  It amazes me each time I visit this  wonderful place how smoothly things seem to go.  I spend time with the girls in their dorm, talking and listening.  I do the same with the boys, listening to their needs and desires.  They are all on the same team.  If one person is experiencing hardship, they will take up the fight to make sure something is done about it.  Living life there is a lot like the way they sing - each person singing  a note that blends with the others to produce a beautiful melody.  

Ephesians 4 says:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

While so much about our society and family lives seems compartmentalized or fractured, how do you strive for unity?.  Surely we too have been given a voice to contribute to the harmony of life and faith.  Where have you experienced this type of togetherness?  Where do you long for unity?  What can you do promote unity in your family or church?

Prayer:  God, you are One in Three, you show us that all things can work together for good.  Help us to work together with our brothers and sisters in the world that peace might prevail.  Help me to stay in tune with your Spirit's leading in my life, that I may sing my song boldly.  Thank you for giving me a song to sing and a voice that matters. Amen.