FaithBridge Church, Rockwall Texas

Good Friday
April 2, 2010

Read John, chapter 19

Today is the darkest day in human history.  Darker than December 7. Darker than 9/11.  Darker than the day the stock market crashed in 1929.  The two men walking the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:21) said it best.  "We had hoped he was the one..."  The hope of the entire world died today.

Attend a Good Friday worship service near you this evening and remember.

Maundy Thursday
April 1, 2010

Today is called Maundy Thursday, from the Latin for "mandate", as it is on this day of Holy Week that Jesus gives us the command to observe communion as a remembrance of him and of his gift of forgiveness and life.  Observe, when Jesus offers the bread and the cup, and says "eat this" and "drink this", he also says, "Do this in remembrance of me."

It is not by happenstance that we share communion; not simply tradition borne down the centuries by our church; not simply a neat thing to do.  It is a command from Jesus to "do" and "remember."

I don't know how many times I was moved to tears receiving communion before I was in ordained ministry, but I know it was uncountable.  Remembering Jesus' tremendous gift was sometimes overwhelming.  Something equally moving has happened uncountable times since I entered the ministry.

I have noticed some people, upon receiving the bread and the cup, actually physically lean in and turn their ear so that, more clearly, they may hear the words, "The body of Christ, broken for you...the blood of Christ poured out for you."  We all want to remember.

Somewhere close to you this evening and tomorrow evening, there are worship services being held.  I encourage you and your household to attend them.  Your Easter Sunday will carry much more spiritual significance for you if you will share in the communion today, and the crucifixion tomorrow.

Tuesday of Holy Week
March 30, 2010

Many things are converging here.  (Sounds like your day, does it not?)  There are gentiles coming to see Jesus; the pharisees view their arrival as "the world" closing in on him.  Then Jesus has one of those moments that happens to me quite often, especially in my life as a daddy.  Perhaps I have told my daughter, "That's enough cookies," even while I am finishing off my third cookie (or fourth.)  Perhaps I have mandated she clean her room, while my office looks like a tornado hit it.  Jesus has one of those moments.  He tells the disciples what must be done, and then must convince himself that he must go through it.  For me, it is one of those thoroughly reassuring "Jesus Human" moments.

Don't you love the image of the seed here?  I confess I don't know enough about agriculture that I understand this without it being explained to me, so I am thankful that Jesus explains it.  If a seed remains unchanged, remains itself, never dies, then it never bears fruit.  If a seed remains unchanged, the field in which it is planted remains unchanged.  If a seed dies, when it allows itself to be changed, the field become full of wheat, or strawberries, or orange trees, or dandelions, or gerber daisies.  Because Jesus allows himself to die, allows himself to be changed, the world is changed. 

Now here's the rub (and a preview of Sunday's events):  Jesus' permanent changes are only the flesh wounds in this hands and feet and side.  Jesus' primary change (from living to dead) is but a blink of the eye.  After all, didn't you ever wonder whether Jesus actually rose on the third day?  or was it only on the third day that his resurrection was discovered, and he had actually risen before that?

We have a couple more days this week to walk in the light before Good Friday.  So, do that.

Monday of Holy Week
March 29, 2010

You may remember the way this scene is portrayed in "Jesus Christ Superstar" with Judas singing/screaming at Mary the words,

"Woman, your fine ointment, brand new and expensive, should have been saved for the poor.  Why has it been wasted?  We could have raised 300 silver pieces maybe more.  People who are hungry, people who are starving matter more than your feet and hands."

And Jesus singing in response in measured, even, tones, trying to control his patience.

"Surely you're not saying we have the resources to save the poor from their lot.  There will be poor always, pathetically struggling.  Think of the good things you've got.  Think while you still have me, move while you still see me.  You'll be lost, so sorry, when I'm gone."

In the midst of it all, Mary is singing, "Try not to get worried.  Try not to turn on to problems that upset you.  Don't you know everything's alright?...close your eyes, close your eyes and relax.  Think of nothing tonight."

Frankly, I don't know whether Andrew Lloyd Webber's dramatization is any clearer than the scripture, at least for me.  After all, Jesus has spent the previous three years encouraging us, even ordering us, to take care of the poor.  Now, is he suggesting that it is hopeless?  That there is nothing to be done to "save the poor from their lot?"

Far from it.  The key phrase for us is "there will be poor always".  The work for us among the poor will never end.  We will always be needed in the mission field.  Always.

The emphasis for us today, though, on this Monday of Holy Week, is on Jesus himself.  Jesus' words validate Mary's actions. 

Jesus says to Judas, "Leave her alone.  She bought (the perfume) so that she might have it for the day of my burial."

Jesus commends Mary because her anointing is a response to his impending hour.  She recognizes the limited time that Jesus will remain with them.  As much as you love Jesus today, what if you knew you only had a few days left with him?  What if you knew Jesus would die Friday?  What if you didn't know the resurrection was coming on Sunday?  Wouldn't you love Jesus in this way, as Mary does?

March 28, 2010

Palm Sunday

It’s a blessing and a source of peace to know that we can give our trust to Jesus, but let us acknowledge some hard truths about this and about ourselves also.  It’s something quite different to actually wholeheartedly place our trust in Jesus.  It’s a learned skill to actually place everything in Jesus’ hands and to completely trust that God has a plan for us.  It might be the culture we are in.  After all, we celebrate the self-made business people and thinkers like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison and Ted Turner and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.  We live in a world in which we celebrate the three-year-old who proclaims, “I can do this all by myself,” and we never let that go for the rest of our lives.  The reality is, we cannot do this all by ourselves, and neither did Thomas Edison or Ted Turner or Bill Gates.  This is a lesson I learned for myself back when I first entered ministry, when I decided to give IN to God’s call.  It’s also a lesson that I re-learned when we were asked a couple of years ago by our bishop to start a new church here in Rockwall.  When I shared some doubts with a couple of friends and colleagues about all of this, I was taken aback somewhat when they said, “Frank, you have a trust issue here.”  It’s not the same as a lack of faith.  It’s a deficiency in trust.  Strangely, this deficiency of trust coincided with a deficiency of sleep, of peace, of calm, of cheer. 

(Editor's note:  There is more of this story to be heard in worship on Sunday, March 28)

Read Matthew 21:1-11 (Part 1 of 2)

Jesus tells two of his disciples, “Go into that next little village there.  You will find a colt tied up.  When the owner asks what you need with the colt, tell him ‘The Lord needs it.’”  This is a village that had not yet been visited by Jesus and the disciples, it was a foreign place.  Jesus tells them not only that they will find a colt, and where the colt will be found, Jesus even tells them about the conversation they will have.  When these two disciples go into the village, they find the colt, they have the conversation with the colt’s owner exactly as Jesus told them they would.  Jesus’ words have value, they have merit, they are believable, they are trustworthy.  We can put our trust in Jesus; we can give our trust to Jesus, not only for Lent, but for Life.

"Many people have experienced hell on earth.  Whether natural disasters or acts of terrorism or cataclysmic pain and suffering, some people have known the terrible torture of separation and agony and lived in the midst of despair tearing away any desire ofr life.  For some the only answer to such an experience is ending life.  Even in the midst of such pain, what a waste!

"Ezekiel, who lived through the terrible hell of exile and separation and apostasy on the part of many people, lived with a hope for the future.  Priest and noble, he lost all but not his commitment to God and his hope for future restoration, even if he probably never lived to see the return to the land of Israel.  For Ezekiel heaven meant a hope for the future.

"If hell begins on earth, so does heaven.  The Gospel of John concentrates not on present or future pain but on present glory.  Lazarus had died, but on hearing the word of Jesus, he returend to life.  God has power over death, and since Jesus is the human face of God, Jesus has power over death."

                                                                             - John F. O'Grady

"A sincere cry to God is an open declaration that we're incapable of dealing with a particular situation, and that we're in desperate need of His help.  To cry out is to expressly acknowledge that the problem I'm facing is greater than the wisdom, ability, or strength I possess.  God delights to show His strength when we acknowledge such weakness.

"The more things look hopeless, the greater the possibility of God's intervention in answer to our cry, because He gets greater glory.  Again and again in Scripture, the miracles of God occur in circumstances of human hopelessness.

"On that evening when the wind and the waves so terrified the disciples in their boat, it's amazing that Jesus didn't rise up on His own and calm the storm at once, but instead waited until the disciples cried out for help.  This is the Lord's pattern and program to keep us in close fellowship with Him and His power.  God knows we don't do well with ease and properity.  We try to become independent and live as if we don't need God."

                                                                                    - Bill Gothard

"There are many experiences and disappointments that drive sensitive people toward nihilism and resignation.  That is why it is good to learn early that suffering and God are not contradictions, but rather a necessary unity.  For me, the idea that it is really God who suffers has always been one of the most persuasive teachings of Christianity.  I believe that God is closer to suffering than to happiness, and that finding God in this way brings peace and repose and a strong, courageous heart.

                                                                 -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 Let us pray:

O God our deliver, you led your people of old through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land.  Guide now the people of your church, that, following our Savior, we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.    Amen

 How about a hymn today?

O love, how deep, how broad, how high,
it fills the heart with esctacy
that God, the Son of God, should take
our mortal form for mortals' sake!

For us baptized, for us he bore
His holy fast and hungered sore,
for us temptation sharp he knew
for us the tempter overthrew.

For us he prayed; for us he taught;
for us his daily works he wrought;
by words and signs and actions thus
still seeking not himself but us.

For us to evil power betrayed,
scourged, mocked, in purple robe arrayed,
he bore the shameful cross and death,
for us he gave up his dying breath.

For us he rose from death again;
for us he went on high to reign
for us he sent the Spirit here,
to guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.

All glory to our Lord and
for love so deep, so high, so broad.
the Trinity whom we adore,
forever and forever more.

                                                                           -Benjamin Webb

Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent.  Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13 & John 9:1-41.  Reflect on this essay and then ask yourself:  "Am I unlikely?"

"No one in the time of Saul ever thought the next king would be a shepherd boy.  Jesse had a number of sons, and perhaps one of them could be a likely candidate, but the youngest one?  Why would God choose him?  God does what God wants and David fitted God's design for Israel.

"A blind man is also an unlikely person to give glory to God.  Illness came from sin, and surely either a blind person or his parents sinned for God to so punish a person.  Jesus says, No!  This unlikely person will give glory to God by recognizing the presence of God in Jesus.

"Just as the Samaritan woman stands in contrast with Nicodemus, so the blind man contrasts the religious leaders of the Jews.  Who really was blind:  the religious leaders or the man who could not see?  The man born blind sees for he recognizes Jesus for who he is and worships him.  Throughout this Gospel Jesus manifests God's grace and truth (John 1:14).  Those who truly see, recognize Jesus as God's human face.  Those who concentrate only on themselves and their blind ambition, see nothing.

"The blind man follows the instructions of Jesus and the water heals him.  As the water always symbolizes the Spirit of Jesus, the man whom others consider born in sin, allows the water to wash over him, and he becomes a believer anxious to stand up for Jesus in spite of any opposition, even the opposition of the religious leaders.  Once again things are other than they appear.  The unlikely one, considered a sinner, God chose to give testimony to Jesus.  Throughout history God always seems to choose the unlikely, including Jesus."

                                                                                 - John F. O'Grady

Editor's Note:  This is from an excellent essay from CS Lewis about forgiveness.  The essay itself is quite lengthy and very good, and these are only the opening paragraphs.  I think they are good for thought during Lent and for life.  It is written immediately following World War II, but some of those emotions are present with us in the 21st Century in our current world situations.

"I said in a previous chapter that chastity was the most unpopular of the Christian virtues.  But I am not sure I was right.  I believe there is one even more unpopular.  It is laid down in the Christian rule, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'  Because in Christian morals 'thy neighbor' includes 'thy enemy', and so we come up against this terrible duty of forgiving our enemies.

"Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive, as we had during the war.  And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger.  It is not that people think this is too high and difficult a virtue:  it is that they think it hateful and contemptible.  'That sort of talk makes them sick', they say.  And half of you already want to ask me, 'I wonder how you'd feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?'

"So do I.  I wonder very much.  Just as when Christianity tells me that I must not deny my religion even to save myself from death by torture, I wonder veyr much what I should do when it came to the point.  I am not trying to tell you in this book what I could do - I can do precious little - I am telling you what Christianity is.  I did not invent it.  And there, right in the middle of it, I find 'Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.'  There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms.  It is made perfectly clear that if we do forgive we shall not be forgiven.  There are no two ways about it.  What are we to do?

"It is going to be hard enough, anyway, but I think there are two things we can do to make it easier.  When you start mathematics you do not begin with the calculus; you begin with simple addition...perhaps we start with something easier than the Gestapo.  One might start with forgiving one's spouse, or parents, or children or neighbor for something they have done or said in the last week.  Secondly, we might try to understand exactly what loving your neighbor as yourself means.  I have to love him as I love myself. 

"Now that I think of it, I have not exactly got a feeling of fondness or affection for myself, and I do not even always enjoy my own society...My self-love makes me think myself nice, but thinking myself nice is not why I love myself.  SO loving my enemies does not apparently mean thinking them nice either.  That is an enormous relief.  For a good many people imagine that forgiving your enemies means making out that they are really not such bad fellows afterr all, when it is quite plain that they are.  I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a man's actions, but not hate the bad man; or as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner."

"We understand how storms are created.  We map solar systems and transplant hearts.  We measure the depths of the oceans and send signals to distant planets.  We...have studied the system and are learning how it works.

"And, for some, the loss of mystery has led to the loss of majesty.  The more we know, the less we believe.  Strange, don't you think?  Knowledge of the workings shouldn't negate wonder.  Knowledge should stir wonder.  Who has more reason to worship than the astronomer who has seen the stars?  Than the surgeon who has held a heart?  Than the oceanographer who has pondered the depths?  The more we know, the more we should be amazed.

"Ironically, the more we know, the less we worship.  We are more impressed with our discovery of the light switch than with the one who invented electricity....Rather than worship the Creator, we worship the creation.  (Romans 1:25, 'because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!  Amen').

"No wonder there  is no wonder.  We've figured it out."

                                                                               - Max Lucado

                                                              - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

                                                               - CS Lewis

"One day as Sug is crooning, "I've got somethin' to tell you" in the bar, she hears the church choir answer, as if antiphonally, "God's got something to tell you!"  Pricked by nostalgia or guilt, Sug leads her band to the church and marches down the aisle just as her father mounts the pulpit to preach on the prodigal son.

"The sight of his long-lost daughter silences the minister, and he glowers at the procession coming down the aisle.  'Even us sinners have soul,' Sug explains, and hugs her father, who hardly reacts.  Ever the moralist, he cannot easily forgive a daughter who has shamed him so.

"The Hollywood portrayal, however, altogether misses the main point of the biblical parable.  In Jesus' version the father does not glower, but rather searches the horizon, desperate for any sign of his wayward child.  It is the father who runs, throws his arm around the prodigal, and kisses him.

"By making a sinner the magnanimous hero, Hollywood dodges the scandal of grace.  In truth what blocks forgiveness is not God's reticence - 'But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him' - but ours.  God's arms are always extended; we are the ones who turn away.  It is a wonderful truth, and one subject to devious exploitation."

                                                                                - Philip Yancey

March 8, 2010

"When Elijah's turn comes, all the emotions, incantations, and lengthiness are replaced by one simple prayer (verse 36-37) and God answers immediately, leaving no doubt about who is the true God.  The story is as ancient as the Hebrew scriptures and as modern as last week's worship service.  Magic conditions us to think, 'We did what we were supposed to do; now God is obligated to do what we asked.'  Magic creates the false belief that we have prayed sincerely, correctly, and repeatedly - now God must respond accordingly.  Prayer becomes a formula, and the purpose of prayer is to get results.  Such prayer is a transaction, not a relationship....

"I think Jesus attacked ideas about magic - whether regarding prayer or other matters - when he commended the fait of a mustard seed. (Matt 17:20).  I have experienced times in my life when my faith was weak, and I needed others to carry me into the presence of God with their intercessions.  I have had times when I called on the church to pray, but my faith in prayer was never smaller than a mustard seed.  That reminds me that no matter how I feel about prayer at any given moment, I am still called to pray.  My prayer is never too small to get God's attention."

                                                                     - Steve Harper

March 4 & 5, 2010

"Self-denial means knowing only Christ, and no longer oneself.  It means seeing only Christ, who goes ahead of us, and no longer the path that it too difficult for us.  Again, self-denial is saying only:  He goes ahead of us; hold fast to him.

"...and take up their cross."  In his compassion, Jesus has prepared his disciples for this statement by speaking first of self-denial.  Only if we have genuinely, completely forgotten ourselves, such that we no longer know ourselves, can we be prepared to bear the cross for his sake.

If we know only him, than we no longer know the pain of our own cross, as we are seeing only him.  If Jesus had not prepared us so amicably for this statement, we could not bear it.  As it is, however, he has enabled us to perceive even this harsh statement as a blessing.  We encounter it in the joy of discipleship, and draw strength from it."
                                                 -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

March 3, 2010

"When a friend hurts me, it cuts deeply, Lord.  But I'd rather hear the truth about myself from someone who loves me than listen to the lies of an enemy.  People who hate me can't hurt mee much, but they also can't help me by showing me places where I need to grow in You.

"Open my heart to painful truths told by one who cares.  Aid me in sifting what's said, to know which words are right and which might be off base, and help me forgive a friend who offers well-meant but mistake critiques.

"When a hurt comes directly from You, Lord, I want to be humble enough to accept it and profit from it.  In the end, You are my best friend, who cares more than I can ever truly understand."

                                                                                    - "Light for My Path; Prayers & Promises"

Next time you find yourself in your own personal wilderness, deep in your own mess, remember this prayer.

"But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

"Here, Paul lets us see deep into his heart.  There unrolls before us a terrible picture of what he had experienced with the Law.  He had been a zealot for the Law, but the attitude of confidence in the Law had been denied him.  His fate had been to experience sin through the Law.

"Since the Law can produce no righteousness, only the grace of God can come to (our) aid, and that only by offering the possibility of another righteousness...The light of which the problem of the impossibility of Law-righteousness and the consequent necessity for a means of redemption is posed and solved: the grace of God consists in His having caused Christ, by His death, to make an end of the rule of the Law.  In the resulting state of freedom, everything that belongs to redemption is implicitly given, and is appropriated by the believer through the being-in-Christ.

"In the letter to the Romans, the impossibility of Law-righteousness is developed by insisting on the personal consciousness of inescapable sinfulness.  Consequently, redemption must consist in the conscious assurance of the forgiveness of sins, which comes by God's grace through Christ."

                                                                                                    - Albert Schweitzer

The sermon on the mount offers us three such things to give up for Lent.  Matthew 5:22 reads, "If you are angry with a brother or sister, you are liable to judgment."  Matthew 6: 25 reads, "I tell you do not worry about your life."  Matthew 7:1 reads, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged."

Anger, worry, conceit:  three good things to give up not only for Lent, but for Life.

Anger and worry are closely linked in our psyche, and in our routine.  People often hold their worry within until it explodes in anger, creating a mess all over their loved ones and friends.  Take more time to talk to each other about your worries and anger will be less present.

Let Jesus take control of your life, surrendering all to Jesus, and anger will be less dominant.  A prayer about this might sound something like, "Lord, I am giving this to you, because it is more than I can handle on my own.  Take this load off my shoulders."

As for judging others, there is a common Sunday school temptation to teach that this passage is about measuring somebody by their kindness, or their lovingness, or their faithfulness.  It's not.  This is Jesus telling us not to measure people at all.  This is Jesus telling us simply to love each other.

Saturday

February 27, 2010

God of our creation and re-creation, you who are constantly at work to shape me in the wholeness of Christ, you know the hardness of structures of my being that resist your shaping touch.  You know the deep inner rigidities of my being that reject your changing grace.  By your grace soften my hardness and rigidity; help me to become pliable in your hands.  Even as I read this, may there be a melting of my innate resistance to your transforming love.

"We are a do-it-yourself culture.  We are what I call an objectivizing, informational-functional culture.
An objectivizing culture is one that views the world primarily as an object 'out there' to be grasped and controlled for our own purposes.

"Parker Palmer describes it well:  We are well-educated people who have been schooled in a way of knowing that treats the world as an object to be dissected and manipulated, a way of knowing that gives us power over the world....We have used our knowledge to rearrange the world to satisfy our drive for power, distorting and deranging life rather than loving it for the gift it is.

"'Being conformed' goes totally, radically against the ingrained objectification perspective of our culture.  Graspers powerfully resist being grasped by God.  Manipulators strongly reject being shaped by God.  Controllers are inherently incapable of yielding control to God.  Spiritual formation is the great reversal:  from being the subject who controls all other things to being a person who is shaped by the presence, purpose and power of God in all things.

"We are also an informational-functional culture.  We seek to possess information, whether in the form of knowledge or in the form of techniques, in order that we might function more effectively to bring about the results we desire in the circumstances of our lives.  We seek to be totally and completely in control of that process.

"But there is an even deeper dimension of this need to control.  We tend to see such control as essential to the meaning, value and purpose of our being.  How much of the compulsive workaholism of our activities serves to authenticate ourselves as persons (to ourselves and others) and to prove that we have value, meaning, and purpose in the world!  To put it simply, we live as though our doing determined our being."

"For (many) Christians Satan is the same as the devil, but not so in the Bible.  Old Testament authors frequently personified evil and used many names such as Beelzebul, Beliar, Mastema, or Satan and the devil.  Satan originally just meant a tempter and appears in the Book of Job as the accuser in the divine court.  In rabbinic literature Satan was the tester or even the executioner of divine judgment.  Mark remarks that Jesus experienced temptation, which can come from life as well as from personified evil.  Jesus faces the temptations and withstands them with God and angels as witnesses.  Then throughout the ministry of Jesus he will confront and will overcome all evil, physical or spiritual.  He will overpower the evil that lurks beneath the waves (Mark 4), the illness of paralytics or lepers or the blind (Mark 2-3).  He will be with the beasts, the things 'that go bump in the night,' and he will triumph over them as well.

"Temptations form part of all human life.  How one responds to the promptings of mind and heart that cause problems for self and others makes the difference between saint and sinner or, better, the days when a person lives like a saint and the days in which a person lives like a sinner.  People are both.  True repentance multiplies the days when temptations become just a part of life rather than a control of life."

                                                                           - John F. O'Grady

"And so the Father and the Son walk the field together; digging and pulling, preparing the heart for fruit.  Confession invites the Father to work the soil of the soul.

"Confession seeks pardon from God, not amnesty.  Pardon presumes guilt; amnesty, derived from the same Greek word as amnesia, 'forgets' the alleged offense without imputing guilt.  Confession admits wrong and seeks forgiveness; amnesty denies wrong and claims innocence."

                                                                               - Max Lucado

"Isn't it interesting that the Spirit, the source of Jesus' empowerment, is also focal in the temptation that follows - 'The Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted' (Mt 4:1)?  We tend to think of temptation as something totally alien to us, something from 'outside' that intrudes into our lives.  We learn from Jesus' experience, however, that the most critical temptations attach themselves to the call and empowerment of God that defines the meaning, value and purpose of our existence.  It was so for Jesus.  His first temptation went to the heart of who he was, and it is the temptation to which our culture has succumbed.

"'If you are the Son of God, speak that these stones may become bread' (Mt. 4:3) Do you see the nature of this temptation?  The temptation for Jesus to use his empowerment by the Spirit to do something that will authenticate God's call.  More significantly, it is a temptation to reverse the roles of being and doing, the temptation to which our culture has succumbed.  We tend to evaluate our own meaning, value and purpose, as well as those of others, not by the quality of our being but by what we do and how effectively we do it.

"We live in a culture that has reversed the biblical order of being and doing.  Being and doing are integrally related, to be sure, but we have to have the order straight.  Our doing flows out of our being.  In spiritual formation, the problem with being conformed is that we have a strong tendency to think that if only we do the right things we will be the right kind of Christian, as though our doing would bring about our being.

"We must always realize that it is God, not we ourselves, who is the source of the transformation of our being into wholeness in the image of Christ.  Our part is to offer ourselves to God in ways that enable God to do that transforming work of grace.  This is inherent in Jesus' response to his temptation, 'People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God' (Mt 4:4).  Our relationship with God, not our doing, is the source of our being."

                                                                              - M. Robert Mulholland, Jr., "Invitation to a Journey"

- Rick Warren

God our help, you have given your angels charge over us to guard us in all our ways:

Make known your  presence with us throughout these forty days that we may find even in the wilderness your springs of living water, your touch that makes us whole.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Isaiah 40:29
"He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might, he increases their strength."

I am not courageous, Lord.  Like a child, cometimes I still wonder about the monsters under the bed and turn on every light in the house as soon as the sun sets.  When I look at my life's challenges, I feel so small and inadequate.
Yet You promise courage and strength when I need them.  Sometimes, in Your power, I even do remarkable things that cannot be explained; I can rise to great heights when necessary.  After the danger is passed, my knees may give out, and I wonder how I did such wonders.  Then the light dawns:  You did wonders through me.  Thank You for the hidden strength You give me - Your strength.

It is a common habit for us to pick a bad habit to give up during Lent.  I ran across this nugget from Max Lucado about habits.

"I like the story of the little boy who fell out of bed.  When his Mom asked him what happened, he answered, 'I don't know.  I guess I stayed too clase to where I got in.'
Easy to do ethe same with our faith.  It's tempting just to stay where we got in and never move.

"Pick a time in the not-too-distant past.  A year or two ago.  Now ask yourself a few questions.  How does your prayer life today compare with then?  How about your giving?  Have both the amount and the joy increased?  What about your church loyalty?  Can you tell you've grown?  And Bible study?  Are you learning to learn?...

"There they are.  Four habits worth having.  Isnt' it good to know that some habits are good for you?  Make them a part of your day and grow.  Don't make the mistake of the little boy.  Don't stay too close to where you got in.  It's risky resting on the edge."

Here's a Lent discipline that's about growth and that is worth a try.

Philippians 2:10-11
"At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God."

Blair Gilmer Meeks writes, "During Lent, we reflect on our fallibility and mortality, our need for forgiveness and the power of resurrection.  But Lent is not centered on personal penitence and confrontation with the reality of death alone.  Lent is especially significant for the formation of the community of faith that arises from Jesus' act of love in his death and resurrection.  Through this act Jesus brings new life to us as individuals but also as Christ's body.  Lenten worship is therefore a source of hope for our gathered reality as the church, as well as a time of earnest reflection for each of us."

As I reflect on Meeks' words, and as I remember gathering daily devotionals for this website during Advent, I remember that during December, we often hear people say, "Why can't we be this way all through the year:  loving, kind, joyful..."  Today, I wonder the same question about Lent.  I believe Lent to be a an opportunity for each of us for some deep, honest self-reflection.  But, there's more.  Always more.  Bending our knee at the name of Jesus, we remember that after his periods of reflection and prayer in solitude, Jesus always went about the business of "the more".  That is, he went about caring and serving the poor, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned.  If our tongues confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, our actions must also confess that Jesus is Lord of our lives, and this is where "the more" enters.  Lent is not only a time of serious reflection and prayer, it is also a time of servanthood and mission to our neighbors, (who are God's children), who are hungry, homeless, sick, imprisoned, addicted, lost, lonely, discouraged.  Wouldn't it be great if we were prayerful, reflective, and missional all year long?

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of this season of self-denial and self-discipline that we call Lent.  Lent is a time in which we share the journey of Christ all the way to the resurrection, which we celebrate on Easter, (April 4 this year.)  And because we say "All the way", that means that a part of that journey is the crucifixion.  I found this prayer in the "Book of Common Prayer", and I have attempted to translate it into 21st Century American.  My hope is that its meaning won't be lost or misconstrued, because in the olde English, it's beautiful.

Almighty and everlasting God, who hates nothing that you have made, and forgives the sins of all of your children:  Create within us new hearts; make within us contrite hearts, so that while we regret our sins and acknowledge our faults and shortcomings, we may receive your merciful forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Let this prayer lead us into this 40 day journey with Jesus in the wilderness.

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.  The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”  Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”  Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Live it up!  It's Fat Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday!  It's the last chance to over-indulge before Lent starts tomorrow, on Ash Wednesday.  Is this really how we want to exercise spiritual discipline?  Put it off until tomorrow?  I am not so sure about that.  It seems as though that might cheapen God's gift of grace.  We are always ready to share in Christ's resurrection.  Lent prepares us to also share in Christ's crucifixion.  Jesus was offered the chance to "live it up," but he turned it down and turned instead to prayer, to worship, and to servanthood.  That's our call as well.  It's a tough call; what some might term a "rough gig."  Thanks be to God for the gift of costly grace.