Dear God, when it comes to the PM Psalms from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Based on the Book of Common Prayer I keep forgetting to read them in the PM. At least I have for the last two days. So I started this morning by reading yesterday’s PM Psalm, and it was Psalm 103. The thing that struck me about it was verses 15-16: As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. What a great and humbling thought. Of course, it is true. I was thinking just this morning about a godly man who used to be a vendor or the nonprofit where I work, but he died several years ago. I don’t think he had any children. There will be some people of this generation and maybe a few for the next 30 or so years who will remember him, but when we are gone, his memory from this earth will likely be gone. As for me, the memory of my time on earth will likely be gone 100 years from now. but what won’t be gone are the butterfly effects of what I did while here on earth (both good and bad). My life has knocked over dominoes in other lives. How can I help it. I’ve helped some. I’ve harmed some. Anyway, I pray that my life is more of a help than a hurt to your plan on earth.

So here are today’s passages from Sacred Invitation book:

• AM Psalms: 41, 52
• PM Psalm: 44
• Deuteronomy 8:11-18
• John 2:1-12
• Hebrews 2:11-18

Alright, I’ve read everything, including the commentary from Sacred invitations, and here are three things that struck me:

• John 2:12 – [After the wedding at Cana and Jesus turns water into wine] he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. I just found it interesting that, at this point, Jesus’s mother and brothers were good with him. That wouldn’t always be the case, but so far he wasn’t doing anything that was outside of the paradigm of who they thought he should be.
• Hebrews 2:16-18 – For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his bothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. This plays into the commentary I’m about to share, so I’ll comment after that.
• Sacred Invitation: Monday, Day 6, Paragraph 5 – In John 12:23, in the last day or so before his crucifixion, after the Greeks request to see Jesus, he responds, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” We must not miss this: everything that happens throughout the life and ministry of Jesus leads to the cross. The cross is not an intrusion on an otherwise-planned completion of his ministry. It is the whole point. This statement makes me think about Catholic mass and how the partaking of the Eucharist is the entire point of the mass. Everything else is just a part of the service that points to that moment in the service. But Jesus came here to make atonement. To be my substitute for my guilt. That was the point. The rest of his life was to teach and be an example, but the point was his death and resurrection

Father, as I sit with this Lenten season, help me to really soak my soul in the idea of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Help me to see it anew as I spend this time with you. You are my God. I bring you my worship.

I pray all of this in Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen