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John 13:36-37

15 Apr

36 Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?”

And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”

37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.”

John 13:36-37

Dear God, Peter gets a bad rap when it comes to chickening out after Jesus was arrested. It’s true. After Jesus was arrested, Peter caved, but before the arrest, he was ready to go. He was wielding a sword. He was ready to go down swinging. He had been emotionally preparing himself for this. It was go time!

But how would it have helped Jesus if Peter had turned himself in after the arrest? Jesus was beyond saving at that point, and Peter knew it. I’m not saying what Peter did was right. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have been ashamed of himself when he did it. I’m just saying I get it, and what he did is not, in my opinion, a mark of cowardice.

In Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam concludes today’s entry with, “Jesus is so good to Peter and so attentive to his heart and the damage he did to himself by his own denial that Jesus will set up another scene by a charcoal fire, this one leading to a threefold affirmation of love and restoration (see John 21:9-19). Nothing is wasted on Jesus. Jesus uses everything in our lives to bring about restoration if we allow him to do so.” I like the image of “nothing wasted.” It reminds me of the prayer someone taught me years ago about making the pain count. Don’t let it be wasted.

Father, Jesus experienced unbelievable pain 2,000 years ago, but, oh, how you made it count! And there is a lot of pain in the world that is greater than the pain I experience. Please don’t let it be wasted. Make it count. The world is a big place. Bigger than I can fathom. And time is long. Longer than I can imagine. You are moving things in the world and nudging them here and there in ways that are way beyond my ability to comprehend. So I won’t try. I’ll just thank you, worship you, love you, and serve you. “Take my life, Lord. Let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 15, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Collect for Mass of the Day – April 14, 2025

14 Apr

Grant, we pray, Almighty God
That, though in our
Weakness we fail,
We may be revived through
The passion of your only
Begotten son.

Collect for Mass of the Day – April 14, 2025

Dear God, revive us again. That’s the verb I get from this phrase highlighted in Sister Miriam’s book Restored: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation. “Revive.”

I was reading a blog post this morning by Molly Wilcox, someone who “reconstructed” her faith through difficult times. Of course, I immediately thought about the phrase “deconstructing faith” that has become a lightning rod over the last few years. Some will tell you it’s dangerous. Some will tell you it’s essential. For my part, I like the idea of “reconstruction.” I built my faith when I was young and immature–both emotionally and spiritually. I’m still trying to mature even at the age of 55. Why wouldn’t I be consistently examining my beliefs and theology before you, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit?

The biblical example I thought of this morning was Job. He entered the narrative of Job as a mature man with what he thought was a mature faith. You seemingly found no blame in him, although you did still have lessons for him to learn. And by the end of the book he went from a faith that saw you as a rewarder of good and punisher of bad to a faith that saw his life as a complete submission to whatever your plan was, regardless of what it cost him personally. Some would call what Job did “deconstruction.” I like the word “reconstruction” better.

Father, all of this links to the verb “revive” because reconstruction done right does lead to revival. Life in you is full of new insights and realizations. Never let my heart grow so old or cold that it is defensive and unwilling to be examined for errancy, pride, and inflexibility. I want to know you. Teach me. Revive me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 14, 2025 in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 11:45-54

12 Apr

45 Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 46 But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. 48 If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”

49 Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! 50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”

51 He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation. 52 And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.

53 So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. 54 As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.

John 11:45-54

Dear God, I don’t know where Sister Miriam is going to go with this passage in today’s entry in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, but I had a thought as I read it. You made this plan Caiaphas-proof. Caiaphas was wrong. He thought Jesus was here to lead a revolution. He thought the people were stupid enough to follow him into a hopeless revolution. He thought he was protecting everyone. He thought he was doing the right thing.

I wonder what would have happened if Caiaphas had gone to Jesus in the night like Nicodemus did back in John 3 and just asked him flat out, “Jesus, you’re obviously special. Please explain to me what you’re up to.” In retrospect, that’s what he should have done although that would have changed your plan. Yeah, everything worked the way it was supposed to. Maybe it was because Jesus had been so insulting of the Pharisees up to that point. Maybe Caiaphas’s heart was already hardened, much like Pharoah’s. Little did he know the Temple was already going to be destroyed in a few years. Nothing lasts forever.

In her writing for today, Sister Miriam is still talking about forgiveness, both accepting it and offering it to others. I still don’t quite understand how she links it to this passage except that Jesus’s real purpose was to offer forgiveness to us. But she has a line that made me think of Caiaphas: “We offer to Jesus our pain, agony, bitterness, and hardened hearts, and he takes our offering, brings it to his heart upon the Cross on which he hangs, and in return offers us mercy for the forgiveness of our own sins, healing from the sins others have committed against us, and the restoration of our lives.” Just the fact that I had mentioned Caiaphas’s hardened heart and she included “hardened hearts” in her writing made me curious about Caiaphas. What were his hurts? What were his fears? What needed forgiven in his life. Whom did he need to forgive?

Father, I am sorry. I have been arrogant. I have been judgmental. I have been harsh. I have been selfish and self-indulgent. Oh, my Jesus, as I sit here now, imagining you on the Cross, I am grateful. And I’m so sorry. I have no right to expect anything out of life, including the kindness of others to me. I already have it so much better than I deserve because you are with me. You love me. You forgive me. Thank you. Help me to release others from what I think they owe me and to simply live in the gratitude of what you’ve done for me and then offer that same gift from you to them.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 6:60-71

11 Apr

60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”

61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”

66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”

68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

70 Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.

John 6:60-71

Dear God, in today’s reflection from Sister Miriam in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, she focused on verses 63 and 68. What she quoted: “The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.” “…You have the words of eternal life.” I copied all of the verses around these words because I think context is important, but the nugget she’s extracting from those 12 verses are the heart of the truth from this passage. Jesus was of you. Was you. Where else can I go?

As I think about forgiveness this week, both receiving it and giving it to others, I know I have work to do. How do I know? Because last night I had a dream I haven’t had in a while (at least that I remember) of really yelling at someone who has done things that have hurt me. I’ve talked to this person about it before, but they just don’t see it. And they continue to do it. This isn’t a person I can just remove from my life. They are an integral part of it. How do I move forward?

My wife sent me a link this morning from the Abiding Together Podcast as I was getting ready that happens to be a forgiveness meditation by Sister Miriam. She doesn’t know yet that I had this dream last night. We haven’t had a chance to talk yet this morning. But I foresee myself sitting with this meditation at some point today.

In the entry from today’s Restored reflection from Sister Miriam, she gives her steps in the meditation:

  1. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you whom you need to forgive. (It could be a family member, a friend, an abuser, or yourself.)
  2. Picture the person in front of you and pay attention to what you feel in your heart and body.
  3. Make an account of the debt they own you. (What did they take from you? How did they hurt you? It is okay to feel angry or nothing at all.)
  4. Imagine telling them what they did to hurt you and how it has affected you.
  5. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any identity lies you believe about yourself based on the incident.
  6. Renounce the identity lie: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I renounce the like that I am not loved or cared for, that I have to perform to be loved, and so forth.”
  7. Announce the truth of your identity in Christ: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I announce the truth that I am see, that I am valuable, that I am loved, and so forth.”
  8. Bring the person with you to meet Jesus on the Cross at Calvary; look at his face of care and mercy.
  9. Ask Jesus to forgive the person.
  10. Ask Jesus to give you the grace to forgive the person.
  11. Pray a prayer of blessing for that person. Ask God to bless them and heal them on their journey.
  12. Ask Jesus to seal this forgiveness and heal the wounds in your life.
  13. Thank God for his healing mercy and grace.

Father, this will be one I have to do offline, but I’ll see you later this morning with this. I love you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 11, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 95

10 Apr

Psalm 95

1 Come, let us sing to the Lord!
    Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
    Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
    a great King above all gods.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
    and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
    His hands formed the dry land, too.

6 Come, let us worship and bow down.
    Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
7     for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
    the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!
8 The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
    as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
9 For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
    even though they saw everything I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

Dear God, reading this as a 21st-century American, I’m shocked with how this worship psalm ends. Was this typical for them? Did it cycle around and use something as a chorus to make this ending more hopeful and worshipful. I am preaching at a church several weeks from now, and I started to wonder if the first part of this psalm wasn’t the message you wanted me to give. “If only you would listen to his voice today.” Then I saw the rest of it that ended in such a negative place. It stunned me. I know I’ve read this before, and I’ve probably had the same response before. But it still stuns me to see this description by the psalmist of what they imagined you felt (or you revealed to them you felt) for those 40 years between Egypt and they Jordan.

In today’s entry into Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam actually focused on the line I focused on, but she included the first part of verse 8, “Don’t harden your hearts…” She quote the Catholic Catechism (CCC 2840): “Now–and this is daunting–this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us.” She follows up later and says, “Forgiveness is asking Jesus Christ for the grace to forgive. It is relinquishing our grasp upon the person who hurt us, surrendering the person to Jesus and asking Jesus to restore justice. It is an acknowledgment of the pain inflicted, how it affected us, an ongoing emotional release of it, and a decision to offer that person and ourselves a gift of love and freedom.”

Father, there are times when I think I have forgiven everyone, but then anger flashed back to me. Maybe it’s a new offense. Maybe it’s a reminder of an offense that I thought I had worked through and forgiven. Maybe it’s trying to find that line between loving and forgiving while still not trusting. I do know that I don’t want a hard heart. Even in my daily vocation, I work with clients who sometimes deceive me to get what they want. It can be hard to not become calloused for the next person even though they might legitimately need me. As I sit here now, I’m reminded of an old song by Petra called “Don’t Let Your Heart be Hardened.” I just looked up the song and listened to it. Frankly, it sounded pretty trite and “easy to say,” until I got to the last verse:

Let His love rain down upon you
Breaking up your fallow ground
Let it loosen all the binding
Till only tenderness is found

I think that the key to be really becoming forgiving and merciful is coming to deep terms with how sinful I really am and how much I really grieve you sometimes. And also how sinful I was before I finally turned to you and started worshipping you faithfully. But when I really see myself in the mirror, accept who I am and what I’ve been forgiven of, then I will more easily give your love and forgiveness to others. Help me to do all of this, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 10, 2025 in Hymns and Songs, Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 8:31-36

09 Apr

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”

34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

John 8:31-36

Dear God, in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam focuses today on verse 32: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” But before I start thinking about the freedom you’re offering, I need to think about what is keeping me un-free. What has be captive that I need freedom from? Jesus answers that question specifically in verse 34: “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.”

So why is it that my sin is able to and does enslave me? What is happening there? Carrying around shame and guilt is a big part of it. No matter how much we might try to brush it off or ignore it, there is this piece of our conscience that will needle us. Sometimes it will cause us to protect the sin. To not confess it, but to secretly carry the burden of it. Those are the shameful sins like stealing, lust, or adultery. Even up to murder.

Then there are the subtle sins that just slowly poison us. Sins like envy and gossiping. Or how about hate? That’s one that we just carry around with us, but Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that to hate is as bad on our soul as murder.

But Jesus offers something unique. Absolution. Forgiveness from you. Reconciliation with you. Freedom to move in the world as someone who sins but has a weird freedom from its guilt and shame. And when we have this freedom and we take that freedom and use it to simply follow you, pray to you, get to know you, etc., then these weird fruits start to just grow out of us naturally, even in the worst of circumstances. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Goodness. Kindness. Gentleness. Faithfulness. Self-control. And others will notice the difference. When those fruits start to grow out of me, they will see you in those fruits.

Father, lest I forget, one of the commands Jesus gave me was to forgive others as you have forgiven me. Oh, how this can be hard. But that self-righteous decision to hold onto my anger and ill-wishes for another person are sin too. And they poison me. And you know they poison me. So help me to know what real forgiveness looks like. I pray you will lead me just a little deeper into the center of your heart today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 9, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 102:1

08 Apr

Psalm 102

A prayer of one overwhelmed with trouble, pouring out problems before the Lord.

1 Lord, hear my prayer!
    Listen to my plea!

Psalm 102:1

Dear God, I wanted to capture not only the verse that Sr. Miriam highlighted today in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, but also include the description of the psalm given to us by scripture. As I think about the pervasive problem in my life that I have poured out to you for well over a decade now, I can say that I’m actually tired of it. I’m tired of praying about it. I’m tired of lamenting it. I’m tired of the pain that I’m addressing when I pray about it. I’m tired of the pain I feel from it. To some extent, I feel hopeless about it, and my prayer feels fruitless.

It’s that last one that gives me pause and want to un-say all of the rest of the things I just said. Has the prayer really been fruitless? I don’t know that it has done anything to make the situation any better or the pain any less, but I can say that it has affected me. It has changed me. I’ve discovered things about myself and about you that I didn’t know 10 or 15 years ago. I’m better now. I’m also more sensitive to the pain of others. The fire has refined me. The breaking has allowed you to put me back together in a better way.

It’s interesting to get older and feel legitimately closer to death. I’m still relatively young and likely have decades ahead of me, but I’m just feeling the slippage of time in a way I didn’t used to. I think part of my pain now is that I don’t know if the situation over which I lament will be resolved in my lifetime. Will I die with this pain and disappointment?

So now I need to think about the forgiveness part of this lament. The hurt I’m experiencing was caused by the actions of many, including my own. Do I forgive the actions of the others? Do I forgive myself?

Father, that is part of this process too: Forgiveness. I need to remember that the sorrow comes from some situation, and my mind is probably blaming someone for that situation, including myself. Help me to identify what needs to be forgiven in others and myself, and help me to not only extend that forgiveness, but then know how to and how not to act on that forgiveness. Where do I draw the line? Help me get there.

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

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 8, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 8:1-11

06 Apr

8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

John 8:1-11

Dear God, so okay, I’ve been struggling with what forgiveness looks like over the last couple of weeks. But I am reminded over and over again, especially during Lent, that Jesus made forgiveness a critical piece of our lives. And he modeled that through his life. Quoting Sister Miriam from today’s entry in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation:

Not only does Jesus exhort us to ask the Father to forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” but also he immediately reiterates and augments this portion of the prayer at its conclusion to expound upon the necessity of it (see Matthew 6:14-15). Of all the things Jesus could beseech us to pray for and about, he insists upon forgiveness. But he does not just speak about it; he shows us the reality of it upon the Cross, offering his life on behalf of the forgiveness of our sins, pleading with the Father to “forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

So that’s one of the big things for me to keep in mind here. I am honestly not sure if the people who are hurting me the most right now even know they are doing it. Or understand that it’s wrong. Or maybe it’s not wrong. Maybe I’m wrong. Frankly, it can be hard to know. But is part of the forgiveness process understanding the other person is possibly ignorant of their offense? I understand that sometimes people intentionally hurt and forgiveness needs to be extended in those cases as well, but do we need to start with giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming ignorance of offense?

Father, I want to close with a prayer Sister Miriam used to close yesterday’s meditation, making it my own prayer to you: Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I offer you my heart and the places where bearing wrongs from other people has been so difficult. Please forgive me for the ways I have tried to destructively cope and save myself and turn away from your love. Please be with me here and give me the gift of true patience with an open and offering heart, united to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 6, 2025 in John, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 116:3-4

05 Apr

3 Death wrapped its ropes around me;
    the terrors of the grave overtook me.
    I saw only trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    “Please, Lord, save me!”

Psalm 116:3-4

Dear god, I happened to read a verse out of Revelation this morning when I was looking something up, and it makes me think of these verses from Psalm 116. The passage in Revelation was Revelation 12:11: “And they have defeated him by the blood of the lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.”

Death is such an interesting thing for us. And it’s a hazy mystery. As much as we had to go through birth to get here, we will go through death to leave. And what will happen then? I mean we have some ideas of heaven and even hell, but none of us REALLY knows what will happen. Once a soul is born, can it be killed, or does it really exist forever? Honestly, for the sake of those who are not brought into your kingdom, I hope a soul can just die. Why torment it forever?

So this all brings me back to these two verses from Psalm 116 that Sister Miriam highlights in today’s entry in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation. To add context two them, here they are again, but this time with the two verses that preceded and followed them:

1 I love the Lord because he hears my voice
    and my prayer for mercy.
2 Because he bends down to listen,
    I will pray as long as I have breath!
3 Death wrapped its ropes around me;
    the terrors of the grave[a] overtook me.
    I saw only trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    “Please, Lord, save me!”
5 How kind the Lord is! How good he is!
    So merciful, this God of ours!
6 The Lord protects those of childlike faith;
    I was facing death, and he saved me.

A psalm of reorientation. God is good! Things were bad and I called for saving. God protected me. God is good!

Here’s something I like from Sister Miriam’s commentary today:

The bearing of wrongs, not with bitterness or numbness but with patience, is a great and crucifying gift. It means that there is a real way to freedom and restoration through suffering and the wrongs that others inflict upon us. It means that there is resurrection even in experiences of death.

Father, I have been wronged and I have wronged others. Help me to know how to apologize for the wrongs I have done to others, and help me to heal from the wrongs done to me through grace and mercy given by me to them. Where there has been pain, don’t let it be wasted. And sometimes the pains are just from life. I have a friend who lost his wife one year ago today. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but it left it’s mark. It was a long, hard illness that exacted a toll from him. It still hurts for him. Where there is pain, bring healing. Where there is healing, use the scars to help us know how to help you heal others. In his song “First Family,” Rich Mullins talks about his parents losing a son: “But the pain didn’t leave them crippled. Only scars that made them strong.” Heal my would into scars, and use my scars for your glory.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 5, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Prayer after Communion

04 Apr

Grant, we pray, O Lord,
That, as we pass from old
to new,
So, with former ways left
behind,
We may be renewed in
Holiness of mind.

Prayer after Communion

Dear God, communion is an interesting thing Jesus left us. I’m sorry that it has, to some extent, become a divider among Christians. I think it grieves you that this has happened. I’m sure Jesus thought it was pretty simple at that last supper. He’s in anguish. He’s knows he’s about to suffer. If he had any doubts that he would suffer, they were certainly removed by Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration (Luke 9:31). So here he is with his disciples, and he gives them a symbol of what will happen to his body (broken) and blood (poured out). A few months ago I actually wondered if every meal we have shouldn’t be communion. If every time I bite into a sandwich or even a tortilla–maybe more especially a tortilla–I shouldn’t be remembering Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. When I pray before a meal, should that be the focus of the prayer, or at least included as part of it. Have we just made something given to us as a beautiful gift into something else that we can use to divide us and drive a wedge between us?

Wow, I didn’t expect to go here this morning with this reading from Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, but that’s where my thoughts led me. To lament and see that some repentance on my part might be due. This is really going to make me rethink everything, or at least every time I break bread.

Back to this prayer itself, that I would experience the leaving behind of my former self and renew myself to your holiness through the broken body and poured out blood of Jesus, yes, I claim this. Even in this time with you this morning, with no bread or body around anywhere, I submit to you, thank you for everything you are–from the God of the Old Testament, to yourself revealed through Jesus in the New Testament, to the Holy Spirit with me this morning–and pray that you will help me to walk forward with a renewed heart and mind.

Father, thank you for being with me this morning. Help me to sink into you. As I go to work this morning, help me to worship you well and love others through that work. As I interact with family and friends, help me to love them well and to be your ambassador of love to them.

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

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 4, 2025 in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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