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Tag Archives: Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer

Lent Day 16

29 Feb

Dear God, there is so much going on today. With my wife. With my children. With my job. With things outside of my job. This particular day is very full, and my heart is unsettled. Oh, Lord, help me to rest in you. Help me to mercifully love. Help me to keep no record of wrongs, but give the grace to others that you give to me. Help me to comfort. Help me to apologize appropriately. Help me to experience your peace and minister your peace. And help me to simply get the work done that is before me.

With that said, here are the passages you have for me today through Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

  • AM Psalms: 70, 71
  • PM Psalm: 74
  • Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28
  • John 5:19-29
  • Romans 2:12-24

Psalms 70 and 71 – David had more enemies that I do. Sure, he was the king. People within the kingdom and outside of the kingdom were after him. Even before he was king, anyone who felt threatened by him made themselves his enemy. I’m grateful I don’t have enemies like this in my simple life. Not that I want to avoid enemies if I happen to have them because of my love for and service to you, but I’m grateful I haven’t had to draw that line too many times yet (although there are some who consider me their enemy).

Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28 – I have to tell you, these passages today are depressing me. Maybe it’s because there are a couple of issues on my heart that are really distressing me, but I am having difficulty reading these verses this morning. I am sorry that you have experienced and even allowed yourself to experience so much anguish as well. I know your people cause you anguish. I know I cause you anguish. What I feel right now is nothing compared with what you feel with our rejection and rebellion. I am sorry for any anguish I cause you.

John 5:19-29 – Jesus’s judgment is a scary thing. Not that I am scared. I am grateful for Jesus in my life. For the Holy Spirit. For you, Father. And I don’t totally understand how this all works out or where the “cut line” is between eternity with you and eternity without you. I don’t know what the afterlife looks like. But I know that Jesus was more frustrated on a day-to-day basis with the people in the church than he was with the people outside of the church. On the day of his crucifixion, he was likely more frustrated with Caiaphas than he was Pilate or Herod. That doesn’t mean that Pilate and Herod will make the cut. I don’t know how you will do that. But I do know that I am delighted to love and serve you because you bring light into darkness. And this is your world.

Romans 2:12-24 – Let no one blaspheme you because of my actions. Please keep me from that. I am sure I have done things that have caused others to reject you. I am sorry. I can think of one person in particular who seems to have rejected you because of me. Please heal that wound and help that person find you on a path that is completely separate from me.

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

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 29, 2024 in Jeremiah, John, Lent 2024, Psalms, Romans

 

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Lent Day 15

28 Feb

Dear God, I want to start by saying thank you. I was carrying some significant weight on my shoulders yesterday morning, and I was praying hard. I know my wife and a couple others were praying for me and the situation as well. It was one of those times when I could feel you answering my prayers. I could feel the Holy Spirit supporting and guiding me. I needed you and you were there. Thank you.

As I start this 15th day of Lent and read the passages prescribed in Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, I also want to thank you for this journey. I remember the message I was getting during the first week was “wait.” I have some things in my life that still vex me and cause sorrow. I would love to have them resolved now. But the word I get is “wait.” Okay, but I’m still going to bring them to you on a daily basis. I’m going to trust in your timing.

Here are the passages Sacred Invitation has for today:

  • AM Psalm: 72
  • PM Psalm: 119:73-96
  • Jeremiah 3:6-8
  • John 5:1-18
  • Romans 1:28-2:11

Psalm 72 – This is one of those psalms I don’t particularly like or agree with, but there are some interesting things about it. First, Solomon wrote it. I don’t read psalms Solomon wrote very often. I can’t remember how many of the 150 psalms recorded here were written by Solomon. Second, is he writing this as his father dies? It starts with, “Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.” Now he could be referring to himself as both the king and the son, but then the last verse says, “This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.” So this is in interesting context to put all of these other words in. I don’t know what it’s like to feel the pressures of a national leader like a king, so it is hard for me to pray about my enemies licking the dust, but perhaps the view is different from that vantage point.

Jeremiah 3:6-8 – When I read this passage I think about Christian nationalism and how someone with that perspective would take these verses and say, “See, we need to call this nation back to God like Jeremiah had to do.” And I don’t disagree with that statement. I think it’s the tactic that bothers me. The church should not take over the government and mandate Christianity or Christian principles. It has to come from the bottom. The grassroots. It has to come through prayer, service, persuasion, and suffering. Not top-down power. Top-down power will only drive people away and leave Christians worshipping the idol of political power instead of you.

John 5:1-18 – I want to take a little bit different tack on this story. Law vs. persuasion. I just mentioned this with Jeremiah, but now I have it here in this story. “…the Jews said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.'” Admonishing through the law. Judging without knowing the situation. There is nothing of you in these words. Jesus, however, said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Persuasion. He healed him (before any admonishment or forgiveness of sin) and then told him to stop sinning. Love and context vs. judgment and legalism.

Romans 1:28-2:11 – Judgment of others seems to be the theme this morning. Talking about the evil things we do and then judge others for doing. How much does our judging of others only feed the darkness in my own heart. “Be curious, not judgmental.” A quote unverifiably attributed to Walt Whitman. It’s a good one nonetheless.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I am here for you today. Please help me to walk in you. Help me to be curious and not judgmental. Help me to represent you in the world around me so that your glory might shine everywhere.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 28, 2024 in Jeremiah, John, Lent 2024, Psalms, Romans

 

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Lent Day 14

27 Feb

Dear God, today I tried a little different pattern. I decided to just read every passage and the commentary from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer before I started writing anything. Just read it all at once. Honestly, I think I like the other way I’ve been doing it better. Oh well. Live and learn.

Here are the passages for today:

  • AM Psalms: 61, 62
  • PM Psalm: 68
  • Jeremiah 2:1-113
  • John 4:43-54
  • Romans 1:16-25

Frankly, I have a lot going on in my head today. What resonated in my head was the thing from Jeremiah about the love the Israelites once had for you being lost and then the sermon I listened to this morning that Andy Stanley gave this past weekend on Act, Jesus’s ascension, Pentecost, and then the people’s reaction to Peter’s sermon.

Father, I simply need you today. I need your wisdom. Jesus, I simply need you today. I need your strength. Holy Spirit, I simply need you today. I need your counsel, presence, and words. I need you, my Triune God, to ordain my path today so that your kingdom might come and your will might be done on earth, in my life and everything I touch, as it is in heaven. Help me to do that.

I offer this to you in the power and grace of Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 27, 2024 in Lent 2024

 

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Lent Day 13

26 Feb

Dear God, I just want to sit here before you for a moment and be still. Clear my head and be with you. Really try to grasp the concept that something so small and insignificant as me can have a life lived with the creator of the universe as his father. That your Holy Spirit can be here with me. That this is what you want. That Jesus is my savior, teacher, and he loves me too. I am so grateful.

As is my habit, I missed reading the PM psalms yesterday (Psalms 8 and 84), but I just read them after typing that first paragraph, and they feed into that same sentiment. Just worship and appreciation of you. Oh, Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Today’s verses from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer are:

  • AM Psalms: 56, 57, and 58
  • PM Psalms: 64, 65
  • Jeremiah 1:11-19
  • John 4:27-42
  • Romans 1:1-15

I thought we might be spending some more time in 1 Corinthians now after seeing a reading from 1 Corinthians (and Mark instead of John yesterday), but today we are in Romans and back in John. So here we go.

Psalms 56 and 57 – The note at the top of Psalm 56 says, “Of David…When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.” The note at the top of Psalm 57 says, “Of David…When he had fled from Saul into the cave.” Two things strike me about this: 1.) He obviously travels with something to write with and he writes down his prayers to you kind of like I do as I type these prayers. Now, his are much more poetic, but he is pouring out his heart to you nonetheless. 2.) It takes stories from 1 Samuel and gives me a look into his prayer life. How was he emotionally and spiritually surviving these trials? He was communing with you in the moment as best as he could.

Jeremiah 1:11-19 – What strikes me in this passage is that you know you are making Jeremiah an enemy of the rebellious people. Jeremiah is about to lead a very hard life as your prophet. This is the role you have for him in history. There are some people still today whom you call to this role. There are others who take this role upon themselves and think they are doing it on your behalf. Oh, help us to know when it is you speaking. Help me to know when it is you speaking!

John 4:27-42 – I love how Jesus sees the situation beyond what that present moment gives him. He sees the “harvest.” He is in Samaria with people the Jews of the time looked down upon, and he sees them as the harvest. He is also able to deny himself essential things like food because he is focused on the moment.

Romans 1:1-15 – As Paul opens his letter to the Romans, I love this line in verses 11 and 12: “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong–that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.

Father, as I go through this day, help me to be very intentional about seeing everyone and every situation through your eyes. Give me your eyes all day long. Holy Spirit, teach me. Jesus, teach me. Oh, Father, I offer you my life today. Use it how you will.

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

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2024 in Jeremiah, John, Lent 2024, Psalms, Romans

 

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Lent Day 12

25 Feb

Good morning, Father. I’ve been doing this after my morning shower, but I think I’m going to skip showering this morning because of how my day is going to play out, so I thought I would go ahead and dive into praying to you and going through Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

Of course, as is my pattern over the last 12 days, I didn’t read the PM Psalms (138 and 139). David wrote both of them, and I do notice one pattern in David that I think was a problem for him: anger. Psalm 139 is one of those great, worshipful songs. Different parts of it are often quoted. Rick Mullins wrote a song called “Nothing is Beyond You” before he died that leans heavily on this psalm. But David can’t help himself at the end. He has to lash out at his enemies: “If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.” In the midst of a lot of worship, but is a lot of anger.

I wonder how Jesus would have comforted David in the moment he was writing that. “No, David. Love your enemies. Your hatred is hurting you. They are my children too. They sin like you do. They have walked away. I’m waiting for them to return. Beckoning to them. Calling them. I need you to be part of that call with me. Let’s call them together. Be at peace, David. Be at peace. Remember, my rod and staff comfort you. You might be sitting at a table eating, and your enemies might be surrounding you, watching, but I am with you and they will not harm you.”

Is that how you are comforting me this morning, Father? Are you telling me that the people I might see as an enemy are simply people you want to see return to you as much as a parent wants to receive a child that has rejected them? You need me as your emissary to them. You need me to be your ambassador. Your advocate. You need me to be a lover of everyone.

With all of that said, here are today’s passages from Sacred Invitation.

  • AM Psalms: 24, 29
  • PM Psalms: 8, 84
  • Jeremiah 1:1-10
  • Mark 3:31-4:9
  • 1 Corinthians 3:11-23

I have to admit it is kind of refreshing to shift gears from Deuteronomy and Hebrews (John was okay), and shift to Jeremiah and 1 Corinthians. I’m really interested to see what Jeremiah will say to me all these years later. I came to appreciate his role in the Old Testament and Israelite history when I did the Bible in a Year podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz. I didn’t understand him at all before. Now, I might have 10% understanding, but I at least have a foundation upon which I can build.

Father, you know some of the challenges I’m facing right now. Even this very morning, I have some challenges. Help me to share your joy with others. Help me to share your peace. Help me to be the person you need me to be as I do my best to live the life you have for me to live, warts and all.

I offer this to you in the name of Jesus, my Lord, and with your Holy Spirit, my paraclete,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 25, 2024 in Lent 2024, Psalms

 

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Lent Day 11

24 Feb

Dear God, I had an interesting thought when I read yesterday’s PM psalm, Psalm 51. Of course, it is the psalm David writes after Nathan confronts him about his sin with Bathsheba. There’s a line in it that I guess has always made me cock my head in not understanding, but I allowed myself to articulate it this morning: “Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…” (Psalm 51:4a) No, this isn’t true. I think the whole idea of sin is that you don’t want us to do it because they all have consequences against ourselves and usually at least one other person. In this case, David’s taking and impregnating of Bathsheba and killing Uriah had consequences for a lot of people. Of course, there are Bathsheba and Uriah. But there were other victims. Joab got brought into it when he was forced to be the one to have Uriah killed. The servants who retrieved Bathsheba for David and then had to transmit the message from Bathsheba to David. Ultimately, this was an open secret that undermined David’s moral authority with his family and in the kingdom. David’s oldest son Amnon rapes David’s daughter, Amnon’s half-sister, Tamar, and David doesn’t do anything about it. Did the Bathsheba incident compromise Amnon’s attitudes towards how you treat women and David’s response to Amnon’s sin. I think the answer is yes. Then Absalom kills Amnon because of David’s inaction, bringing sin upon both Absalom and Amnon. And then there is poor Tamar who is not protected by her father. Ultimately, Absalom’s sin and David’s response to it leads him to reject David and king and lead a coup that results in a lot of deaths, including Absalom’s. So no, David’s sin was not against you alone. You didn’t tell us to not commit adultery or murder because it just makes you angry. You told us to not do those things because it hurts your created beings that you love, including us.

And then Jesus took it all a step further in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and tells us that lust equals adultery and hate equals murder. He didn’t say it, but this leads me to the idea that coveting equals theft, lies of omission are lies, etc. Why? Not because my lust or hate hurts you. It’s because it hurts me. So I respectfully disagree with David’s sentiment here. When I sin it is certainly against you, but it is also against me and anyone else my sin touches.

So with that out of the way, here are today’s readings from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

  • AM Psalm: 55
  • PM Psalms: 138, 139
  • Deuteronomy 11:18-28
  • John 4:1-26
  • Hebrews 5:1-10

Psalm 55 – David has a lot of psalms that express his anxiety. I wonder if he struggled with that more than most, or if most of us would express these feelings if we take the time to sit and write down our thoughts. I think it is the latter. I know that the experience of writing these journals unearths anxiety in my heart that I try to tamp down in the normal course of my life. I’m so grateful I have found this process to focus and channel my thoughts on you and how I relate

John 4:1-26 – The woman at the well. I recently heard someone describe her as the first apostle because she brings her friends to Jesus and they believe. She is the first recorded person to bring others to Jesus. Nor sure if I completely subscribe to that theory, but it’s kind of sweet to think about that way. Someone taken out of her sin and bringing others to Jesus out of her wonder and joy. But what I really like about this story is Jesus breaking down the barriers for Gentiles to worship you. I don’t have to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice animals and worship you. The sacrifice is made. Now, I can be over 10,000 miles away from Jerusalem, across an ocean, and I can worship you. I could be on the moon, Mars, or any other place in the universe and worship you. If this were a text, I would put a heart emoji here.

Hebrews 5:1-10 – I’m just going to say that this passage is weird. I’m honestly not sure what to do with it. Oh, how I would love to know who wrote Hebrews.

Father, you know the concerns on my heart this morning. I know others can read this so I want to respect the privacy of others by not being specific here, but you know what I’m thinking. Please be very present. Comfort those who mourn. Comfort and heal the anxious and damaged. Heal the sick. Comfort the sick. Help the caregivers. Heal marriages. Reveal secrets that bind people in their pain. Oh, Lord, show me your way today. Help me to be exactly who you need me to be for the people I am with. For your glory and not mine!

I pray this in Jesus Christ, my savior, and with your Holy Spirit, my paraclete,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 24, 2024 in Hebrews, John, Psalms

 

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Lent Day 10

23 Feb

Dear God, good morning! I thought maybe this morning I would start my just talking to you without looking at the Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer. For these first moments, I just want to be with you. I know that, for some reason, you just want to be with me. Holy Spirit, you are always with me. You take me to the Father. You are the Father’s presence with me here. And so I just want to be with you. I want to feel you for a moment. I want to feel your comfort. Your love. Your encouragement. I want to hear your instruction, your encouragements, and even your rebukes.

I also want to thank you. There were some good things that happened yesterday. And not necessarily for me. We were hopefully able to get a very sick man to the hospital in a situation where if we hadn’t interacted with him he could have been permanently impaired or might have died. That really felt like providence. You guided us to a medical solution for another patient who was in desperate need and for whom we had both worked very hard and prayed. I had a nice lunch with a friend yesterday. I have another one scheduled for today. Yes, you are good, and I want to acknowledge just how good you are.

Okay, not to spend some time in today’s passages which are:

  • AM Psalms: 40, 54
  • PM Psalm: 51 (I know what this one is and I definitely don’t want to forget it tonight)
  • Deuteronomy 10:12-22
  • John 3:22-36
  • Hebrews 4:11-16

I am still fascinated to be spending so much time in Deuteronomy and Hebrews. I wouldn’t have guessed they would be such a large part of my Lenten journey.

Psalm 40 – Oh, I like this one. It almost feels how I started this prayer this morning: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.” Oh, Triune God, Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, thank you. I’m just filled with so much love for you in this moment. So much gratitude. I know it’s an emotion and it can fade, but right now it is here and it is real.

Deuteronomy 10:12-22 – Verses 12 and 13 start out great too: “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” That is just so good.

Then he talks about not being stiff-necked in the next paragraph. What struck me is the empathy he calls them to. He talks in verse 19 about loving the aliens because they were once aliens. I don’t want to focus on the alien part of this (not that it’s not important), but the idea that they should have some empathy for others. They should see themselves in others. Relate to others. Oh, Father, help me to completely relate to others and see myself in them.

John 3:22-25 – This is the story of people around John the Baptist being afraid that Jesus is stealing John’s thunder and taking away from John’s greatness. John has the right response. Oh, how I want to decrease so that you might increase, Father. I want to deflect any glory I get to you. I want to simply be your vessel. I accept that it will not always be my time. There might be a time when I need to step aside from the work I do for the sake of what you want to do in that work. There will certainly come a time when I will pass from this earth. And there will be a time, unless my end is sudden and premature, that my capacities will diminish and I will need to step aside. As some who work for the President of the United States say, “I serve at the pleasure of the President,” my words to you are, “I serve at the pleasure of God almighty. Who was, and is, and is to come.”

Hebrews 4:13 – “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” I’ll keep this part confidential, but you know what my prayer is for this. Oh, Father, please heal hearts by revealing truth and shattering secrets.

Father, I close this time with you still in the same grateful, loving place as I started. Oh, how I love you. I have some work to do today. Help me to do it very well and for your glory.

I offer this prayer to you through Jesus my Christ and with the Holy Spirit my paraclete,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 23, 2024 in Deuteronomy, Hebrews, John, Lent 2024, Psalms

 

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Lent Day 9

22 Feb

Dear God, before I start going through my Lenten devotional, Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, I want to say a quick anonymous prayer for a friend who contacted me yesterday about marital strife. Oh, Father, please speak to this man and his wife. I think there might be some mental illness involved. Please heal. I am sure there are decades of harm from both that need to be forgiven. Please administer your grace. Please give them a path forward. Please raise up people in their lives who can love them and be your physical presence for them. And Holy Spirit, please be their paraclete in every way. And show me what my role is in their lives.

Now, once again I forgot to look at yesterday’s PM psalms (49 and 53), so let me do that now.

Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever heard Psalm 49 used as prophecy for Jesus before, but I’m sure it has, but the verses that struck me were 7-9: No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him–the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough–that he should live on forever and not see decay. Well, the you go. Thank you, Jesus, for being the ransom we could never have imagined!

Okay, here are today’s passages:

  • AM Psalms: 50, 59, 60
  • PM Psalms: 19, 46
  • Deuteronomy 9:23-10:5
  • John 3:16-21
  • Hebrews 4:1-10

After reading all of these passages, I can’t say that much jumped out to me like it did from Psalm 49 earlier. The thing I thought most about while I read John 3:16-21 was that this was just a small part of Jesus’s private conversation/instruction with Nicodemus. In John 3:4, Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born.” Then Jesus starts his response in verse 5 and continues through verse 21, except with Nicodemus inserting, “How can this be?” But it’s interesting for me to picture Jesus in this one-on-one setting. Just the two of them. The Messiah and an earnest Pharisee, talking. The former teaching the latter. The latter really trying to understand. I love it. And it somehow changes the words. They become more intimate and personal.

Father, Jesus was bringing a new paradigm that absolutely no one could understand–not even his mother. No one understood how he would shift the narrative. I still don’t understand it. And the modern church seems to lose its way on it. I know I have. Help me to sink into you. Help me to embrace your way. Help me to be about showing love first and foremost to every person with whom I interact today. I don’t need to be smart. I don’t need to be effective. I just need to be faithful to you and loving to others. Help me to die to myself and my own ego so that I might truly take up my cross and follow you.

I offer this prayer to you in Jesus, my savior, and with the Holy Spirit, my paraclete,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 22, 2024 in John, Psalms

 

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Lent Day 8

21 Feb

Dear God, so I actually remembered to read my evening psalms yesterday, so I can start this prayer off without a recap.

As I start this second week of Lent and continue to go through Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer, I am enjoying the discipline of getting up that little bit earlier each day to make sure I get this done. In fact, this was the easiest day so far.

Here are today’s passages from the book:

  • AM Psalm: 119:49-72
  • PM Psalms: 49, 53
  • Deuteronomy 9:13-21
  • John 2:23-3:15
  • Hebrews 3:12-19

And here are my thoughts from some of the passages:

Psalm 119:64, 68 – The earth is filled with your love, O LORD; teach me your decrees…You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. –

John 2:23-25 – Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. Oh, God, what is in our hearts, what is in my heart, is so awful. Can be so awful. I see now what we do in your name and I can see why Jesus had to walk so carefully through this world. Jesus knew what was in them. He knows, you know, what is in my now. You know I cannot be trusted. Right now, I am struggling with an issue, and I do not trust myself to be right about it. I have strong opinions, but am I right? Oh, reveal your truth to me. Give me ears to hear and eyes to see.

John 3:1-2 – Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Speaking of not knowing what is going on, Nicodemus was earnestly trying to figure out what was going on. He wasn’t doing anything showy. He wasn’t grandstanding and trying to make a point to Jesus or be smarter than him. He went quietly at night. Probably partly to not be ridiculed by the other Pharisees and partly so that he could have an honest, seeming humble conversation with Jesus. It was probably 15 or 20 years ago that Nicodemus became one of my top five favorite Bible characters (along with Joseph, Jesus’s earthly father, Jonathan, Naomi, and Hagar). It seems that he and John ultimately became friends as part of The Way after Jesus’s resurrection because John is the only one to give us some stories about Nicodemus that only Nicodemus could tell him. But my point is, pretty early on, Nicodemus earnestly sought out Jesus and asked his earnest questions.

Hebrews 3:16 – Who were [the Israelites with Moses after 40 years in the wilderness] who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? I have seen you move. I have seen you do amazing things. I have seen you do amazing things in my own life and the lives of others. And yet I still doubt you. I still sometimes live as if you are not part of me. I still make idols out of other things and look to them for my peace.

Father, you know what I’m thinking about right now. It’s something that has potential to lead me into conflict with a good friend. Give me a humble heart. Help me to fully live what I believe in my head. Help me to fully love with your love. Help me to repent when I need to repent and be strong and offer myself as a sacrifice when you need me to sacrifice. Even if it costs me everything I look to for my security. But help me to do every single thing in love. With your love.

I offer this prayer in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2024 in Hebrews, John, Lent 2024, Psalms

 

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Lent Day 7

20 Feb

Dear God, I did it again. This is becoming a pattern. I forgot to read the PM psalm yesterday.

Okay, I just read Psalm 44 (yesterday’s PM psalm). I am so glad I didn’t miss it. The lament is real. for the first third of it as they talk about you abandoning them in battle, I assumed it was because of Israel’s collective disobedience, but verse 17 says, “All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.” It says a lot more along these lines, but the sentiment is the same. As I said, the lament here is real. It reminds me a bit of Job and his friends telling him he must have done something wrong and earned your displeasure, but that wasn’t the truth at all. You were just silent.

Okay, here are today’s passages from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

  • AM Psalm: 45
  • PM Psalms: 47, 48
  • Deuteronomy 9:4-12
  • John 2:13-22
  • Hebrews 3:1-11

Here are my thoughts as I read each of these passages:

  • Psalm 45 – I don’t like it. Is that bad to say? It’s a wedding song for the king marrying a young woman, but it feels like it has no place in our current society. And I don’t think it embraces what Jesus taught. I might be wrong, Father, but my heart is disturbed by this psalm.
  • Deuteronomy 9:4-12 – Now, this one I like. Basically, it is showing the Israelites their sins and explaining how you love them anyway. Will I be “stiff-necked” before you, Father? Oh, I hope not. My hope and desire is to be completely submitted to you and the path you have for me, no matter what it costs me.
  • John 2:13-22 – Ah, the story where Jesus clears the temple. Interesting that John records this as happening earlier than the other gospel writers do. But this passage enforces something that I heard several months ago that I believe. Jesus, Paul, and the other writers of the New Testament appear to be more concerned about making the church more Christlike than making the world more Christlike. If the church is Christlike then the world will want to be part of that church because the world is starving for the fruit of your Spirit.
  • Hebrews 3:1-11 – It’s interesting who the author of Hebrews quoted Psalm 95:7-11 as a quote from the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 3:7) and then talks about the lessons the Israelites learned over those 40 years in the desert.

Father, it feels like we, as your church, are poised for some desert time. It feels like we need to be humbled and broken down. It feels like we, your church, are stiff-necked. That’s just how it feels to me. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the concerns I have are not of you, but from the enemy. Maybe I’m absolutely wrong. If I am, please show me. Make it clear to me. But if I am right, affirm that as well. There is an issue that is heavy on my heart this morning. It has nothing to do with the things that normally trouble me, but it is heavy none the less. So please speak to me. Show me how to respond. Comfort me. Inspire me. Live through me. Let your kingdom come and your will be done on this earth, through my life, as it is in heaven.

I pray this in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 20, 2024 in Deuteronomy, Hebrews, John, Lent 2024, Psalms

 

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