Ash Wednesday: By Rev. Ryan, from Psalm 51
Confession time: I love confessions. Not confessions in a legal sense, nor do I mean confessions in a reality tv sense. I love prayers of confession. I love to lead them. I love to pray them. I love to read the prayers of confession of other Christian traditions. When I say that I “love” them I don’t mean that they always fill me with warm fuzzy feelings or that I aesthetically appreciate the poetry of them. I mean that I love them because I need them–I love them in the same way that I love the feeling of my head hitting the pillow at night or the way I love my first cup of morning coffee. I love them because I need them. I love them because they sustain me.
The 51st Psalm may be the best example of what I mean. The voice of the psalmist is thick with despair. They are in deep need of confession. Their sense of guilt is so pronounced that it is all they can think about; “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (v. 3). They are so utterly weighed down by the guilt of their actions (or perhaps inactions) that they begin to imagine they have been guilty from the very moment they were conceived in their mother’s womb.
But there is hope! The psalmist knows that God is capable of absolving their guilt, cleansing their heart, and righting their spirit. Moreover, this cleansing forgiveness is not just something that God might do but is something that God certainly will do. This forgiveness is foundational to God’s very existence. In the opening verse, the psalmist appeals to God’s “abundant mercy” (NRSV) for forgiveness. The Hebrew used here is rahameka, from the root word raham, which also translates to “womb.” The implication of this language is that if the guilt of the psalmist goes all the way back to their mother’s womb, God’s forgiveness goes back even farther to God’s act of creation (poetically here understood as God’s womb).
One of the things that I love about our United Methodist prayer of confession is the pardon: “Hear the good news: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners; that proves God's love toward us. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!”
As we enter this season of reflection, confession, and repentance remember that forgiveness is assured. It does not matter the sins or the depth of guilt one might be carrying. Forgiveness is guaranteed because it is grounded in the person of God whose mercy is the very foundation of creation.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven! Glory to God!
First Sunday: By Pastor Julie, from Mark 1:9-15
I do not remember my baptism. I know that it was almost three months to the day of my birth. I have my baptismal certificate to prove it. It is in an envelope on my bookshelf in my office at the church. It is right in front of photos of my family. Sometimes I open the envelope and look at the certificate. I have even thought about framing it and hanging it on my wall so I can look at it more often. Some might say, “Why, that’s nothing but a piece of paper.” And they are right. It is nothing but a piece of paper. But for me, it is a reminder that my parents once brought me to the church, made a vow, and water was sprinkled on my head with the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” On that day, God claimed me as God’s own. Regardless of what happened after that. Even though my parents never took me to church. God still claimed me. Even though I was never confirmed in the church, God still claimed me. Even though I wandered the wilderness of life for many years, and even still, God claimed me. Jesus never left me. Never forgot me. Never stopped loving me.
On this first Sunday of Lent, John the Baptizer baptizes Jesus. We hear the words, “You are my Son, the Beloved…” and immediately after this, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. We are also God's beloved. Jesus has made it so and claimed us as his own. When we find ourselves lost and wandering in the wilderness, Jesus is already there with us, helping us through. He knows what the wilderness feels like. He knows the temptations we face. He knows our hunger, thirst, pain, loss, complacency. Nothing is lost on him. In the wilderness, Jesus reaches out to us, to take our hand and remind us, “You are mine. I have claimed you, whether you have a certificate of baptism or not. Whether you remember your baptism or not. I love you. You are my beloved.”
Don’t forget that, don’t ever forget that.
Prayer:
O Lord, through these 40 days, we may wander
aimlessly in the wilderness. We may not know where we are going
And we may not know what we will face or even what the next breath will bring.
But always, you are with us. Guiding, calling, healing, and loving us through,
making our paths straight. Turn our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh so that we
might love you more fully and claim for ourselves the love you have for each of us. AMEN.
Second Sunday: By Roger Thompson, from Mark 8:31-38
It was a sad story that she told – not unlike many other sad stories I had heard. Her son had abused drugs and alcohol for years. But she thought he had gotten straightened out, that he had gotten his act together. The pull must have been too strong. He had recently fallen off the wagon – again – throwing himself and everyone who loves him into a tailspin. He was, once again, spiraling out of control and taking everyone down with him. After she told me her story, she said: “I guess he is just my cross to bear.” I would imagine that many of you, like me, have heard all kinds of folks going through all kinds of difficulties foisted on them by outside forces describe their situation as their “cross to bear.”
Jesus, talking both to his Disciples and the gathered crowd, says: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34) It’s another one of those teachings of Jesus that sounds a bit crazy! That may especially be true for us looking back on his words from over 2,000 years. We know what it meant for Jesus to “deny himself and take up his cross.” We know that when Jesus denied himself and took up his cross it meant death for him! We understand that fact perhaps even better than the folks who first heard his words: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.” So, the question for us latter day followers of Jesus is: “What in the world does it mean for us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow?”
Suffice it to say that many of the ways we use the phrase “cross to bear” don’t always match up with what Jesus said. Most of the ways in which we talk about our “cross to bear” are about things that happen to us, events outside of our choice, not things that we choose. But Jesus is talking here about intentional acts of the will! He says: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. Do you see the difference? These are intentional acts – things one chooses to do! You see, being a disciple of Jesus is not just a matter of believing that Jesus is Lord! It is a matter of living our lives with Jesus as Lord! And living our lives with Jesus as Lord means to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.
I invite you today to ask yourself: “What does it mean for ME to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Jesus?” And may your prayer be: “God, show me the way to follow Jesus.” Amen.
Third Sunday: By Dan Brown from John 2:13-22
His jaw was set. His teeth were clenched. His breathing was heavy. His muscles were flexed. The flames in his eyes were a reflection of the blaze in his heart. Tightly gripped in his hand? A whip. Then it all came to a head. Jesus blew through the Temple like a tornado, driving out the sheep and cattle, scattering the coins of the moneychangers, overturning the tables where they did their business, and in a booming voice shouting as he went, “Get these things out of here….” (CEB)
If you sit with it for a few minutes and allow your imagination to do so, you can actually smell the waste of the animals, hear the loud metallic sound of the coins as they banged against each other before hitting the ground, see the people jumping out of the way of the flying tables, watch the blur of Jesus as he whirled through the crowded court, and hear that booming voice that sounded a lot like a train.
To say, “Jesus was angry… really angry” is stating the obvious. I know! I know! Sometimes people have a hard time reconciling this image with the loving Christ we see pictured in so many other places throughout the gospels. Partly, I think, because we tend to equate intense anger with the uncontrolled emotion we too often express when our feelings have been hurt, or we don’t get what we want.
Jesus’ anger was different. To begin with, it was an expression of his love. Add to that, it was probably not spontaneous. How long do you think it took him to make the whip from the cords he found lying around? Nor was it a reaction to people personally insulting him. Jesus lived at a deeper level than his own personal feelings.
No! What angered Jesus was the profaning of that which was holy. The sacred being turned into a sacrilege. The Temple being turned into a kind of circus. And all of it being done in the name of God by people who actually thought they were serving God.
Centuries earlier, the Psalmist wrote, “Because passion for your house has consumed me, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me!” ( Psalm 69:9). When John would later recall and write about this moment he remembered these words of the Psalmist. For that was what he saw in Jesus. Passion!!! Passion for God. Passion for the worship of God. Passion that the sacred be treated as sacred.
Which is why the scene in the Temple angered him so. It’s enough to make me wonder, “How would Jesus feel about the way I treat that which is holy?”, “Like the moneychangers, are there times when I think my attitudes and actions are serving God, only to find I am actually opposing God?” Yes, it’s enough to make me wonder!
PRAYER FOR LENT WEEK THREE:
Our gracious and Loving God,
Too often I treat trivially that which is Sacred
I turn the Sabbath into a day focused on myself
I treat people You love with contempt
I behave as if my body is mine to do as I please…
instead of the temple You created it to be
In Church, I act as if I have a corner on the truth.
Forgive me for making a havoc of that which is Holy
Help me to dive into the deep end of the divine
Teach me what to be angry about and how to have Holy anger
And, inspire me to live as an expression of Your love!
In Your most Holy Name I pray, Amen!
Fourth Sunday: By Fred Finzer, from John 3:14-21
Our text for today contains one of the best-known verses in the entire Bible; John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who so ever believeth in him shall have everlasting life”. As I look at this text, I am drawn to the words “everlasting life”. If we were to look at just these two words, we might think about how long life extends into the future. But today let's focus on when eternal life begins.
Mark was the first gospel written, and the first words Jesus speaks in Mark are, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). Jesus is telling us that everlasting life can begin now, not sometime in the future when you leave planet earth. The Kingdom of God can start now if we just turn around and change our thinking.
I believe most Christians live with one foot in the Kingdom of Man and one foot in the Kingdom of God. Jesus is telling us that we need to start living like citizens of the Kingdom of God and not like we are citizens of the Kingdom of Man. We need to stop being hateful, mean, self-centered, and arrogant. We need to stop diminishing and dehumanizing others and focus on Kingdom of God behavior like being loving, kind, helpful, hopeful, and peaceful. During this Season of Lent, I might suggest that we all need to look for opportunities to change our behavior from hurtful and self centered to inclusive and caring.