March 31, 2015 PREPARE

There are so many things that we prepare for every day.  We prepare for bed or to go to work/school/the store, etc.  We prepare to go on vacations or to go into surgery.  We prepare for Easter, Christmas, birthdays, weddings, etc.  We prepare to go away or to receive guests.  We prepare for bad weather or we prepare our gardens for planting.

What is something that you have prepared for today?

Yet, even with all of our planning and preparations – no matter how much forethought and time we put into it – there are always those things that we are never prepared for.  You know what I mean – everything from unexpected illnesses or even death, loss of jobs, accidents to an unexpected visitor, a surprise party and the like.

How do we prepare for the unexpected?

While there are many things that we can do in preparation, there are just as many that we are unable to anticipate.   We would much rather have everything in our own control and power.  

As people of God, no matter what happens, we can be prepared for the unexpected.  We are given the assurance of God’s presence to be with us in all those unexpected circumstances.  We are given the strength and guidance of Christ to walk through these times.  God offers us one another as that support that we need.

We are prepared by God's grace.  We can be assured of the expectation of God's love that is never-ending.  We can expect the unexpected because of Christ who did the unexpected and rose from the dead.  This is the preparation that enables us to live amidst the unexpected.

Shared by Pastor Jen

March 30, 2015 ASK

March 30 Lenten Devotion - “Ask”

Matthew 27:17-22 ¹⁷ So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸ For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

Lord, bring us close to Your cross that we might know how You loved us and gave Yourself for us.

We would keep Lent, Lord, in a way that is pleasing to You.  As we follow You from the garden to Calvary, do not let us follow afar off, lest we deny You.  Help us watch and pray with You that we may not fall into temptation.

Enlighten us that we may see by faith that You knelt in prayer for us, that You, the Holy One, were judged a criminal by unholy men for us, that You suffered the whiplashes of angry sinners as our sinless Savior, that You stumbled under the cross as our Suffering Servant, that You died as the Lamb of God in our stead and for our sake.

Lord Jesus, through it all help us hear in Your prayer the single purpose for which You endured pain and death:  “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Amen

Prayer for Lent – Lutheran Book of Prayer – 1970

Shared by Arnold Schuff

March 29, 2015 WALK

Shared by Paul Doster

March 28, 2015 HOPE

....a proper grasp of the (surprising) future hope held out to us in Jesus Christ leads directly and, to many people, equally surprisingly, to a vision of the present hope that is the basis of all Christian mission.  To hope for a better future in this world - for the poor, the sick, the lonely and the depressed, for the slaves, the refugees, the hungry and the homeless, for the abused, the paranoid, the downtrodden and despairing, and in fact for the whole wide, wonderful, and wounded world - is not something else, something extra, some tacked on to the gospel as an afterthought.  And to work for that intermediate hope, the surprising hope that comes forward from God's ultimate future into God's urgent present, is not a distinction from the task of mission and evangelism in the present.

  It is a central, essential, vital, and life-giving part of it.  Mostly, Jesus himself got a hearing from his contemporaries because of what he is doing.  They saw him saving people from sickness and death, and they heard him talking about a salvation, the message for which they longed, that would go beyond the immediate into the ultimate future.  But the two were not unrelated, the present one a mere visual aid of the future one or a trick to gain people's attention.

The whole point of what Jesus was up to was that he was doing, close up, in the present, what he was promising long-term, in the future.  And what he was promising for that future, and in doing that in the present, was not saving souls for a disembodied eternity but rescuing people from the corruption and decay of the way the world presently is so they could enjoy, already in the present, that renewal of creation which is God's ultimate purpose-and so they could thus thus become colleagues and partners in that larger project.

From Surprised by hope by N.T. Wright

March 27, 2015 PAIN

“Growth Through Pain.”  “No Pain, No Gain.”  Throughout our lives we have all probably heard some version of these sayings.   As I have grown older I have come to disagree with these canards.   I do not view pain, true pain, either physical or emotional, as a vehicle for growth or increased strength.  Meeting and overcoming life’s challenges can indeed lead to personal development and advancement.  Solving a challenging problem at work, getting through a challenging financial episode, embarking on a challenging workout routine, weathering a storm that causes damage – all of these can make a person stronger and help her/him increase self-confidence.

 But “challenges” are not “pain”.  The woman with the migraine is not “in challenge.”  She is “in pain.”  The man with advanced cancer does not have “challenges” racking his body.  The parents who lost their son in a car accident are not “challenged” by the experience; they grieve and are in emotional pain.

Pain serves a very important biological purpose, and is crucial for the survival of the individual and the species.  It is through the avoidance of physical pain that we try to keep our bodies safe and expend effort to prevent injury, and thus we survive to procreate.   We let go of the hot saucepan, we don’t stab ourselves with the knife, we don’t jump off the roof, because we want to avoid pain.  The avoidance of emotional pain is beneficial as well – we take care of our family members because we love them, yes, but we also know how devastating it would be emotionally if harm were to come to them.  So avoiding pain, and learning lessons once the pain has been removed, helps us survive.  But these lessons are learned only after the pain has diminished.  I may learn  that I should not touch a hot saucepan after I have withdrawn my hand and the pain begins to subside, but while it is burning my hand I guarantee that I am not learning lessons – I simply want the pain to stop.  

Unfortunately in life, sometimes the pain cannot be stopped.  The cancer is terminal, the Alzheimer’s progresses, the daughter has died.  We are in pain, in the present, and that pain brings no lessons and no growth   It just hurts.  And no pithy saying from a bumper sticker or motivational poster will ease that pain.  What can we do?  

As Christians, we have a Savior who experienced just this kind of pain.  He was made flesh and suffered terribly during the crucifixion and the events leading up to it.  He became Man and willingly suffered physical and emotional pain not only to forgive our sins, but to be able relate to the pain we experience as humans.  We can lay our pain at His feet, surrender it totally to Him.  When He died on the Cross, He not only invited us to unburden ourselves of our sins in His name, but our pain as well.  When nothing on this Earth can relieve our pain, we can turn to Him and simply say “Please.  Take it.  I surrender it to you.”  And once the pain has been given to Him and spiritually removed, perhaps then we can grow in strength and carry on with life.

Shared by Gary Gerfen

March 26, 2015 BROKEN

                                                                                Broken

Let’s face it!  Each and every one of us at one point or another has been hurt. We are a broken people each in our own way.  Someone might have said something to you that they shouldn’t have. Or someone might not have said something at just the moment you really needed to hear it, but the words never came.  You might have had a terrible job, a bad marriage, lost a loved one to illness or have been abused by the very person you trusted.  

Jesus said from the cross; “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they are doing.”(Lk 23:34)  Jesus had been beaten and tortured in the most horrible ways, yet found love and forgiveness in his heart even from the cross.

“Look at the Cross and you will see Jesus’ head bent down to kiss you,  His arms extended to embrace you, His heart open to receive you, to enclose you within His love.”-Mother Teresa of Calcutta

In our walk towards eternity we will have times of darkness. Jesus is the light that shines into that darkness.  So, I extend to you Jesus’ invitation to enter the darkness, whatever that might be for you.  As you walk, stumble and feel your way through the dark you will find Him waiting there for you in the light.  He will shine his light into every nook and cranny, every dark corner he will find, if you invite him in.

He wants to free each and every one of us into the light.  Let your brokenness go.  Only then, with Jesus’ help, can we grow to be everything He hopes for us.  It will not be easy but will become the most rewarding moments of your life.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not defeated it.”(John 1:5)

Dear Sweet and Gentle Jesus, I’m broken and hurt. I don’t understand why these things have happened to me. Please soften my heart with the forgiveness and love you showed from the Cross. Fill me with your light so I will not carry this brokenness any more.  Help me to forgive and forget, forever. I will not look back. I want to live in this moment and walk forward towards the light of your incredible love.  Amen.                                      

Shared by Jean Schuff

March 25, 2015 DEBIT

I wrote one (prayer) that will do in a pinch:

Hi God.

I am just a mess.

It is all hopeless.

What else is new?

I would be sick of me, if I were You, but

    Miraculously You are not.

I know I have no control over other people’s

     Lives, and I hate this.  Yet, I believe that if I

    Accept this and surrender, You will meet me

    Wherever I am.

Wow.  Can this be true?  If so, how is this

      Afternoon – say, two-ish?

Thank you in advance for You company and

    Blessings.

You  have never once let me down.

Amen.

Help

We can be freed from a damaging insistence on forward thrust, from a commitment to running wildly down a convenient path that might actually be taking us deeper into that dark forest.  Praying “Help” means that we ask that Something give us the courage to stop in our tracks, right where we are, and turn our fixation away from the Gordian knot of our problems.  We stop the toxic peering and instead turn our eyes to something else: to our feet on the sidewalk, to the middle  distance,  to the hills, whence our help comes – someplace else, anything else.  Maybe this is a shift of only eight degrees, but it can be a miracle.

It may be one of those miracles where your heart sinks, because you think it means you have lost,   but in surrender you have won.  And if it were me, after a moment, I would say, Thanks.

From Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers  by Anne Lamott