shift

Opening Prayer: Risen Jesus, what a joy to enter into a season that celebrates new life!  Help us to pay attention to all that is being born, or raised to new life, both within and around us.  Amen.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Journal: Where do you sense new life within and/or around you?  How will you embrace it and celebrate it?

Reflection:

        shift

we must be intentional

about the shift

from lent to eastertide

or else we will continue

to be consumed by

what needs to die

and neglect the beauty

of the new that is

already being born

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that because of the resurrection we are able to move from asking, “What must die within me?” to asking, “What beautiful thing is being born within me?”  

consumed

Opening Prayer: Risen Jesus, if I am going to be consumed by anything today, let me be consumed by you.  Amen.

Scripture: John 20:10-18

Journal: What is consuming your heart and mind and attention these days?  How is that keeping you from being able to recognize the Risen Jesus?

Reflection: It is possible to get so consumed with what’s going on in our lives that we miss the fact that the Risen Jesus is standing right in front of us.  Just ask Mary.  She was so full of her own grief and sadness and pain that Jesus was standing right in front of her and she didn’t realize it.  Which just goes to show that when our inner space gets so full of our own worries and cares and concerns, there is just not room for anything else.  Our vision gets so blurred and distorted that it keeps us from being able to see Jesus standing right in our midst.

The sad reality is that we allow many things to consume our hearts and minds other than Jesus.  And when we do that, we lose our ability to recognize him.  We can become consumed with our hurts and our sadness and our pain, like Mary was, that it only turns us in upon ourselves.  Or we can allow our fears and our worries and our anxiety to have free reign within us, which makes us the worst possible version of ourselves.  Or we can even allow “good” things to consume us—work, success, achievements, endeavors, and even ministry.  And when we allow these “good” things to consume us, they are good no longer.  They just become diversions and distractions from the one thing—Jesus.

So instead of allowing all of these other things to consume us, let us be consumed by Christ Jesus instead.  Let us fix our hearts and mind on him.  Let us never neglect him—the one thing—for the many things.  For whatever consumes us, other than Jesus, becomes a hindrance rather than a help.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to never let the concerns and cares and joys and struggles of this life consume me and keep me from being able to recognize you.  Amen.

what's it going to take?

Opening Prayer:  Lord Jesus, the cry of Easter is “He is risen!”  Help us to really believe that, not just for that day way back then, but for every day.  Amen.

Scripture: John 1:1-18

Journal: Where do you find yourself in the Easter narrative?  Who can you most relate to?  Why?  What do you carry with you to the empty tomb?  How does that affect whether or not you will believe that Jesus is risen and wants you to be as well?

Reflection: I have to believe that in John’s account of the resurrection (John 20:1-18), the mention of him getting to the tomb first involves something more than just letting us know that he was faster than Simon Peter.  That sounds petty to me, and the Scriptures are never petty.  They are, however, inspired and intentional.  There is a reason John mentions it.  Maybe it is to show us that his eagerness to get to the tomb, was followed by a hesitation to go in.  Simon Peter may have been a little less eager to arrive at the tomb; he certainly would’ve had good reason to be.  Or, then again, he may have, indeed, just have been slower, who knows? But once he arrived on the scene, he went right in.  And then there’s Mary, who stood outside the tomb weeping; still convinced that someone had stolen the body, rather than believing that Jesus had risen from the dead.  She, like Thomas later on, was unable to “believe” until she encountered the Risen Jesus outside the tomb.

So whether it was John in his eager hesitation, or Peter in his reluctant boldness, or Mary in her weeping confusion, or Thomas in his doubting demandingness, Jesus met them all exactly where they were.  And that is the beautiful thing.  They were all different.  Each had processed his life and his death a little differently.  Each carried different ideas and wounds and baggage and hopes and dreams to that tomb on the first Easter morning.  Thus, Jesus showed up to each of them in exactly the way they needed him to.  John needed to see to believe, Thomas needed to feel to believe, and Mary needed to hear Jesus tenderly call her name in order to believe.

What about you?  Where do you find yourself on this Easer morning?  Where do you see yourself in the story?  What do you carry with (or within) you to the empty tomb?  What is it going to take for you to really “believe,” again and anew?  Whatever it is, Jesus wants to meet you there.  Because he is risen, and he wants you to be as well.

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Lord Jesus, help me to really believe that you are risen, and you want me to be risen as well.  Amen.

who will roll the stone away?

Opening Prayer: O Lord, God of life and love, God of resurrection power, you alone can roll the stone away.  You alone can deliver us for the darkness and bondage of the tomb.  Give us your resurrection life this day, so that we may live in the light of your love.  Amen.

Scripture: Mark 16:1-8

Journal: What “stone” can you not roll away these days?  What does it look like to invite Jesus, and his resurrection power, into that situation or circumstance?  Who will roll the stone away?

Reflection: “Who will roll the stone away?” (Mark 16:3) Do you ever find yourself asking that question?  Have you ever found yourself in a situation or circumstance in which you knew that you could not handle it in your own strength?  Frankly, I live my life trying to avoid those situations at all costs.  And when I do that it keeps me from being able to experience the resurrection power of Jesus.  But every now and then, no matter how hard I try, something will crash into my life, reminding me once again, how helpless, powerless and dependent I really am.  Then I find myself asking, “Who will roll the stone away?”

That’s why you have to love the women who headed to the tomb on that first Easter morn.  They went to the tomb, knowing that they could not roll the stone away, yet they went anyway.  “We will go,” they must have thought, “even though we know we cannot move the stone.”  Now that’s faith!  And when they arrived, their faith was rewarded, for God had done the undoable.  He had rolled the stone way himself.  He had done for them what they could not possibly do for themselves.  And isn’t that what life with God is all about?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O God, please help me, for I cannot move the stone.  But you can.  Please do so, that I might live the resurrection life you have called me to.  Amen.

stilled and quieted

Opening Prayer: I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 131:1-3

Journal: Where in your life are you choosing busyness, frenzy, activity, and chaos, and where are you choosing to still and quiet your soul?  Why?

Reflection: The stilled and quieted life is, first of all, a life.  We cannot live a frenzied, hurried, chaotic existence for six days a week and think that the seventh would be any different.  Our inner landscape is not made that way.  The pace and the momentum of our lives will not allow it.  You can’t drive up to a stop sign at 90 miles an hour and expect to be able to stop on a dime.  Stopping is not that easy.  It is not instantaneous.  Stopping is a process, one that most often begins with slowing.  Thus, it takes time and space and thoughtfulness and intention—and practice.  Stopping requires discipline and commitment, and a change in the way we see and understand both our lives and our identities.  It takes us accepting and embracing of who we are and who we aren’t.  There can be no proving, earning, impressing, jockeying, or achieving in the stilled and quieted life.  Those activities are incompatible with stillness and rest and peace.  They stir up the waters of our soul and make them muddy again.  Any little hint of movement in the direction of ambition and achievement causes enough commotion to make us have to start the whole slowing down and being still process all over again.  The need to be big must die.  The need to be great must be starved out.  In other words, we must die to self, so that we may live unto, and into, God.  Once we do, it will give birth to all that is good and beautiful: depth and quality and peace and humility and service and love.  The choice is up to us.  Will we choose the stilled and quieted life today, or will we continue to live a life that is consumed by hurry and commotion and fear and need and insecurity?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: My heart is not lifted up, O Lord, my eyes are not raised too high.  I do not concern myself with great matters, or things too wonderful for me.  But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.  O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, in the now and forevermore.  Amen.

good friday 2021

Opening Prayer:  Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you were willing to die on the cross because of your undying love for us.  Help us, this day, to pause and reflect on all you have done for us.  Lord have mercy!  Christ, have mercy!  Lord, have mercy!  Amen.

Scripture: John 19:37

Journal: Spend some time focusing your eyes, and heart, on the crucified Christ.  What does it stir up within you?  What do you want to say to him?  What does he want to say to you?

Reflection: “They will look upon the one they have pierced.” (John 19:37)

“Reflect carefully on this, for it is so important that I can hardly lay too much stress on it.  Fix your eyes on the Crucified and nothing else will be of much importance.” ~Teresa of Avila

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  When I fix my eyes on you, Lord Jesus, the Crucified One, and I see what you were willing to endure on my behalf, because of love, I am overwhelmed and overcome with love for you in return.  My heart is filled with humility, gratitude, and thanksgiving.  Please help it to stay that way.  Amen.

forgotten

Opening Prayer: O Lord, help me to always remember that I am dust, and to dust I will return.  Help me to know that my days are like grass; I will flourish like a flower of the field and then, one day, the wind will blow over me and I will be gone, and my place will remember me no more.  That will help me to keep everything in proper perspective.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 103:15-16

Journal: What do the words of Psalm 103:15-16 do within you?  What do they stir up?  What do they disturb or disrupt?  What do you think about the idea of being forgotten?

Reflection: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a very real thing in our day and age.  It drives people to do all sorts of things, often at the expense of their own health and wellbeing.  But I wonder if the true essence of FOMO involves a much deeper fear.  Maybe what’s lurking beneath the surface of FOMO is really FOBF (Fear of Being Forgotten).

And then we come to a verse like Psalm 103:16 that tells us that being forgotten is just a part of life.  We should expect it.  In fact, we should embrace it.  Being forgotten creates some of the most fertile soil possible in our hearts and souls.  Because when we are willing to be forgotten, and even to embrace it, somehow God becomes the point rather than us.  That is not meant to demean or devalue us, but to set us free.  It helps us keep things in proper perspective.  It shows us that we are not essential; the world is not going to fall apart if we are not around.  In fact, when we stop being around, the world will get along just fine without us.

Being forgotten grows the fruit of humility and dependence deep within us; two things that are essential in life with Jesus.  Two things we must become if we want to become like Jesus, who “made himself nothing.”  Or, as the NKJV says, "made Himself of no reputation.”  Ultimately, what life with God demands of us is not merely to “become less that he might become greater,” (John 3:30) but to become nothing that he might become all.  We are called to be forgotten, so that He, and only He, will be remembered.

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Lord Jesus, I am willing to become forgotten for you.  Amen.