Ash Wednesday - Dust... formed, filled and saved by God

Today, we begin these 40 days, from Ash Wednesday to Easter, excepting Sundays which are little feast days.  In the Bible, 40 is a special number, a time of transformation.  Remember the time it took God to wash the earth clean in the flood, 40 days.  Or the time it took the Israelite slaves to traverse the wilderness between slavery in Egypt to bold entry into the Promise Land, 40 years.  Or the time Jesus spent in the wilderness after his baptism before entering into his world transforming ministry, 40 days.


Today, I am wondering what God will do with me, what God will do with us in these 40 days.  What will we leave behind?  What new life will we enter into?  What will be washed away?  What will be born from the freshly flooded soil?  What temptations will we be called upon to resist?  What  life transforming ministry will we enter into?


Today, Ash Wednesday, we will be marked with ashes and invited to remember, "from dust we were made and to dust we will return." (Genesis 3:19)  But, as one of the best books on death for children, Lifetimes, by Brian Mellonie says, "and there is living in between."


I am reminded of God, creating Adam (Genesis 2:7).  God reached down into the mud and fashioned a person, with legs for walking, eyes for seeing, a mouth for tasting and talking and kissing, ears for listening, hands for creating and holding.  Then God, breathed God's own breath into the lifeless form.  As I hear those words tonight, "from dust you were created and to dust you will return," I will remember, that without the breath of God, that is all I am... dust.  As I look at my reflection in the mirror and see the cross mark the ashes make on my head, I will thank God, for the everlasting life I have in Jesus.


In these 40 days of Lent, let us slow down to feel the hands that gently form us, let us notice the breath within us, let us look toward the cross that saves us.

We Light the Candle of Love

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 

1 John 3:1

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

What signs of God's love do you see today?  What signs of God's love will you show?

Two thoughts occur to me.  Thoughts as simple as the straw in a manger.  

Thought One:  Phillip, my spouse, rises each morning descends the stairs before me and has ready when I come, a glass of water and a cup of coffee.  A simple gift, given day after day, for almost 25 years.  This is steadfast, long lasting, patient love.  It is a sign.

Thought Two: Me. When I am angry with my children, I sometimes yell at them.  I often send them away to their rooms.  I rarely call them to me and hold them.  But this is what God did for us when we were going the wrong way.  God came to be with us.  Such great and patient love!

Prayer:

Gracious God,

Let your patient, steadfast, simple love be born in us this day.  

Amen.

We Light the Candle of Joy

Joy Grows

 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹ to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah,^[a] the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,^[b] praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"

 

It starts with one and then before you know it, there is a multitude.  Look at the rose window in the picture.  See how the petals radiate from the center?  When God sent Joy into the world it came in the form of a baby, a baby that would grow into a man, a man who would offer his life to save all people.  And how that message of joy has grown!

 

This flash mob "Ode to Joy" (click here to link) is a perfect illustration of the growth of joy, the contagious nature of joy. 

 

Where will you share joy this day?

 

Prayer:

Come Lord Jesus!

Plant the seed of joy in my heart that your love may radiate from me.

Amen.

 

Prints of Peace: Digging Deep

He will judge between nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 2:4

I love the way the rows of this sprouting field radiate out like the light from a candle.   The furrows of a plowed field are another sign of the coming reign of the Prince of Peace, another "print of peace."  For who is free to plant and tend their fields, who is free to nurture the vineyard when war is raging and farmers are soldiering?

Isaiah's promising words transform instruments of war into tools for planting.  The earth is turned over, perhaps unsettled for the planting of seed which will emerge and grow. 

I wonder what soil in your life is being upturned?  Perhaps it does not feel like the coming of peace to you.  But what might be planted in that upturned soil?  What might grow and flower there?  How can we help our children to see the upturned places in their lives as a place to grow?

Let us pray together today for the transformation of weapons into wheat and soldiers into farmers, enemies into friends, and furrowed ground into plentiful harvest. 

Come Lord Jesus, make us instruments of your peace!

Prints of Peace

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests on his shoulders and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Children have a funny way of misunderstanding the words we say.  Sometimes what they hear has such insight that we hestitate to correct them, like the child who heard these names for the expected Messiah and heard... Prints of Peace, rather than Prince of Peace.



Where have you seen prints of peace in your life? 

Where have you left prints of peace? 

Where would you pray for prints of peace?











Later in Isaiah's prophesy, there is a description of the prints we might see in God's peaceable kingdom.


The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:6

I have enjoyed in the last few months seeing what creative parents have done with dinosaurs and elves.  Have you seen them?  Recently, I have seen a few images of unusual visitors to nativity scenes.  One parent wondered if it was okay that their child had put a hippopotamus and a pig in the scene.  Yes!  Advent is a time to use our holy imaginations!  I mean who would imagine wolves and lambs? calves and lions? sisters and brothers?  estranged friends?  waring nations? walking together in peace?

Who would you dare to bring to the manger?  What unlikely pairs would you like to see there?

Look this week for prints of peace as we look with hope for the coming reign of the Prince of Peace.

Prayer:
Come Lord Jesus,
Renew our imaginations with the vision of your coming peace.
Amen.

 

Guess What?

Yesterday the devotion was for parents.  Today it is for children.

What do God's Messangers Look Like?

Read:  Luke 1:5-25

This is a story about a man, Zechariah.  He was a priest.  On this day, he had a very special job to do.  He was going to the holiest place he knew, to the holiest place that the people of Israel knew.  He was going into the heart of the temple to make a sacrifice and pray to God.  This was a special opportunity for Zechariah.  Zechariah expected to meet God in the heart of the temple.  Zechariah expected to talk with God there.

Where do you expect to meet God?  Where do you expect to talk with God?  What would you expect God to say to you? 

While Zechariah was in the heart of God's temple in Jerusalem, the ange Gabriel appeared to him.  The angel could see that he had frightened Zechariah, so he said, "Don't be afraid.  I am a messenger from God.  I have come to you to tell you that your prayers have been answered."  You see, Zechariah had been praying for a long time, not just here in the heart of the temple, but at home and in his local synagogue (church).  Zechariah had been praying for his family and for his community.  He had been praying that God would give him a child.  For his community he had been praying that God would save them from the difficult lives they led under the rule of the Romans, that God would show the people how to live peacefully with one another.

The angel came to tell Zechariah that his prayers had been answered.  That Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth would indeed have a son! And that their son would help to bring about the changes that Zechariah had been praying for.

Zechariah thought this news was pretty funny, since he had nearly lost hope that God would answer his prayers.  You see, Zechariah and Elizabeth were quite old.  Way too old to have a child.  When Gabriel, the angel heard that  Zechariah did not believe, the angel made it so that he could not speak until the child was born. 

Now, you know, this child was not Jesus... he would be John, the one who would come before Jesus, telling everyone that Jesus was on the way. 

The angel brought Zechariah the good news!  The son that would be born to Zechariah and Elizabeth would bring the best news of all, that Jesus the Savior, is coming!  God's messengers can be angels or babies!

What do you think that angel looked like?  Can you draw a picture of the angel that came to Zechariah? 

The picture above is from a book illustrated by Julie Vivas called The Nativity.  It may not be what you thought an angel would look like.  But I think it shows that messengers of good news can come in lots of shapes and sizes.  They may even look like you... or me. 

Can you think of someone who needs to hear the good news of Jesus' coming today?  Maybe you could take the picture you drew and add a message of good news for the person you just thought of.

Prayer:
Dear God,
Zechariah met you in the heart of the temple.  Let me meet you today, in my own heart and in the heart of all whom I meet.  Let us surprize one another with the good news that your kingdom is coming!  Be with all those praying for good news.
Amen.

 

Bearing Another

Today's Devotion is for Moms and Dads.  It is for anyone who has experienced the painful love for a child and for those who stand beside them.  Please share these resources provided here with those who need them.

Reading:  Luke 1:5-38 
While we wait in hope, we remember that the annual anticipation of Christ's birth can be a painful time for many. 

To hear of the angel's visit to Zechariah reminds many that their own hopes for a child have not yet been fulfilled. They grieve for the child that has not yet and may never come. 

To hear these announcements of good news, reminds many of the good news they once heard but which ended in the pain of miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death. 

To hear the angel's proclamation, "your wife is with child...you will have a son," is to bear both life and fear.  For every parent who ever said, "I will hold a child in my heart," has committed to hold both delight and pain. 

For every parent who ever said,

"I will hold a child in my heart,"

has committed to hold both delight and pain. 

Matched here in the Gospel of Luke is surprising news of imminent life delivered first to an old priest and then to a young, unmarried woman.  As we read the familiar stories, our imaginations are filled with the delight of new human life held in wonder, the laughter of chubby cheeks and the toddling run of eager legs.   But in the back of our minds is the knowledge that each of these miraculous boys, John and Jesus, will grow to men.  They will embrace their callings and endure great suffering.

While expecting a baby... Jesus or our own... it is hard to know how to reach out to people who have experienced painful love for a child.  What we do know, is that they long to be heard, they long for our comfort and friendship, for listening ears and compassionate hearts that will hear and bear both the expected delight and the endured pain. For neither joy nor grief are meant to be born alone. 

After the angel departs, Mary seeks out her cousin Elizabeth.   I imagine that during their visit, they share both their dreams and their fears with one another.  In this season of expectation, I pray that you will be received by one who will listen to your hopes and your grief, and that you will be open to recieve others.

Here are two resources I hope you will use and share.  The first is a beautiful devotion for those grieving pregnancy loss written by our former Interim Associate Pastor for Children and Family Minstry, Holding Hope by Ashley-Anne Masters (link here). 

The second is a helpful article
Fifteen Do's and Dont's for Helping a Friend with a Child in the Hospital. (linked here)



Prayer
God of Love,
You gave us your child to show us your love and to bear our pain.
Help us embrace one another as you have embraced us, with love and compassion.
Be with those who mourn the loss of a child.
Be with those who sit by the bed of a child.
Comfort us all with your eternal presence and hope.
In the name of your life giving child,
Amen.