1 Peter 3:18-22
Have you ever seen one of those news-magazine shows? Something like Dateline or 20/20 when they go into a “clean” hotel room and turn on a black-light to show dust, stains, and general uncleanliness? Cups have lipstick residue, beds have dust and mites, the carpet has footprints. It is not a pleasant sight. It makes you wonder what, if anything, is being cleaned? Is the work being done to the hotel room really doing anything, or is it a ceremony?
The writer of First Peter is taking on this question as it relates to baptism. Baptism, the writer says, is not a removal of dirt from the body but a symbol of God’s graciousness and obedience. Yes, it symbolizes us being made clean, but there is still work to be done. After baptism, we can find ourselves like the hotel room that may be clean or appear to be clean, but there is work yet to be done. Our purity does not come from one act alone, but through a daily renewal and repentance. We accept God’s grace and forgiveness and respond by going out into the world.
After Jesus was baptized, his ministry did not end, it began. On this Saturday, as we prepare to go to worship, may we receive the cleansing power, but also accept the call to go out into the world.
Prayer: We give thanks that Christ suffered sins once for all and was made alive in the Spirit. Give us that same power, peace, and patience throughout this season of Lent. Amen.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Every human beings wants and deserves to be free. Free to go where we please. Free to associate with whom we want. Free to spend our time and resources the way we want. Being responsible, however, limits freedom.
Every morning, I wake up and take our dogs out for a walk. It is the responsible thing to do, but it limits my freedom. Or does it? I could not wake up. We could let them stay in the house. Accidents could happen, then someone would have to clean up the mess. Instead of seeing this as a chore, but a responsibility, I am free organize my day. Once the necessary business of the morning is over, there is more freedom than there before.
What if we began to see our spiritual lives in a similar vein? Instead of thinking, “I don’t have time for prayer or study,” we saw it as a responsibility. We are, after all, stewards of God’s creation and recipients of God’s mercy. Is there a way to see the practices of Christianity as life shaping and habit forming?
I will say that I cannot sleep past 6:30. Not because the dogs wake us up, but because I have been conditioned. What was a chore, has become a habit. What has become a habit has become a delight. During these forty days, study, prayer, and worship can seem like chores, habits, or tasks. But these are ways in which we become reconciled to God, to become like him who knew no sin.
Prayer: God of the routine, open our eyes to see that through our obedience, we may echo your obedience. Amen.
Every human beings wants and deserves to be free. Free to go where we please. Free to associate with whom we want. Free to spend our time and resources the way we want. Being responsible, however, limits freedom.
Every morning, I wake up and take our dogs out for a walk. It is the responsible thing to do, but it limits my freedom. Or does it? I could not wake up. We could let them stay in the house. Accidents could happen, then someone would have to clean up the mess. Instead of seeing this as a chore, but a responsibility, I am free organize my day. Once the necessary business of the morning is over, there is more freedom than there before.
What if we began to see our spiritual lives in a similar vein? Instead of thinking, “I don’t have time for prayer or study,” we saw it as a responsibility. We are, after all, stewards of God’s creation and recipients of God’s mercy. Is there a way to see the practices of Christianity as life shaping and habit forming?
I will say that I cannot sleep past 6:30. Not because the dogs wake us up, but because I have been conditioned. What was a chore, has become a habit. What has become a habit has become a delight. During these forty days, study, prayer, and worship can seem like chores, habits, or tasks. But these are ways in which we become reconciled to God, to become like him who knew no sin.
Prayer: God of the routine, open our eyes to see that through our obedience, we may echo your obedience. Amen.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Psalm 51:10-17
How good are you at forgiving? Rate yourself on a scale of one to ten. I will not divulge how good I am on this scale, because I never know who reading this might one day sit on staff parish relations committee. But I will admit that whatever my own rating is, I would have to rate myself lower in response to this question: How good are you at receiving forgiveness?
Many times we like to be the ones to forgive, because it gives us power over another. But when we find ourselves standing in front of God and God’s mercy, we know that we have no power to forgive God. For God’s will is perfect, hard as it may be to understand. Instead, we come asking for forgiveness. We come begging, pleading, and asking to be made right in this relationship. Like the Psalmist, we know from where forgiveness comes.
When we have a relationship with God, we know that mercy and forgiveness are not ours to give to God, but to receive. God calls us to repentance, not for punishment, but to make the relationship right.
Prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Amen.
How good are you at forgiving? Rate yourself on a scale of one to ten. I will not divulge how good I am on this scale, because I never know who reading this might one day sit on staff parish relations committee. But I will admit that whatever my own rating is, I would have to rate myself lower in response to this question: How good are you at receiving forgiveness?
Many times we like to be the ones to forgive, because it gives us power over another. But when we find ourselves standing in front of God and God’s mercy, we know that we have no power to forgive God. For God’s will is perfect, hard as it may be to understand. Instead, we come asking for forgiveness. We come begging, pleading, and asking to be made right in this relationship. Like the Psalmist, we know from where forgiveness comes.
When we have a relationship with God, we know that mercy and forgiveness are not ours to give to God, but to receive. God calls us to repentance, not for punishment, but to make the relationship right.
Prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Amen.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Psalm 51:1-9
Have you ever been jinxed? Growing up, this would be when you and someone else would say a word at the same time. The first one to say, “jinx” would have power over the other person. For that person could not speak until the one with the power said their name three times, and released them from the “prison” that is mandatory silence.
God does not jinx us. God gives us a choice. These forty days of Lent are not mandatory, but are our choice to participate in or not. On Ash Wednesday we find ourselves knowing the ending, but also knowing that before the end is a cross. The invitation to “Come to the Cross” is not the same as “Come to the Manger” or “Come to the Empty Tomb”. There is a far more somber tone to it. Yet this penitence is made possible through the affirmation—Christ is Lord. What terrifyingly wonderful news! Christ is alive, yet he calls us to journey with him to the cross.
May these forty days be a time and source of reflection, both now and evermore. And as you find yourself in the tension between Golgotha and Empty Tomb, may you take the time each day to pray, make room for the silence, and come to the cross where Jesus waits.
Prayer: Lord, who throughout these forty days for us didst fast and pray, teach us with Thee to mourn our sins and close by Thee to stay. Amen
Have you ever been jinxed? Growing up, this would be when you and someone else would say a word at the same time. The first one to say, “jinx” would have power over the other person. For that person could not speak until the one with the power said their name three times, and released them from the “prison” that is mandatory silence.
God does not jinx us. God gives us a choice. These forty days of Lent are not mandatory, but are our choice to participate in or not. On Ash Wednesday we find ourselves knowing the ending, but also knowing that before the end is a cross. The invitation to “Come to the Cross” is not the same as “Come to the Manger” or “Come to the Empty Tomb”. There is a far more somber tone to it. Yet this penitence is made possible through the affirmation—Christ is Lord. What terrifyingly wonderful news! Christ is alive, yet he calls us to journey with him to the cross.
May these forty days be a time and source of reflection, both now and evermore. And as you find yourself in the tension between Golgotha and Empty Tomb, may you take the time each day to pray, make room for the silence, and come to the cross where Jesus waits.
Prayer: Lord, who throughout these forty days for us didst fast and pray, teach us with Thee to mourn our sins and close by Thee to stay. Amen