FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Sunday, February 26

Daniel 9:3-10

Psalm 63:1-8, 98, 103

Hebrews 2:10-18

John 12:44-50

It’s been just a few days now since the Ash Wednesday service, a service I’ve always felt inspires us to consider as humans our very short lived existence here on Earth.  In looking over today’s readings, one of them explores that very idea.  Since our children were very young, we have had a Children’s Devotional Bible in our home that I sometimes read as an alternative to mine.  I often enjoy the simplicity of its message as compared to other bibles.  Today is no exception, as I open to Psalm 103, verses 15 and 16:

“People’s lives are like grass.  People grow like the flowers in the field.  When the wind blows on them, they are gone.  No one can tell that they had ever been there.”

 Think about that for a moment…much of what we put our time and energy toward will just disappear with us, leaving barely any evidence that we were even here.  The things we’ve acquired, our worries, our dreams, just gone like the fuzzy seeds of a dandelion carried away with the breeze.  If I were to remind myself of this each day, I think I might live life a little differently.  My desire to serve might be less apt to be pushed aside and replaced by less meaningful obligations.  My focus on the relationships I’m fortunate to have in my life might be even stronger.  I might be more skilled in sorting out what is important and what is not.

Though we may not last forever, Psalm 103, verse 17 goes on to tell us what does: 

“But the Lord’s love for those who have respect for him

lasts forever and ever.”

It’s LOVE that lives on…God’s love for us and our love for Him, when our actions here on Earth glorify his name.  So it is when we choose to be a reflection of God’s love in all that we do, that our time here on Earth becomes significant.  Then, like dandelion seeds drifting and settling softly nearby to bloom next season, perhaps we will not be forgotten as well.

Beth McGee

Saturday, February 25

Ezekiel 39:21-29

Psalms 30, 32, 42, 43

Philippians 4:10-20

John 17:20-26

Did you ever find yourself stuck?  Like, in a rut.  Kind of directionless, lost. Most of us have.

When I was younger, at a time when I was sort of taking a vacation from church, I felt that way sometimes.  What pulled me out was being in Southeast Asia in 1970-71.  The reality of maybe not returning home pushed me into “having faith.”  I realized my situation was pretty much out of my control, and that the military’s training would go only so far.  It helped that my office, for a time, was close to the chapel.  Two of my softball teammates were chaplains.  Our initial bond might have been sports, but more than hits and home runs rub off when you’re around folks like that.  I found faith – believing – came easily.  If I didn’t try to fight the concept.

Long before the term became fashionable, I learned to go with the flow. My emerging faith helped turn fear into something easier to live with.

I’m still struck by those who say, “I’d believe in God if I just had some proof.”  That’s the point of faith – you won’t find the science to prove it. You either suspend some of the control we try to instill in our lives, or you don’t.  If you can bend on the idea of control, faith comes more easily.

That’s what came across to me as I looked at two of today’s readings.  My Bible labels Psalms 42 and 43 as “Prayer of a Man in Exile.”  What I get is that the writer is lost; he’s searching.  Both Psalms end on a positive note. In Psalm 42: “I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise him.” Psalm 43 ends the same way.  Good ending, I think.

 Ed Spaulding

Friday, February 24

Ezekiel 18:1-4,25-32

Psalms 31, 35, 95

Philippians 4:1-9

John 17:9-19

Oh Lent; the dark side of the church calendar.  I have been writing for the Lenten and Advent meditations since we started them at Holy Spirit.  Where they both call for soul searching and thoughtfulness, Advent is filled with wonderful anticipation.  Advent, for me, shows the profound and beautiful connections between the Old and New Testaments.  Lent certainly shows connections but it is also filled with the pains, sorrows and accountability of Holy Week.

As I look up the scripture readings assigned to me each February I wonder if I will get something so heavy I could never understand it.  Will it be so profound that I shouldn’t try and interpret it?  Or will my readings stab me in the heart with the pain of my own shortcomings?

Well in today’s readings, very early in this penitential season, Paul brings us in his letter to the Philippians the most beautiful word in the bible, “rejoice.” 

Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!

Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:1-9

All of our lives have pains, sorrows and dark sides.  God is just waiting to fill us with his amazing peace.  Rejoice!

Jennie Perry

Thursday, February 23
Habakkuk 3:1-18

Psalm 37

Philippians 3:12-21

John 17:1-8

Psalm 37

(in particular the evening part verses 19-40)

I was tired and hungry.  We were walking between decaying offices, derelict buildings.  The ground was strewn with debris cast to the ground either by time or vandal.  I said to myself “Make sure you pick your feet up over those metal rods.”  I forgot.  I did not pick up my feet.  I stumbled, I fell, headlong. I broke my elbow.  God was not holding my hand.

Or was it that I had not been holding his hand.  My concentration was on my hunger, not where my feet were treading.  My feelings, not my actions were uppermost in my mind.  So much so that I forgot to listen to the words in my head that would have prevented the fall.  Yes I do believe that God is involved in the whole of our life but we do have to listen and obey.

Jane Brown

ASH WEDNESDAY

Wednesday, February 22
Amos 5:6-15

Psalms 32, 95, 102, 130, 143

Hebrews 12:1-14

Luke 18:9-14

It is called normalcy bias and it can be dangerous, even deadly.  Normalcy bias is the assumption that things will continue to be normal… that tomorrow will be pretty much like today… which was pretty much like yesterday. 

We all probably have this to some degree.  It becomes a problem, however, when people underestimate the possibility of disaster and fail to prepare for it.  An example might be those who fail to evacuate beachfront homes prior to a hurricane.  They have been through hurricanes before.  They can do it again. 

Ash Wednesday serves as a warning against normalcy bias.  "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return," we are reminded. 

No one wants to contemplate his or her own death.  So we don't. 

Then, along come Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent.  The themes of self examination and repentance; prayer, fasting and denial; reading and meditating on the Scriptures… these break our complacency and remind us that life is a gift from God.  This gift is to be used properly, as God intends.  And one day, we will be held accountable for the use of the gift that God has given us.

The question, therefore, is this: will we go through Ash Wednesday and Lent by merely observing the season's liturgical formalities as we continue to live normally? 

Or will we let the season serve its purpose? Will we do the serious work of comparing our lives with God's design? 

Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Fr. Bob Henson