Monday,
April 3, 2006
Matthew 27:46
Now from
'Forsake' is one
of the saddest words in any language. It means renounce, desert, abandon,
refuse and the list could go on.
I'm pretty sure
I first heard this word as a little girl in the 1950's and heard it often in
the lyrics of the song from the movie, "High Noon". It was a popular
standard on the radio station my parents listened to and the plaintive
voice of Frankie Laine in "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling" made me
know he was suffering.
Out of
curiosity, I just watched "High Noon" and it truly is a powerful
drama about people at their weakest and worst. Will Kane is forsaken not just
by his Quaker bride, but by all his friends and everyone else in town (the
drama takes place on a Sunday morning and the church he goes to for help looks
Methodist to me). Perhaps the most awful scene is when Kane, as a last resort,
asks help from the old retired sheriff who had been his beloved mentor. The old
man has arthritis in his hands and can barely hold a cigarette and he tells
Kane that he simply can't help him and that "down deep people don't
care-they just don't care."
Anguished in
body and spirit, the dying Jesus cries out the words of the psalm he would have
learned as a young boy, "My God, my God, why forsake me?" To Jesus,
and, at different times throughout the ages to many people, God may
have seemed like an old arthritic man who is unable to help and who even
says "everything you have been trying to do just isn't worth it".
Faith reveals that is not who God is; God is the endless, overflowing font of
strength and love. John in one of the epistles says, "God is Love"
and it is just not in the nature of God to forsake any one of us.
Even though my
love and trust in God grows and grows and I so often experience the grace of
being a beloved child, I know the feeling too of abandonment because I am
human. God rejects our sins and will show us how to reject them, but God
is the Darling who will never forsake us.
God help me to remember the times I have
tried to forget that Your hands hold the world and all that is in it. I will be
guided by Your tender love if only I feel for You in all I do or say.
Georgia Robinson
Tuesday,
April 4, 2006
A
Prayer for Guidance
Dear God:
Still my racing mind to
help focus on items is life You feel are important and essential. I am afraid
that many of my worries and activities are not focuses on the “right stuff.”
God, there doesn’t seem
to be enough time to do things right. Perhaps it is that I don’t have my
priorities straight. I feel overburdened with my time; yet selfish knowing I am
not serving the Lord, nor others, enough. I feel overabundant in material
items, yet I yearn for more.
I want to be a good and
loving parent to my children, yet sometimes I feel I am less than enough. Help
me turn to You more often for guidance. Give me the strength I need to reach
the balance between the business of the day to day and the meaning of life. In
the search for the important, help me to serve You and others following Jesus’
example.
Cindy Shabb
Wednesday,
April 5, 2006
Matthew 6: 9-13
Pray then like this: Our Father who art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil.
For me, the
Lord’s Prayer is comforting. The words are familiar, beautiful, and lilting. They
are grounded in the Scriptures and in our tradition. And despite its
familiarity and the fact that we say it almost every Sunday, the prayer remains
fresh for me if I make the effort to keep it fresh.
I try to say it
each time as though the words are new and I’m trying to understand what they
mean in the context of that day and that moment. I sometimes pray, “Our Mother
who art…” because for me the face of God is both male and female. One
meaningful translation from the Aramaic says, “Our Father-Mother Who art above and within…”.
I love the word
“hallowed” and usually say it in three syllables as if I were singing the
prayer. In fact, often as I say the prayer I am singing Malotte’s version in my
head. It evokes high church and soaring steeples reaching for the pre-Galilean
heaven that remains the mystery of the universe.
“Thy will be
done” reminds me that we humans live in a context larger than ourselves or our
own neighborhood or country or planet. At the same time it suggests that we are
given much for the asking—our daily bread, forgiveness, and delivery from evil.
But we are also expected to forgive our debtors and by extension to be agents
for good. The Aramaic translation says, “Show upon us Thy goodness, that to
others we may show the same.”
The early church
added the doxology “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.” With this
glorious conclusion we place ourselves in a history that reaches backwards and
forwards through time and space, affirming the significance of our lives and
the lives of others as part of God’s kingdom.
Dear God: Help each of us rejoice in the
universal spirit of the Lord’s Prayer and give our church community the
strength to live with open hearts, open minds, and open doors. Amen.
Marcia Gruver
Thursday,
April 6, 2006
Matthew 6:5-8
And whenever you pray, do not be like the
hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at street
corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have
received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the
door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you. When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as
the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many
words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask
him.
I have always
held these words close to my heart when I pray. It is the basis for all of my
prayers because it defines the true meaning of prayer. Prayer is not about
impressing others or demonstrating my religious devotion. I pray to express my
troubles to God, to thank him for the blessings he has bestowed upon me, and to
better my relationship with him; for my relationship is just that, my relationship. I usually pray at
night, alone in my room, so that I can focus my attention on God and have a
personal conversation with Him. I am just thankful that the Lord, the creator
of heaven and Earth, is willing to stop and listen to me and hear my concerns. Why
would I want to abuse such a great opportunity to talk with the Lord to glorify
myself in the presence of others?
I find that the
message of this passage can be extended to other aspects of faith, not just
prayer. I remember sitting next to my uncle during church when the ushers
collected donations from the congregation during service. My uncle always
sealed his checks in an envelope so that no one would see the amount he had
given. I knew he donated a generous amount, and he could have placed a large
stack of dollar bills in the collection plate instead to make his devotion to
the church know to everyone, but that is not why he gave. He gave because he
wanted to help others in need, to support the church, and to show his devotion
to the Lord. No one else may have known his generosity, but the Lord did.
Acts of faith,
such as praying, donating, volunteering, or even the simple act of going to
church on Sunday morning, should be done not to impress or boast, but to
strengthen your relationship with God; for that is the true purpose of
everything.
Thank you for listening, Father. You are
with me whenever I am worried or in need. I look forward to praying at night
because no matter how alone the world may make me feel, you will always be
there to listen.
Benjamin Chidester
Friday,
April 7, 2006
Luke
23:24
… for they do not know what
they are doing
Of the Seven Last Words of Christ from the cross, this is the first – forgiveness. Forgiveness is choosing to no longer hold something against a person. In Jesus' case, he was asking the Father not to hold his execution against his killers, "for they do not know what they are doing." Who is he forgiving?
The soldiers? They have grown callous with killing. Jesus is just another criminal to them, driving the spikes is all in a day's work. While Jesus is praying what may be the most profound prayer of all time, they are gambling to see who will win his clothing. Can the soldiers claim, "I can't help myself. If I didn't do it, someone else would have.”? No. They are personally responsible for their actions, under orders or not. Nothing absolves them from guilt -- except the Son of God hanging above them.
Pilate?
Pilate is arguably the most powerful man in
The Jewish leaders? The high priestly family, the scribes, and the Pharisees were all out to destroy Jesus. They manipulated his words, brought false witnesses, put political pressure on Pilate, and stirred up the crowd to demand crucifixion rather than release. How could they not know what they were doing?
The second half of this verse is deeply ironic. At Jesus' feet sit the soldiers on the crucifixion detail that day. It is their right, their perquisite, to claim the clothing of the condemned. This passage is worded to bring to mind the prophecy of Psalm 22:16-18, which it fulfills:
Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my garments among them
The soldiers cast lots to decide who gets a particular garment. When I was a boy we drew straws to see who got something. Casting lots was a game of chance designed to decide a matter. Above them Jesus hangs naked and bloody. Below him they cast lots for his bloody raiment. The bloodstains will wash away the soldiers tell themselves.
None of the people Jesus forgives from the cross ask for forgiveness, but they are pardoned anyway. How many of us can be like Jesus and forgive someone who has done us wrong so easily? Jesus humbles himself and becomes "obedient to death “- even death on a cross!" As Lamb of God, he gives up his life, bearing our sins, that we might not have to answer for them at the Judgment, but be forgiven.
Bob Moyer
Saturday,
April 8, 2006
Luke
20:46-47
Beware of the scribes, which
desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the
highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; Which devour
widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall receive
greater damnation.
This passage
gives us an idea of who not to be like. One of the qualities that these scribes
seem to possess is egotism. However, instead of dwelling on this negative
characteristic, let’s look towards a positive role model and find ways in which
we can be more humble.
Dave Matthews
Band wrote a song titled “Christmas Song” which tells the story of Jesus in a
very modern and artistic way. Some of the lyrics in the “Christmas Song” go
like this:
“So
I'm told, so the story goes
The people He knew were less than golden hearted
Gamblers and Robbers, Drinkers and Jokers,
All
soul searchers, Like you and me
Rumors
insisted that He soon would be,
For
His deviations taken into custody
By the authorities, less informed than He
Drinkers and jokers, all soul searchers
Searching for love, love, love”
I am challenging
you to consider how you treat the so-called “sinners” of our day. Do you
realize that no matter whom a person is or what walk of life they are coming
from, they are searching for love? These people include the woman eating out of
the trash bin on the corner of Aiken and Centre, that person who gets under
your skin at work, and even the scribes in the above passage. God may be
calling you to show them that love. In order to do this, we need to walk with
humility. When you finally understand and truly believe that God loves you no
more or less than, say, (as shocking as this may be to put in a devotional) a
heroin addict who beats their child, you start to become humbled and are able
to be a witness of Christ’s love. Go outside your comfort zone and show love to
someone who is not expecting it. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Dear Lord, help us to
remember that each and every human on this earth is equally loved by You. Humble
us, guiding our every day behaviors while working through them in order to show
Your love to someone who needs it
Dara DeChellis
Sunday,
April 9, 2006
PALM
SUNDAY
The
Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me
an instrument of thy peace;
where there is
hatred, let me sow love;
where there is
injury, pardon;
where these is
doubt, faith;
where there is
despair, hope;
where there is
darkness, light;
and where there
is sadness, joy.
O Divine
Master,
grant that I
may not so much seek
to be consoled
as to console;
to be
understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as
to love;
for it is in
giving that we receive,
it is in
pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in
dying that we are born to eternal life.
Tracy Merrick