Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Sunday, March 12, 2023 — Morning

By Suzanne Matheny

We Have Work to Do

Read: Luke 24:13

“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about

seven miles from Jerusalem.”

Our church history hearkens to the Civil War division in America – a division not yet healed. I have vivid memories of the Jim Crow era and my job as a nurse’s aide at the newly built UT Hospital with segregated spaces. I recoil at the memory of raw racist hatred spewed by a white male patient at the black nurse who was training me. How she could bear it is unfathomable! I later worked on third floor – designated for black patients, one of whom was teenage David, same age as I. Too soon, I mourned his death, and I wonder what his life would have been had he survived his heart illness. What if? The future held injustices for us both; however, mine would not be because of my skin color; some of his would have been.

Reflecting on racial division, the late Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd, III, imagined anew the Emmaus road.

“Those disciples knew plenty about injustice, hatred and loss… I imagine not just two disciples, but two types…some black, some white…seeking a new Easter where people of both races could share each other’s lives and honor and respect each other. What would it mean if we really embraced the fact that Christ crucified and risen has broken down the dividing walls between black and white, rich and poor…Easter happens when tombs are opened, old divisions heal, when people learn to forgive and to understand each other, when a society becomes more just and hopeful.”*

Prayer

God of Creation and Easter: We are created in your image and you are Spirit. Convict and forgive our human ways that see color over spirit. We know we have work to do. Help us see how and give us courage to build a just and hopeful world. Amen.

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*Lloyd, Samuel T., III. Sermons from the National Cathedral: Soundings for the Journey, pg. 167ff

Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Sunday, March 5, 2023 — Morning

By Rev. Rick Isbell

Fasting from What to What?

Read: Matthew 6:17-18

Fasting is normally not a real popular word. When I was growing up I heard that others fasted from meat on Fridays. As I grew and began reading and studying the scriptures, I learned that fasting was more than just a “Friday thing.” The practice of fasting is scriptural and in both Old and New Testaments. Jesus fasted; he gave instructions for fasting; and even the early church practiced fasting. Fasting is part of our Christian DNA.

Most people think about fasting during the season of Lent. We think about something that we can easily give up like chocolate and say we are fasting. The more I learn the more I realize that fasting is more than depriving ourselves of food and drink. Fasting is an act of humbling yourself before God and relying more fully on God’s strength and guidance. Fasting can involve abstaining from physical nourishment; but it can also involve abstaining from things and behaviors that seem to control our lives. If we give up or fast from nourishment, things or behaviors, then what are we to take up in its place?

Lent is a good time to start practice fasting, but don’t stop there. Fasting is not just a Lent thing, it’s a year-long spiritual discipline. Fast from a meal each week and give that money to a food charity. Stop using social media for a certain time period and actually write or call a homebound person. Get away from the iPad or TV for a couple of hours or half a day and volunteer at a local nonprofit. Fasting is denying ourselves so we can take up what God would have us do.

Prayer

God, give me strength and guidance to deny myself this Lent and beyond for the sake of others. Amen.

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Daily Lent Devotions from Church Street UMC

Sunday, February 26, 2023 — Morning

By Laura Still

When Jesus Came to Jordan

Read: Matthew 3:13-17, 4:1-11, Mark 1:9-13, Luke 21-23, 4:1-13 John 1:29-34

“When Jesus came to Jordan, to be baptized by John

He did not come for pardon, but as the Sinless One.

He came to share repentance, with all who mourn their sins,

to speak the vital sentence with which good news begins.”

I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I first encountered this hymn, but I was an adult, because I was standing in the balcony of Church Street, the one on the lectern side where I still sit to this day. The memory is very clear, because the last line of the above verse lit a spark in my head. Suddenly I wasn’t just trying to follow the tune, I paid attention to the words, and the next verse:

“He came to share temptation, our utmost woe and loss,

for us and our salvation to die upon the cross.

So when the dove descended on him the Son of Man,

the hidden years had ended, the age of grace began.”

Now the spark was a flame—Jesus begins the age of grace, his ministry, after his baptism by John. The descending dove is recorded in all four of the gospels, testifying to the vision and the voice of God. Luke tells us that Jesus was about 30 years old when this happened. In the previous chapter of Luke’s gospel, Jesus is only twelve and has just frightened the life out of Mary and Joseph by disappearing in Jerusalem in three days before being found in the temple. He was taken back to Nazareth by his parents and settled down to being an obedient son. The years between twelve and thirty are a mystery to us; many scholars and writers have speculated about what Jesus was doing during that time but no one really knows. Remembering what those years were like in my own life, I wonder about Jesus, facing all the challenges of adolescence and becoming an adult. He had to have handled it better than I did—the words “he grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” are enough to tell me that. Those hidden years were spent learning, gaining self-knowledge and understanding, till he felt called to go to Jordan, to begin his ministry and his journey to the cross.

The story of Jesus and his temptation in the desert shows clearly that Jesus knows who he is, has turned his life toward God, and is determined to follow God’s plan from now on. This is our decision too, and every year during Lent we are asked to renew it: to turn our lives toward our Lord, and pray for his strength and purpose to guide us on our journey. The last verse is a good prayer for Lent, or any time we want to open our hearts to God.

Prayer

“Come Holy Spirit, aid us to keep the vows we make;

this very day invade us and every bondage break.

Come give our lives direction, the gift we covet most:

to share the Resurrection that leads to Pentecost.”

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