Tuesday, April 15

By: Zayna Trammell

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:12

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Norman Rockwell, illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post and other periodicals, painted many heartwarming and humorous scenes. He also created some very thought-provoking images. When he chose to portray the Golden Rule, he did not paint something like his illustration of the Boy Scout carrying a young child through floodwater. Instead, he painted a poignant image of a diverse group of people from various races and religions.

Lent can be the perfect time to reevaluate not only our relationship with God but also our relationships with others nearby and in the rest of the world. How would we wish to be treated if our family were in financial ruin? What if we had to flee our home or country? Or if our medical needs were beyond our ability to pay?

Situations like these offer Christians opportunities to address issues with humility and compassion. Whether as citizens or as helping hands, it is important to keep Christ’s love in mind.

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Prayer

God, grant us compassionate wisdom as we seek solutions in Your world. Continue to guide us in loving one another. Amen.

Thursday, April 10

By: John Eldridge

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:19

The woods behind our house are full of beech trees. They are the trees that do not shed their leaves until the new growth in the spring pushes the tender leaf out and, in the process, pushes out the old papery leaves as well.

The beech’s contribution to Lent is just this: we are like these old paper-thin leaves on the trees, awaiting the spring which will push our new growth out and let us become like these shiny new beech leaves that come in the spring.

Lent tells us that when something dies, something is born – just like the beech leaves. Death in the fall and rebirth in the spring, and the cycle continues on and on, the rhythm of life.

Prayer

Help me to become a new person this Lent.

Amen.

Monday, April 7

By: Julie Massie

She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. ‘Who touched me?’ Jesus asked.

Luke 8:44-45

We live in a world where interruptions are incessant. Through social media, advertising, emails, pop-up notifications, children, coworkers, and a billion other things, we are barraged with interruptions. Jesus was constantly interrupted as well, just in different ways than we are today. In this passage, Luke describes an unexpected interruption which stopped Jesus in his tracks. An unnamed woman, desperate for healing, had reached out and touched his cloak.

As the crowds pressed in around him on his way to heal a dying child, He could have continued walking, but he turned, looked for her, and acknowledged her in a deeply personal way.

Jesus was never too busy for interruptions. Whether it was children clamoring for his attention (Mark 10:13-16), a blind man crying out from the roadside (Luke 18:35-43), or a tax collector hiding in a tree (Luke 19:1-10), he never ignored the people seeking him. His interruptions were often his greatest ministry moments.

In contrast, we tend to see interruptions as inconveniences. A child needing attention when we’re in the middle of something important, a coworker stopping by with a problem just as we’re about to leave, an unexpected phone call when we’re too tired to talk – these moments can leave us exasperated and curt.

But what if, instead of resisting interruptions, we saw them as opportunities for God to work through us?

Lent is a season where Christ-followers slow down, sacrifice, and remember the journey Jesus embarked upon to the cross. What if part of our spiritual practice during this season was to welcome those interruptions we so often find annoying? To pause, be present, and even see them as divine appointments rather than disruptions?

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this season of Lent where I can slow down and remember the sacrifices that you made on my behalf. Help me resist the urge to ignore the interruptions and practice patience and presence with the people seeking my attention. Teach me to embrace your divine interruptions in my daily life, even when it is inconvenient. In your name I pray, Amen.

Thursday, March 27

By: Nancy Carmon

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

John 17:1-5

While I was in Reykjavik, Iceland. I visited a beautiful church—Hallgrimskirkja. It’s quite unique. Iceland is a Christian, largely Lutheran country. I found a book of poetry written in the 1600’s and translated into English called Hymns of the Passion. The Icelandic people love this poetry and use it extensively on many occasions. The poems are even put to music for hymns and read daily during Lent on the National Radio System.

Christ Goes to the Garden

Up, up, my soul, and all my flesh!

Up, up, my heart, and sing afresh.

My thoughts and tongue help me find words

To preach the passion of our Lord.

At last grief pierces me within

How little my devotion is!

That Christ is cursed in my own place

Yet rarely I recall his grace.

Jesus, your Spirit, grant to me.

So all may to your glory be

Sung, written, spoken, all I do

So others may be nourished too!

Prayer

May words awaken our souls that we experience the wonder of Easter anew. Amen