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Archive for the ‘Lent’ Category

Humility is an Attitude Change

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , on March 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Luke 18:14
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Saturday, my friend and I went to see a Charles Fuller play called Zooman and the Sign. It is not an easy play to watch, over 90 minutes of a family in grief at the loss of their 12 year old daughter/sister/neice to a random drive-by shooting in the city. In addition, the audience experiences a series of interspersed monologues by the killer, Zooman, who has no remorse, and yet, we see his life as a series of losses … and despite his anger and viciousness, there is an “understanding” of sorts that evolves. And when he dies, there is a realization, that every person has a story and every person has a family somewhere and everyone has a kernal of sacred.

In the story about the Pharisee and the tax collector who come to the synagogue for confession, we see the difference between them. It is the tax collector (or street thug?) who knows who is is. He is humbled. So must I remember to be the same. Everyone has a story and it is not for me to judge… this is how I may learn to “love” all in Christ. This is how I may discover an authentic humility within.

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Seeking Savior

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , on March 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Last Christmas I watched the entire first season of “Heroes” the television series. It was great fun and a good story. One of the “gifted” characters was a little girl who was a “finder.” As I contemplated this scripture today, I thought of her and realized how I think of my Lord in a similar way. He isn’t just searching like the shepherd who looks for lost sheep or the woman for the lost coin, he is also supernaturally seeking out individuals who, when He finds them, they recognize Him right away … like Zacchaeus, and accept being found. The hidden areas of my heart and soul are the same. They are lost in a morass of memories, mistakes, and shame. Come, Lord, find those parts of me and reconcile them to you. I am ready to be found.

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Finding What is Lost

Posted in Lent, tagged , , on March 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Luke 15:8
Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

While following the Emergent Village twitter about the first ever Catholic-Emergent Conference that is currently happening in New Mexico, Brian McLaren, one of the speakers, said, “…what you’re focused on determines what you miss…” and it made me wonder about what I am missing.

Sometimes, we are clear about that, and as the woman did, we get out the lamp and sweep carefully to find what we lost. But, what about the things that are falling away because we are using a narrow vision (even blinders) to view our world. I know we cannot absorb it all. There is so much information … so much happening. We cannot see, hear, taste or touch it all. And yet, we must also remember, that there are times, when we must pull back and get the bigger picture. We must be willing to “enlarge our tent” and look more expansively. As we step back, we may realize we have indeed lost something valuable. And once we do, we should be diligent in finding what we lost.

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What Do You Want?

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , on March 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Luke 18:40-41
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

At my Thursday night Bible study, we are studying Philippians and the most recent lesson was on verses 3:2-11. All throughout the evening, my heart drummed with the phrase, “What do you want?” In years past, this question would give me pause. There were so many things I wanted…. I never knew how to answer. But today, the answer has become crystal clear. I want to know Jesus, the Christ.

David Hazard has paraphrased St. John of the Cross in You Set My Spirit Free:

Press, and keep pressing into His heart, until you have pressed the image of His invisible nature into the substance of your soul… God offers to take you with His loving hand and lead you where you cannot go by yourself… along a way that no human eye can see, and that is the way of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God. I present my heart-soul. This is where I begin, pressing in and pressing on, in the way.

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Prepare Your Heart

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , on March 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Luke 3:4
As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him…”

Lent is a time of preparation and this is the word I am hearing for us today. Before anything of import can happen, usually there is a time of preparation. If we are going on a trip or buying a house or having company for dinner, there is planning and preparing the way. God used John to prepare the way for Jesus. And He wants us to remember that process. I sense that something is about to happen … but are we ready? One of my favorite songs says, “Lift up your head, to the coming King…” and it is based on Psalm 24:7-10:

Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.

And although the words say “heads”… I am so sure it also means our hearts… lift up the gates of your heart that the King of glory may come in! Prepare your heart. The Lord is near.

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Love the Lord Your God

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , on March 18, 2009| 1 Comment »

Mark 12:28
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Foundational to everything and yet, we seem to behave as though this is beyond us. Is God difficult to love? Is it because we continue anthropomorphizing God as one of us? Oh, but God did offer us the anthropomorphic version of Self in Christ Jesus. Is Jesus difficult to love? Oh, and when the Holy Spirit is present… primarily within us, is the Holy Spirit difficult to love?

Love, the verb! Love is action. Love is trust. Love is a choice. Nike seemed to get the point in their advertising: Just Do It!

Today, I choose to love God … and I’m guessing God will appear in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and circumstances.

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Persistance Without Offense

Posted in Lent, tagged , , on March 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Mark 7:28
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

I think it’s amazing that despite the fact that Jesus has basically called this woman a dog (quite the put-down) when she, a gentile, begged Jesus to heal her daughter. And yet, instead of taking offense, she merely persists, calling not on His justice, but His mercy. Her love for her daughter kept her focused on the need. Her heart was pure of motive. She believed in His goodness and His ability to “break” the law. He was ultimately setting the stage for the rest of us to come into the Kingdom. She modeled persistence and He modeled grace.

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