Today I added a bandaid to my Lenten Prayer Pot, to symbolise how God heals our hurts. That same God has power even over death itself! In response, we ought to help other people when they are sad or hurt. [To learn more about the Lenten Prayer Pot idea, and how you can include your kids in a visual journey through Lent, with a new item added to the pot on each Sunday of Lent, click here.]
Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD."
--Ezekiel 37:11-14
Commentary on Ezekiel 37:1-14:
As is the temptation in every Lenten season, we might look forward so fervently to the reanimation of the bones that we rush forward to the glory of resurrection Sunday without considering the trauma of the preceding week. While celebrating the victory over death, we refuse to evaluate the systems, patterns, and consequences of our walk through the valley of its shadow.
If we are to teach and preach this text responsibly, we must pay attention to the boundary between life and death. We must at once recognize and bear witness to the despair of the world around us while also inspiring hope for a seemingly impossible future. Our task, like Ezekiel's, is not an easy one. But if we are able to shed our cynicism and despair, if we are willing to discern and testify to the death that surrounds our communities, and if we are prepared to obey the charge to command the spirit of God to renew them, perhaps the Church can and will fulfill its role to inspire new life in the darkest valleys.
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
--Psalm 130:3-4
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
--Romans 8:10-11
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
--John 11:1-4
Being in relationship with Jesus means facing death and grief with him and learning that still, in spite of the death and the dryness and the finality of the door at the entrance to the tomb of our hopes, he can still be said to be life. Nothing is ever so dead that it keeps him from being that in himself and for us. And in John that life is not only a future hope. Abundant life is always ever now.
As we approach Holy Week, having Jesus at our tombs also means that we must follow him to his. We must endure the silence of his Saturday even as we endure the silences of our own. But we endure them knowing already that Sunday will surely come, that when we are walking in the garden of our grief, we will meet him again.
Scripture readings for the fifth Sunday of Lent:
Ezekiel 37:1-14 --God conquers death, every time
Romans 8:6-11 --The dichotomy between flesh and spirit
John 11 --Gospel in Lazarus' story
For commentary and instruction, go here.
*Note: I apologise for not posting the readings last week, on the fourth Sunday of Lent. Doesn't seem like anyone missed my post, though. If you would like to see the readings I did but failed to post, click here.
Today I added a rubber band to my Lenten Prayer Pot. The rubber band is a reminder that God stretches His patience and has continued compassion towards me and that I should do the same for others. [To learn more about the Lenten Prayer Pot idea, and how you can include your kids in a visual journey through Lent, with a new item added to the pot on each Sunday of Lent, click here.]
All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink."
Exodus 17:1, 5-6a
Theological reflections on Exodus 17:1-7: "...In neither episode [of the lack of food and the lack of water] does the LORD nor the narrator actually say their complaint is with God. The Hebrews direct their cry to Moses: "Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?" (Exodus 17:3) This is a very legitimate question. Would it not have been better to live in slavery in Egypt than to face death in the desert?
Yes, the people had witnessed God's display of power through the plagues; yes, they experienced God's protection as they fled from a pursuing Egyptian army; and yes, they had recently received God's provision of manna and quail. But in the face of death by dehydration, can we readers be so devoid of compassion that we condemn these people who had lived lives of suffering in slavery and powerlessness for their lack of faith?
Moses displays his own short-term memory as well as his narcissism, interpreting their outcry as a threat on his own life. Had not God also protected him? But faced with the possibility of mutiny, Moses utters his own complaint to God.
While Moses' response centers on the conflict, God's reaction delivers compassion. In this text, God never condemns the grumbling Hebrews.
Perhaps when we pay attention to the character of Moses and God's response to the situation, the text has more to say to leaders of communities of faith than it does to the members of those communities. It may be tempting to disregard the cries of our parishioners as the whining of people who lack faith. It may be easy for us to pit ourselves as leaders against those whom we lead or who we feel are resistant to our leadership. Perhaps in the Lenten season as we reflect on the human condition, we must ask how we can demonstrate God's compassionate presence and provision to those who cry out from under the burden of real, and sometimes extreme, hardships."
Personal commentary: This passage, to me, highlights God's patience. In the face of what may have been unbelief born of fear, God shows Himself abounding in patience. He doesn't address the Hebrews' attitudes--He addresses the problem and delivers salvation (from death by thirst).
For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
Psalm 95:3
Theological reflections on Psalm 95: "The central theological message of Psalm 95 is that "the Lord is a great King" (verse 3). To recognize God's kingship is to recognize that God created us and sustains us. For that reason God is worthy of our praise. The psalm also suggests that our praise is more than words lifted heavenward. It is an expression of faith and it should be lived out in faithfulness and trust. This is precisely what the Israelites in the wilderness did not do. To learn from their mistakes and to connect praise and obedience is our calling."
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:1-5
Note: this is my absolute favourite passage in the Scriptures. In fact, I'm in the process of getting several key terms from these verses written permanantly on my body. So far, I have the word, "Hope," tattooed on my arm, which, for me, represents the hope I had while journeying through severe depression last year. My suffering produced endurance and character and HOPE, which did not put me to shame, but rather resulted in a closer relationship with, a deeper reliance on God.
Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
John 4:13
Theological reflections: "An important part of our Lenten journey is getting to know this God and the Lord with whom we are making the journey to Jerusalem. The gospel lesson this third Sunday in Lent presents us with the startling exchange between Jesus and a notorious woman in Samaria. At the heart of that lesson is her query, 'He [Jesus] cannot be the Messiah, can he?' (John 4:29) Yes, Jesus was and is Messiah, the Christos, the anointed one."
Scripture readings for the Third Sunday of Lent:
Exodus 17:1-7 God's patience and compassion abounds, even in the face of the sins of His people
Psalm 95 God is worthy to praised as King
Romans 5:1-11 Peace with God through faith--justified with God through Christ's blood
John 4:5-42 Jesus is the Messiah
For commentary and instruction, click here.
Then Stephen had his little tooth infection emergency. And I had to give up going to any conferences at all this year.
I did--I didn't complain and just accepted that that's how things would be this year. No big deal (even though it kinda was); there's always next year, or even just listening to the messages online after the fact. I did pray that God would provide, but I didn't really think anything would happen. I don't know why--I suppose I'd just accepted the reality of not attending those conferences and the very idea of having to unaccept it was outlandish, since I'd worked on having a contented heart about it all.
Well, God has opened up those doors that I'd given up as closed, proving once again that He works above and beyond my expectations, answering even my most half-hearted prayers.
The Extraordinary Women Conference this weekend--I get to be there, since I got the opportunity to volunteer, at least for Friday, which is the part I'd really wanted to attend (Casting Crowns, need I say more?).
And I just found out that the NEXT Conference, which seemed so far out of reach financially just a few weeks ago, is once again on my calendar--my church has offered to pay for registration and a room for me! All I have to do is get down there (which shouldn't be too hard, since there are some great deals on direct flights).
So, lesson learned, once again. God provides. Not just my needs, but also my wants, and always in spectacular fashion when I'm not really looking for it.
I had given up couponing, since it was stressing me out and causing me to fall hard into idolatry. Nowadays I try to just buy what we need, frugally, but without spending hours searching deal ads or trading coupons. God has blessed us financially enough that we can do this.
However, I accidentally aquired some CVS ECBs a couple weeks ago. (I bought some new lip balm, which just so happened to net me $2.99 in ECBs!) They were about to expire, so I stopped at CVS today, figuring I'd just get some candy or another lip balm, not paying anything OOP.
I got a $1 off Starbucks Coffee from the card scanner in the store and then discovered that the Starbucks VIA, Italian Roast, was on sale at 50% off!
So, since the coffee was on sale for $4.94, and I had a $1 off coupon and $2.99 in ECBs, I payed ninety-five cents for a package of 8 Starbucks VIA coffee packets that usually costs around $10!
The adrenaline rush from this one is still high. Now I remember how fun it was to coupon like this, and how easily it became my idol! Still, I suppose to get a good deal here and there is fine, as long as I don't rush out in serach of that rush, that high feeling, all the time.
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