Lent 2010 - Sixth Sunday

Luke 19:28-40 (NRSV)

 After [Jesus] had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, 'Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, "Why are you untying it?" just say this: "The Lord needs it." ' So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, 'Why are you untying the colt?' They said, 'The Lord needs it.' Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

'Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!' 

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, order your disciples to stop.' 

He answered, 'I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.'

THOUGHTS:

Jesus was probably not the only one entering Jerusalem that day.  Millions of Jews would have been walking into Jerusalem on pilgrimage to the holy city for the observances of Passover.

On the west side of Jerusalem, opposite from Jesus' entry, historians tell us that there would have been a magnificent military procession as Pontius Pilate and other Roman officials would have been riding horses amidst an entourage of imperial soldiers wearing armor and carrying weapons.  They came to town for most Jewish festivals to beef up security in case the crowds got restless and started causing trouble.  It was intentionally a visible depiction of the oppression of the empire.

Back on the east side of town, Jesus enters on an animal that has never been ridden -- a practice denoting kingship, but it is a donkey.  It was a parody of the grandness of the Roman procession, and it carried the opposite message as well: hope for the downtrodden, liberation for captives, and freedom from oppression. 

As we continue through Holy Week, remember that God is concerned with the here and now in the world we live in.  As we live our our faith, how do we continue to proclaim and work for hope, freedom, and liberation?

PRAYER:

Lord God, you give us hope in times of suffering and darkness.  Guide our lives in faithful service to you.  In all we do, we are yours!  AMEN.

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Thoughts by Ben Buss, Lutheran Campus Minister at George Mason University

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These devotions for young adults are provided by:

Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University http://www.gmu.edu/org/lutheran

Lutheran Student Association at the University of Maryland http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~lutheran/lsa/

DC Young Adults http://www.dcyoungadults.org/

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Lent 2010 #22 – SEARCH and RESCUE!!

St. Luke 15:1-10 (NRSV)

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

THOUGHTS: 

This text from St. Luke's Gospel tells a couple of parables of things that are lost and the rejoicing that occurs when they are found.  A sheep and a coin were lost and in both of them Jesus lifts up the importance of the single person who is lost and then found by God.

How important that has been in recent weeks when one was found among the rubble in Haiti, or Chile or Turkey and the rejoicing that followed.  These parables raise for us the consciousness and awareness of what is really valuable.  

I read recently a devotional that talked about the value of our possessions – how common possessions can become extremely valuable, even priceless if they have been owned by someone who is powerful, wealthy or famous.  For example, did you know that Napoleon's toothbrush sold for $21,000?  Can you imagine paying thousands of dollars for someone's crude old toothbrush?  Hitler's car sold for over $150.000 years ago!  At the Sotheby's auction of Jackie Kennedy Onnassis' personal belongings, he fake pearls sold for $211,500 and JFK's wood clubs went for $772,500.  It is not that the items themselves are worthy, but that they once belonged to someone significant.

If we, as humans, place value on things because they belonged to people – stop to think for a minute of the value of something owned by God.  God singles us out and places value on us that is beyond human comprehension.  God cares about EACH and EVERY ONE of us as individuals and will never stop searching for us when we get lost and will rescue us at whatever the cost might be.  Now that's what search and rescue is all about!  That's the value and importance of ONE that God makes in claiming us found!

PRAYER: 

Lord Jesus, thank you for your continual search and rescue efforts in our lives – especially when we find ourselves lost from you.  Thank you for never giving up on us even when we give up on ourselves.  AMEN.

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Thoughts by Pastor Mike Magwire, King of Kings Lutheran (Fairfax, VA)

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These devotions for young adults are provided by:

Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University http://www.gmu.edu/org/lutheran

Lutheran Student Association at the University of Maryland http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~lutheran/lsa/

DC Young Adults http://www.dcyoungadults.org/

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Lent 2010 - Third Sunday

Luke 13:1-9: (The Inclusive Bible)
"On the same occasion, there were people present who told Jesus about some Galileans whose
blood Pilate had mixed with their own sacrifices.
Jesus replied, "Do you think these Galileans were the greatest sinners in Galilee just
because they suffered this? Not at all! I tell you, you'll all come to the same end unless
you change your ways. Or take those eighteen who were killed by a falling tower in Siloam.
Do you think they were more guilty than anyone else who has lived in Jerusalem? Certainly
not! I tell you, you'll all come to the same end unless you change your ways.
Jesus told this parable: "There was a fig tree growing in a vineyard. The owner came out
looking for fruit on it, but didn't find any. The owner said to the vine dresser, "Look
here! For three years now I've come out in search of fruit on this fig tree and have found
none. Cut it down. Why should it clutter up the ground?""
"In reply, the vine dresser said, "Please, leave it one more year while I hoe around it and
fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine; if not, then let it be cut down.""

THOUGHTS:
This story is similar to the one in Mark 11:12-14. In that story, Jesus curses a fig tree
for being fruitless. Mark notes that it was not fig season - however, fig growers know that
when leaves first appear on the tree, (during the time of year we know as Lent,) there are
almond-sized mini-figs, called the breba crop, that were often left for the poor to pick off
and eat. The tree had leaves, but no mini-figs - and if there are no mini-figs, there will
be no real figs that year. Also, since the mini-figs and leaves tend to grow together, the
appearance of leaves without figs were a form of false advertising. Essentially, the tree
wasn't "walking it's talk."

Back in Luke 13, we read in v2-5 a speech that would not be out of place on a TV preacher's
lips after some disaster - saying, perhaps, it is a curse for allowing things like feminism
to take root. Yet it wasn't prostitutes and tax collectors Jesus was speaking to, but the
religious. Many preachers who talk about God cursing Others have also been subjects of news
articles detailing their multi-million-dollar spending habits. Is greed less sinful just
because it's popular? We are ALL sinners, from preachers and priests to pimps and embezzlers
- who among us has the arrogance to throw stones?

Let's combine these ideas: Jesus wants to see fruit. He doesn't want classy sounding
theological words, which are just so many leaves. He doesn't want us to waste time pointing
fingers and bickering about other people bringing disaster in their wake because God has
somehow cursed them more than us. (Weren't we all cursed by Adam's fall?) Jesus cares about
generosity, gratitude, humility, patience, how much hope we spread, how much faith and trust
we have in God, and - most importantly - how much we love. He doesn't even care if we aren't
there yet - He doesn't expect perfect figs, even little, tiny, mini-fig tries will please
Him. What matters is whether or not we're letting God take our heart of stone and turn it
into a heart of flesh (Ez 36:26). What matters is if we're there to look into the eyes of
those who believe life is hopeless and that even God can't heal and forgive their past - and
then not only tell, but show them that God loves them.

PRAYER:
Jesus, forgive us for thinking of others as worse sinners than ourselves.
Soften our hearts to Your voice, so that we may produce True Fruit this Lenten season.
Amen.

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Thoughts by Victoria Meixell, student at George Mason University and community member of Lutheran Campus Ministry

Lent 2010 #7

Luke 21:34--22:6 (NRSV)

"Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.

Now the festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them. They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money. So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them when no crowd was present.

THOUGHTS:

"Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve…" (verse 22:3)  

This line from Luke's gospel has always left me a bit confused.  How exactly did Satan enter into Judas?  What did it feel like?  Was Judas aware of what was happening in that moment?  If Satan entered into Judas, can Satan enter into me, too?  

To really understand what is happening here, though, we have to go back to the beginning of Luke's gospel.  At the beginning of chapter 4 the devil (otherwise known as Satan) tempts Jesus, trying to get Jesus to worship him instead of God.  Scripture says, "When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time."  Here, in today's passage is that opportune time!  

Satan's opportune time was Judas' moment of weakness.  It was the moment when he took his eyes off of Jesus.  It was the moment that he lost his way and got off track.  And, unfortunately, Judas isn't the only one who has such moments.  We all do.  We all have those moments when our lives seem to get off track and we are tempted.    

Hence, we need the season of Lent.  The Lenten journey is about getting ourselves and our lives back on track.  It is about refocusing our eyes on Jesus and the cross.  Lent is God's opportune time to enter into us and to fill us with God's Spirit.  God's Spirit within us is then able to protect us from evil forces and guide us in our journey.    

PRAYER: 

Gracious God, we pray that you would enter into us, protecting us from all evil and guiding our ways.  Amen.  

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Thoughts by Rev. Meredith Lovell Keseley, Lutheran Church of the Abiding Presence

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These devotions for young adults are provided by:

Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University http://www.gmu.edu/org/lutheran

Lutheran Student Association at the University of Maryland http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~lutheran/lsa/

DC Young Adults http://www.dcyoungadults.org/

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Feel free to share them with your friends!

View or subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Also available on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7958874287

Lent 2009 #30

Psalm 139:13-24 

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. 17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you. 

19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me— 20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!  21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. 24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.


THOUGHTS by Ben Masters, a senior at GMU:

Happy Pride Week! 

Pride Week at Mason is a time when we celebrate and honor the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer and ally members of our community. This is a week when we have an opportunity to give thanks to God for our very being-- for being fearfully and wonderfully made, for being known by God even when our birth and ongoing growth is a secret to us. This is a week when we can return to God, our loving creator, and turn away from the ways we belittle each other's created-ness. Even though we argue over how people come to know themselves as LGBTQ (genetics, culture, sin, grace, etc.), the psalmist reminds us that God's thoughts are vast, and that when we try to count them they are more than the sand-- and yet at the end of the day God is still with us all.

But Pride Week also reminds me that the world is many times neither a safe nor loving place for LGBTQ people. Yesterday (Monday), protesters came from the Westboro Baptist Church to shout out messages of hate: that "God hates fags" and that God had condemned GMU for supporting programs like Pride Week, and that AIDS was God's curse to same-gender loving people. Like a lot of my friends, messages like that get a rise out of me and I want to echo the psalmist's feelings: I hate them, God, and they tell lies about you!  If only those hate-mongers would leave people alone! And yet, when I listen to the lines again, it strikes me almost as if Fred Phelps, founder of WBC, is saying those words: "O that you would kill the wicked, O God... Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? ...I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies." Didn't Jesus say something about loving enemies? Blessing those who curse me? Praying for those who mistreat me? (Yes, if I take Luke 6:27-28 seriously.)

And so, this Pride Week, as I begin to celebrate my LGBTQ and ally brothers and sisters, I hold the last two lines of the psalm close: "search me, O God, and know my heart... see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 

PRAYER:
Search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there is anything in me that scorns my neighbors. See if there is anything in me that keeps me from upholding their dignity as beings created in your image. See if there is anything that keeps me from dwelling in loving and just community with them, and lead me in the way everlasting-- the way of our brother Jesus. AMEN.

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Ben Masters is a senior at GMU involved with LCM.  He plans to spend the year after graduation involved with Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and he blogs at http://letusbebread.blogspot.com/

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JOIN US for worship this Wendesday at 7:47pm in the BISTRO as we celebrate PRIDE WEEK, exploring how we can all identify with living in exile or on the margins ... and how God's love reaches us wherever we are. http://GMU747.org
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These devotions are provided by Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University .  Feel free to share them with your friends!  For more information on our ministry and events, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran  

You can subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Lent 2009 #24

Luke 5:1-11 

1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

THOUGHTS:

In Luke, this is the first meeting between Jesus and Peter (aka Simon).  Jesus basically says, "since you aren't using your boat at the moment, do me a favor and move me just far enough from shore that everyone can hear me without pushing me around."  We don't know what exactly Jesus was teaching, but afterward he tells Peter to take him fishing.

Note that the passage starts out saying they are cleaning their nets -- they've given up fishing for the day.  It's probably not the best time for fishing.  I can imagine Peter response as a polite way of saying, "I'm telling you the fish aren't out today, but clearly you're some kind of big shot, so I'll humor you.  It's not like I have anything better to do with my day."

Then what happens?  They catch TONS of fish!  

What's Peter's response?  We might expect Peter to be focused on Jesus as being a prophet, psychic, magician, or just really lucky. Peter instead immediately looks inward, reponding "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" The beginning of Peter's faith in Jesus is to be introspective, to realize he isn't worthy, to be scared (maybe thinking he's about to be judged), and to tell Jesus to go away! Peter is completely freaked out by Jesus!

During Lent, we also take time to look inward. Sometimes, we might be scared by what we find, but remember how Jesus responds to Peter: "Do not be afraid." Jesus turned their job as fishermen into a calling to fish for people. They then left everything and followed Jesus.

Today, take some time to honestly look inside yourself, and do not be afraid. Listen to see if you can hear Jesus calling to to follow? What does that look like in your life?

PRAYER:

Lord God, we thank you for your mercy, compassion, and teaching.  Help us to not be afraid of ourselves, of the future, or of you.  We open ourselves to your calling.  Lead us and guide us each day.  In Jesus name we pray.  AMEN.

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Theology Pub at Brion's Grille on TODAY (3/24) at 5:15pm.  All are welcome.  

Ride leaving the campus ministry office (SUB 1 rm 207) at 5pm.

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These devotions are provided by Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University.  Feel free to share them with your friends!  For more information on our ministry and events, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran  

You can subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Lent 2009 #6

1 Peter 3:8-18   

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing. 

10 For "Those who desire life and desire to see good days, let them keep their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit; 11 let them turn away from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." 

13 Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.

THOUGHTS:

"Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing" (verse 9). This is not an easy message. When someone hurts us, our nature is to want revenge...to "get them back". Think about popular TV shows and movies: the maligned hero goes out and does whatever is necessary to take down the villain...to bring the villain to justice.

Our calling as Christians is different. We are called to repay evil and abuse with a blessing. Will it be easy? No way! Will blessing those who hurt us turn everyone we encounter into friends? Probably not. Will our lives be without suffering if we do this? Nope. Yet we are told that "even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed" (verse 14).

Likewise, Jesus tells us to "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt" (Luke 6:27-29). Yet few Christians actually model these types of behaviors. Maybe we've decided these practices are antiquated or impractical ... or maybe we have let our self-preservation instincts rule our actions.  

Consider the reaction of the Amish community in Pennsylvania after a man murders many of their children before taking his own life: they visited with the killer's family and attended his funeral, invited the killer's widow to the funeral for their children, and set up a charitable fund for the family of the man who took the lives of their children. They were heard saying things like: "We must not think evil of this man."  I encourage you to read this short section on their forgiving response, and think and pray about how you might learn to be more forgiving: http://is.gd/lAaa 

PRAYER:

Lord God, you have forgiven so much that we have done.  Help us to forgive others...to see them through your eyes.  We desire to seek your way in this world, yet we struggle.  Be here in this struggle among us, and help us to grow closer to you.  We pray this in the name of Jesus the Christ. AMEN.

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PS:  If you want to discuss theology -- to talk about questions you have reading the above -- in a safe, open environment, then join us at Brion's Grille on TONIGHT (3/3) at 5:15pm .  Contact lutheran@gmu.edu for details/rides. 

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These devotions are provided by Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University.  Feel free to share them with your friends!  For more information on our ministry and events, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran  

You can subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Lent Day #37

John 12:31-33 (NRSV)
³¹"Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

THOUGHTS:
These words were spoken by Jesus in the days before his crucifixion. John tells us that he said them to indicate the nature of his death -- lifted up from the earth upon a cross.

Think about it. Jesus says that the world was judged crucifixion. He says that when he is lifted up upon a cross, he will draw all people to himself. A few days later on the cross, in Luke 23:34 (ESV):

34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments.

The judgement of Jesus is one of grace and forgiveness. The judgement of Jesus is mercy for all people. This is certainly good news!

PRAYER:
Holy God, we thank for you your grace and forgiveness, which we know we could never earn. Help us to accept the knowledge that we are so dearly beloved. Help us to share this good news with all people through our lives. Allow us the privilege of serving you. AMEN.