Lent 2010 #38

Exodus 12:1-14 (NRSV)

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

THOUGHTS:

As Christians, we believe that is was not a mere coincidence that Jesus was crucified on the day before the Passover (see John 19:14,31), the same day that the Passover lambs were being slaughtered.  The blood of Jesus smeared on the cross on that hillside outside Jerusalem is effectively smeared on the doorposts of the universe.  Jesus is the sacrificial lamb, without blemish.  The blood of Jesus is the sign on our world that we are all God's people, God's beloved children.

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, thank you for your mercy.  Today, and everyday, we remember your grace.  Help us to live out your grace and mercy, sharing your love with all those we meet.  In the holy name of Jesus the Christ we pray, 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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***Feel free to share them with your friends!***

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Lent 2010 #36

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

      "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
      the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

20 Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let those who boast boast in the Lord."

THOUGHTS:

Jon Foreman calls us "The Church of the dropouts, the losers, the sinners, the failures, and the fools." Throughout the New Testament we are called to forget every law that society has taught us--every iPod commercial and body-image-centric magazine--and to take up the cross. When Jesus was crucified, the cross didn't mean glory; it meant death and torture, but most of all, utter humiliation. It was heavy and victims were forced to carry it the longest path to their final resting place. Jesus' crime read simply, "King of the Jews," and he was nailed, naked and exposed before all, between two rebels.

This is our image of mercy and love and salvation: our mighty King killed the way of dropouts, losers, sinners, failures, and fools. Once a symbol of shame, the cross has become our greatest comfort.

I found myself coming to God during the same time I was finding out that I was gay. While I was finding that I was something that by societal means is despicable and foolish, I was being called into that very body that so publically abhors me and yet was experiencing God's indiscriminate love. It was humbling. It is humbling. It's my cross to bear. So daily I lift this heavy cross as the outcast and the despised. Likewise, Paul tells us, we all come from humble origins of sorts. Each of us has our cross to bear, that which separates us from each other and from God. And so we come humbly to the Lord, so that none of us can boast except in Him.

PRAYER:

Lord, we come to You on our knees, a people weary from status and rules and ostracism. As we carry each our crosses, lift us not into shame but to Your eternal glory. 

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Thoughts by Sarah, student at George Mason University involved with Lutheran Campus Ministry

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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 #40: Holy Saturday

Psalm 22:1-2,14-19 
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled;
17 I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!

THOUGHTS:

This Psalm starts with words later uttered by Jesus while hanging on the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Have you ever felt forsaken by God"

Does it ever feel like God is far away?

Today, we remember the Sabbath that Jesus spent dead ... in Hell according to some interpretations.

It's the epitome of being far away from God.  

Today, we contemplate how Jesus (God incarnate) suffered complete separation from his own divine nature.  

Our understanding is that Jesus did this so we wouldn't have to ... that in ways we can at best comprehend only abstractly, his death puts us into a better relationship with God.

Today, we allow ourselves to deal with our fear of being completely cut off from God.  Yet, we are not overcome with despair because there is hope ... a promise of new life around the corner.

PRAYER (adapted from "Lutheran Book of Prayer" Concordia Publishing House, 1970:

     Lord God almighty, we are silenced at the grave of your son.  We confess that a great mystery confronts us.  By faith we know that he who died is the one who unlocked the great secret of your love.  His tomb is our tomb.  He carried with him to the grave our sin and our death that he might break their hold on us.  

     Trusting in our Lord's promise to rise again, we come not to mourn, but to confess the sin that he would leave buried.  Have mercy on us!  Grant us the Easter faith that anticipates with joy the day on which, in him, we too come forth from the tomb to truly live.  We pray in his name and for his sake.  Amen.

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REMINDER: Carpool to worship with us (meet at SUB 1 room 207).  Email lutheran@gmu.edu if you have questions.

4/12 - EASTER: Meet at 10:25am to carpool to a local Lutheran congregation for Easter worship!

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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 #36

1 Corinthians 1:18,25-30 

18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 25For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. 25 For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. 26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption

THOUGHTS:

It sounds crazy, doesn't it?  God chooses to save the world through death.  Jesus died to realign our relationship with God.  What?

Yet that's how it played out.  We are now reconciled to God through our own brokenness at the foot of the cross.  

God shows time and time again that our real value isn't measured by the standards of the world.  It is not about how smart you are, how connected you are, what you look like, how cool you are, what clothes you wear, how many "fans" you have, what tint your skin has, how sexy you are, what movies you like, how many houses you own, how big your army is, what your major is, what "stuff" you own, who you work for, who your friends are, who you find attractive, where you are from, how many people you've kissed, what music you like, or ANYTHING else that our society tells us is important!

You are worth more than you can possibly imagine or comprehend because of who you are at your core: a beloved child of God.  It's out of your control -- your value comes from being loved by God!  This truth still sounds foolish to our ears today...

PRAYER:

O Lord, our God, we can scarcely believe it is true that you love us so much.  Please accept our humble thanks.  Our lives are yours.  Lead us as you wish. In Jesus name, AMEN.

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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: Second Sunday

As I mentioned last week, Sundays are not part of Lent, but rather always celebrations of the resurrection.  To mark this distinction, instead of my thoughts on scripture, here's some bits by others that I find interesting...

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"The challenge for each of us is to let God take [our cross], to give our cross over to God so God can act with it and upon it as he goes to his own. The amazing yet horrifying premise of Jesus upon the cross is God's very life in our lives, God's very participation in all the crosses of humanity. The Christian hope is founded upon God's presence with us in all things, and despite all things, in God's activity that brings newness to life."  -- Michael R. Sullivan, ExploreFaith.org Signpost 3/8/2009 

"There is no way to peace along the way to safety. For peace must be dared. It is the great venture."  -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Address at Fano, Sojourners Voice of the Day 1/26/2009 

"MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."  -- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"

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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