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

Lent 2009 #3

Daniel 9:16-19 
16 O Lord, in view of all your righteous acts, let your anger and wrath, we pray, turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because of our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become a disgrace among all our neighbors. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, and for your own sake, Lord, let your face shine upon your desolated sanctuary. 18 Incline your ear, O my God, and hear. Open your eyes and look at our desolation and the city that bears your name. We do not present our supplication before you on the ground of our righteousness, but on the ground of your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and act and do not delay! For your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people bear your name!"

THOUGHTS:

     Daniel prays that God spare the people, but not because they deserve it.  As humans, we like systems of justice, where everyone gets what they deserve.  Yet, in reality, we all stumble and fall short.  We pass buy the man who is homeless sleeping on a park bench.  We ignore the man who is hungry and carrying a sign saying "will work for food".  By God's rules, we all miss the mark sometimes.  

     As Daniel knows, God's forgiveness is about what we've earned.  We aren't forgiven because we are good enough. (If we were "good enough", then we wouldn't need forgiveness.)  Daniel is essentially saying "God, I know that we aren't worth listening to based on what we do, so don't pay attention for our sake.  God, listen because your nature is to show mercy. Listen because that's who you are."  Daniel has faith that God hears us because God wants to listen.  Daniel knows that God forgives us because God wants us to be forgiven.  

    The reason we are worth God's attention is simply because God loves us.  To God, we are worth more than we could possibly imagine or describe, all because God loves us.  Our relationship with God is based on the foundation of God's love.  As you journey through Lent and life, don't let your view of things become a barrier between you and God.  Always remember that God loves you, no matter what.  Period. 

PRAYER:

God, we lift our hearts to you.  We thank you for loving us first, and we ask that you help us view ourselves through your eyes.  Enable is to grow closer to you, rather than creating divisions in this relationship.  We want to know you more.  All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus.  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!  

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

For more information on our ministry and events, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran

Lent 2009 #1: Ash Wednesday

Psalm 51:1-17 
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

NOTE:
It's once again Lent, and I've been asked to send out Lenten devotions as I did last year.  Feel free to share them with friends.  You can subscribe by email/RSS at http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Thoughts:

It's Ash Wednesday: the one day of the church year that we focus exclusively on our brokenness -- on our nothingness -- on our failure to live up to what God created us to be.  We allow ourselves to be smeared with ashes as a reminder that we started out as mere ashes, and will end up as nothing but ashes -- and we look inward to confess our sins, and realize that we don't deserve anything more than to be ashes.  Don't get depressed about this, there is good news to come -- but today we only long for it....  

Today, we break open our hearts and ask God to make them new and clean...

Today, we plead for God to stay with us in our brokenness...

Today, we hope only for God to fill us with righteousness and the strength to help others in our world.

In facing our sin honestly, we begin our journey into Lent with humility and openness to where God will lead us.

Prayer:

Lord, help us to examine ourselves and to put everything before you.  Wash out the old muck and fill us with your love, desires, and passion.  Use this season of Lent to change us, and draw us closer to you.  In Jesus name, AMEN.

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These devotions are courtesy of Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University.  Join us for our on-campus Ash Wednesday services tonight in the Johnson Center BISTRO tonight at 7:47pm -- see http://GMU747.org for more information.