Lent 2010 #37

Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

THOUGHTS:

We have entered into Holy Week, and during this week there is a lot to consider. In fact the darkness and brokenness of our world can be overwhelming.  So from where do we gain strength?  "Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith," and considering "him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners..." This week we are invited, we are called to look to Jesus....considering him who took on the darkness, took on our brokenness that we can not withstand, so that we will persevere in faith and hope.  And in this time of consideration, this week of Christ's Passion, we know we are never alone but surrounded by "so great a cloud of witnesses" and the very center himself, Jesus Christ.  As we journey further into this week of passion, may we look to the center and "consider him" and draw strength from the one who took on all of the world's death and darkness, in order that we may live fully.  Consider him, Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, resting in the strength that is found only in him.

PRAYER:

Jesus Christ, you have taken on our brokenness and darkness.  As we journey this week, remembering the gift of life you have given all on the cross, may we look to you, consider you, and know you as the source of strength in our life. Amen.

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Thoughts by Rev. Kim Conway, pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church (Dale City)

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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 #28

Exodus 12:21-27 (NRSV)

Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children. When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this observance?' you shall say, 'It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed down and worshiped.

THOUGHTS:  

There was a time I thought that my family had no family traditions.  I was in middle school at the time.  It was almost winter break and several friends and I were talking over lunch about what we were going to do for the holidays.  Everyone else, it seemed, had these elaborate traditions in which they would take part.    

I went home that afternoon and announced to my parents in a disgusted teenage voice that I could not believe that we had no traditions.  My mother tried to explain that we did, but I refused to believe her.  I was adamant that we had no traditions; that there was nothing special that set our family apart.    

A few days later my mother casually mentioned that she was thinking about not making sticky buns for Christmas breakfast.  She thought that maybe it was time to try something different.  My sister and I pitched a fit.  "It won't be Christmas without sticky buns," we exclaimed.    

It turns out that we did have a few family traditions; plenty of traditions, in fact.  They just didn't feel like a tradition.  They felt…well…just like what we always did.  There wasn't anything necessarily special about them.  

When the first Passover was instituted, Moses declared to the people of Israel, "You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children."  The Passover was to become for the people of Israel a family tradition.  It was to be passed down through the generations as something special that set them apart.  It was to be a way to remind the generations of Israelites what God had done for them.  So that even in those times that being God's people felt just like what they always did, that they would recall that there was something special about that relationship.  

As we continue our Lenten journey towards the cross, we are reminded that the Passover meal would take on a new significance when Jesus celebrated it with his disciples in the upper room.  It would be his blood that would be shed, placed on the cross so that sin and death will pass over us.  In the midst of our normal, everyday lives we need these kinds of remembrances.  We need the traditions of our faith that remind us who and whose we are. 

PRAYER:

Gracious God, we give thanks for the love that you have shown to your people throughout the generations.  Help us to always remember that love wherever we go and whatever we do.  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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Lent 2010 #20

Joshua 4:1-13 (NRSV)
When the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua: ²"Select twelve men from the people, one from each tribe, ³and command them, 'Take twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood, carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you camp tonight.'" ⁴Then Joshua summoned the twelve men from the Israelites, whom he had appointed, one from each tribe. ⁵Joshua said to them, "Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites, ⁶so that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, 'What do those stones mean to you?' ⁷then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever." ⁸The Israelites did as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord told Joshua, carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there. ⁹(Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.) ¹⁰The priests who bore the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people crossed over in haste. ¹¹As soon as all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of the Lord, and the priests, crossed over in front of the people. ¹²The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the Israelites, as Moses had ordered them. ¹³About forty thousand armed for war crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle.



THOUGHTS:

My teenage daughter and I recently journeyed together by train to New York City to see the Pittsburgh Penguins (her favorite team) play the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.  It was the first time she'd seen a hockey game in person and she is enamored with New York City as well.  On our way home, after what she described as one of the best days of her life, she informed me that her tickets from both the train and the game would be going into her "ticket box."  As the name implies, her ticket box contains used tickets from all of the memorable sporting events, movies, plays, museums and other events and places that she has enjoyed throughout her life.  Each ticket serves as a marker, and as a reminder, of some fantastic event or place that she has experienced; event and places worthy of being remembered.


The elaborate and detailed story told in our reading for this day from Joshua describes a fantastic event and a place worthy of being remembered by the people of Israel.  It is as if the people are saying, "Do you remember when God acted to bring us out of our wilderness wanderings, making a dry path for us to cross the Jordan River, enabling us to then enter the Promised Land?  Do you remember where that all happened?  It happened right there, where we piled those rocks from the river to be for us a marker, a reminder to us and our descendants of what God has done for us!"



During our Lenten journey we would do well to occasionally stop and remember the fantastic events and places where God has been active in our lives.  Some of us may even have, or might find, markers that we can use to remind us of those fantastic events and places where we have experienced God acting for us: a baptismal candle we can light on the anniversary of our baptism; a Bible given to us as at our Confirmation; a t-shirt from a youth gathering, service learning project or mission trip; a cross necklace or an Ichthus (fish) tattoo.  These are but a few examples of the kinds of markers, signs and symbols that can be, for us, "rocks" that we use to mark the fantastic events and places where God has acted for us.  Each and every one of them are worthy of being remembered.



PRAYER:

Gracious God, you have been, are and will be at work in our lives.  Throughout this season of Lent, help us to be mindful of those fantastic events and places when they occur.  May we ever be thankful for them and may we always remember them.  In your holy name we pray.  Amen.

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Thoughts by Rev. Mark W. Olsen, Director of Admissions and Enrollment Services, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg

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

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Lent 2010 #11 (after fixing some numbering)

I just noticed that I slipped in numbering these devotions: Sundays aren't counted in the 40 days of Lent.  Taking that into account, now we are back to #11.  I've fixed the numbering at http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com

Psalm 105:1-6 (NRSV)

1O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. 
2Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. 
3Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 
4Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. 
5Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he has uttered, 
6O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones. 




THOUGHTS: 

There is one line that stuck out to me.  "Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually."  I have spent quite a while thinking about
this one passage and why it sticks out to me. I realized the reason this struck me was how simple it seemed to seek the God, yet at the same time how hard it is to remember.


I take from this that our relationships with God can always be better.  It is important that we always attempt to put Him into a more central place in our lives.  This is something we practice in Lent and need to continue the rest of the year.







PRAYER: 




Heavenly Father, Allow the spiritual practices we develop this Lent, be fruitful to us and others.  May these habits continue with us when we move into other seasons of the year.  Amen



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Thoughts by Christopher Bergtholdt, a Senior at George Mason University involved with LCM-GMU




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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