Daily Devotion for Lent 2021 - Day 3

Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3

With a phone like this, you could
only move as far as the cord would allow!

We've missed seeing each other face to face.  I feel blessed that I've been able to see people through zoom or to carry on conversations through text, social media or email.  I can even call anyone in the US without incurring extra long distance charges on my bill.  Those of us past a certain age may still be reluctant to make those calls out of our area and it comes from a long-ingrained sense of taboo!  

We have so many ways to keep in touch and this has been helpful.

But it will be good to sit down with friends and family once more.  There is something about the physical presence being in close proximity that has yet to be replicated by technology.  Maybe virtual reality will conquer this someday but at this point, we need to gather.

Paul expresses this in today's chapter.  We see how the network of Christian communities was started.  When Paul couldn't be there personally, he was able to send his helpers like Timothy.  And when Timothy couldn't be there, Paul sent out letters.  These were reminders about the faith in Jesus Christ that had just sprung up in their midst.  We know that this church made it - at least long enough to copy Paul's letter and share it with other communities.  

How many churches faltered?  Paul likely wrote many letters we'll never read because those churches may have died out.  They may have adopted practices that were antithetical to what it means to live in Christ.  

But it was communities like this one that must have kept Paul encouraged.  So many times in ministry, pastors see pushback and it can be disheartening.  But when you find faith take root, it makes it all worthwhile.  

I, too, pray most earnestly that I'll see you face to face.  As some of us have gone almost a year without seeing one another, it is good to know that the early church went for stretches longer than that without seeing Paul and they learned to thrive.  As Paul writes, "And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you."  

May it be so for us all!

Prayer for the Day:

God, we long to see one another.  We long to embrace people.  We long to break bread with our neighbors once more.  Grant us your peace as we wait.  Let us hold fast to our faith and find that love has kindled more brightly in the waiting.  We pray this in the name of Jesus who loves.  Amen.

Photo by Billy Brown via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Longest Lent of My Life

First Sunday in Lent, Year B

Lectionary Reading: Mark 1:9-15 (NRSV)

We began to shut down our lives due to the pandemic during the Lenten season in 2020.  Many were thinking at the time, "We'll be back for Easter, won't we?"

And while Edmond First United Methodist celebrated Easter online, there was some feeling that the Lenten season never ended.  Our fast was not from rich foods or various entertainments but rather we entered a fast from our friends and extended family members.  It seems that parts of society have at various times fasted from civility (a little more rigorously than normal).

Now, we have Lent rolling back around starting on Ash Wednesday.  We'll have our service online and this year, it seems that even our imposition of ashes that we were going to have outside will be prevented by inclement weather.  So we'll continue online.

Lent is usually an examination of suffering and how we can be in tune with it rather than ignoring it.  Can we somehow ease some of the pain in the world?  This whole year, our mental anguish has allowed each of us to know more of suffering.  We know grief from the loss of family and friends - both those who have died and those who have moved away.  So a season of examining our suffering has the potential to come across as a little obtuse.  

Rather, this year, I am reminded that our faith can also give us strength to move through suffering.  And this is also what the Lenten season is about.  

I like the story of the donkey that fell in the abandoned well.  He brayed and brayed and the farmer found him and realized what happened.  Because the donkey was old, the farmer thought it would be too much trouble to get him out so he decided to bury the donkey and cover the well so it would cease to be a hazard.  

With several hands to help, they started shoveling dirt down into the well on top of the poor beast.  He began to bray even louder but the dirt continued to fall.  Finally, he started shaking off the dirt on his back, stamping as donkeys will do when frustrated.  As the dirt continued to fall, the donkey continued to shake it off and step on top of the newly fallen dirt.

Pretty soon, the well was filled and the donkey was seeing eye to eye with those who tried to bury him.  With a triumphant bray, the donkey hopped out of the well and trotted off!

As we consider Lent, we are reminded that suffering is a part of life and our faith speaks to it.  We seek to overcome whatever trouble life throws at us and so our faith reminds us to step on the dirt.  

Let's help one another to do this as we help each other live through this pandemic.  

Rather than fast this year, I would encourage you to add a spiritual discipline.  Why not reach out to someone you've missed seeing this past year?  Send them a note - there are so many different ways to reach out to people, I'll leave it up to your favorite.  I'll also be sharing a daily devotion at this site each day.  This year, we'll be reading through some of Paul's earliest letters chronologically one chapter a day.

And of course, this coming Sunday will be the first Sunday in Lent.  Mark's Gospel gives us such an abbreviated version of the temptation of Jesus - basically verse 13 says, 

"He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him."

Then Mark moves on to John's arrest and Jesus' preaching.  

Wait, what?  

I feel like Matthew and Luke said, "Um, shouldn't we fill that out a bit?  Maybe give a little more detail?"

This Sunday, I'll be looking at how Jesus sees the arrest of John the Baptist and relate it to how we respond when loved ones are suffering.

As the dirt falls down on us, let us step up together!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by zenjazzygeek via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.