Lent devotional

Becoming God’s Dwelling

Posted on by Betsy

Many years ago I went on a pilgrimage to Israel with a group of people who wanted to experience God’s presence first hand in the land where Jesus walked. The highlight of the trip was a visit to the Temple in Jerusalem where we were able to place our hands on the remaining Western, or “Wailing” Wall to pray. The facade of the wall was filled with cracks and crevices between the large stones, and we were invited to stick rolled up pieces of paper with prayer requests there that we had carried with us from our families and our churches back home. There were people all around us praying out loud in their native languages: Hebrew, French, German, English …pilgrims from every corner of the globe had come to that sacred spot to pray. The minute my palms touched the ancient stones, something happened to me. Suddenly all the surrounding noise dulled in my ear and became a singular harmonic hum. I could feel a spiritual current of energy travel from my fingertips to my forehead and toes. The yip yip yips of the nearby women celebrating a teenager’s bat mitzvah faded into the background and all I could hear was a vibrating resonance that was other-worldly. There is an ethereal sense of God’s spirit in those stones, and I could envision the angels themselves descending to sing along with us. It was a moment of feeling connected to God that I will never forget. God dwelt among us that day.

We remember that God designed humanity with the purpose of dwelling with us in the perfection and sweetness of the Garden of Eden. But when sin happened, that fellowship was broken and God has been searching for a dwelling place ever since. In the book of Exodus we read that God instructed that a movable tabernacle be built in the wilderness of Moses’ time. Instructions were given to construct an Ark in which God would reside. When the people finally settled down in the Promised Land, the glorious temple was built in Jerusalem in Solomon’s time, and the Ark was moved there permanently. But then came the destruction of the Temple when the people rebelled and rejected God. Israel was sent into exile by the Babylonian king. Many years later, Cyrus of Persia allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and later still, King Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple in Jesus’ time, but the Ark was lost.

But by then, the Temple was unnecessary. Jesus was sent to be our temple, our priest, and our sacrifice. Jesus was God’s dwelling incarnate and became the new and forever temple. His sacrifice on the cross makes all the rituals of the former priesthood obsolete. As he told the woman at the well in John 4:23-24,

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in Spirit and in truth.” (New International Version)

Paul continues this teaching in Ephesians, proclaiming that all in whom Jesus dwells are now being built into a holy temple in the Lord. God dwells in us!

Ephesians 2:21-22 (New International Version)

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

How is your temple doing? Are your walls strong and able to withstand invading conquerors or is your faith weak and in need of some mortar and stone to shore up your foundation? Do people see the light of Christ shining through the stained glass windows of your actions and words? Are you pursuing holiness this Lent with your spiritual disciplines? Would God want to dwell in your temple?

Lent is a reminder that our temples are fragile and require daily upkeep. May God bless our building and re-building efforts as we move along toward Easter.

The Wailing Wall by Faye Gardner

Old School Lent

Posted on by Betsy

Over the last few Sundays I have worshipped at St. Luke United Methodist Church in Orlando, Florida. This magnificent church boasts a large and well-rehearsed choir and a full orchestra every Sunday at their traditional service. I find myself being drawn to tears by the music at least once every service. I hope and pray that if you are ever in that area, you will make a plan to go there. I am a music geek/nerd and music speaks to my soul in ways that words can’t. But be assured that every spoken word of prayer, liturgy, and sermon in that church Is spellbinding and as moving as the music.

I am such a nerd that if a hymnal is available, I reach for it. Yes, the words are displayed on two huge screens at the front of the chancel area, but this girl likes to do it old school. I can read music, so part of the attraction is to watch the notes and see where they go. Sometimes I sight-read the alto just to hone my rusty skills (apologies to those who sit near me!). Another advantage of using the hymnal is that you can see the theology build through the entire hymn. You can’t do that with screens. Songs like “Lord of the Dance,” which so beautifully tell the story of Jesus verse by verse, aren’t nearly as effective on the screens. Next time you’re in church, pick up a hymnal and see what I mean.

The selection for the first Sunday of Lent was “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” found on page 269 of the United Methodist Hymnal. This hymn is five verses of perfect teaching about the meaning and purpose of Lent. While we all know that Lent is the 40 day season of preparation (or, as the preacher put it, “rehearsal”) for Easter, we tend to forget the nuances of what Jesus did in his forty days in the wilderness. We focus on our own disciplines, and hopefully grow closer to God through our fasting, praying, repentance, and study, but it is easy for us to be me-centered instead of Jesus-centered in this season. While focusing on our spiritual growth is truly part of Lent’s goal, we miss out on the deeper and richer story that surrounds us.

“Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” reminds us of the truth at the heart of Lent. Jesus fasted and prayed for us in his forty days. He calls us to mourn our sins and remain close to him. He contended with Satan in the wilderness and won that battle, enabling us to also withstand the temptation to sin. He was hungry and thirsty, setting an example for us to die to self as he did for our sake. He lived by the Word of God so that we might live by the Word. He abides with us through our penitence, our life, and our death. And thus when Lent has fulfilled its purpose, an Easter of unending joy will be ours.

Look, Easter is coming regardless of your participation. Easter is a force beyond anything our obedience or disobedience can control. Ignore it and it will still come. But will you experience unending joy? Or will that day just be filled with bunnies, eggs, and candy and then it’s all back to life as normal?

Lent is an invitation to rehearse and prepare for unending joy. But you have to be all in for it to work. I pray that today you resolve to finish these forty days as you started, with serious contemplation and dedicated time spent in repentance, fasting, praying, and immersion into God’s Word. And if you haven’t started any Lent practices, start now. When we do this, Easter will usher in the unending joy that Jesus died for.

Read it and weep

Hot Chicken Salad

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever resisted someone’s help? Thinking that you had everything under control, did you ever reject the kind ministrations of friends and just plugged along in your misery? False pride, embarrassment, stubbornness, and a sense of not wanting to appear weak can turn our heads away from the compassionate offering that a friend is trying to make. When we do that, we miss out on so much.

Many years ago, my daughter had to come home from college when she was diagnosed with cancer. She lived with us for nine months while she underwent daily chemotherapy, surgeries, and procedures. We were overwhelmed with her care, and our loving and supportive church tried to help. I was serving as a pastor on that staff and really resisted any assistance. Cards and gifts for my daughter were welcome and appreciated, but any offering of help for her father and me as caregivers was rejected. “We’re okay, we’ve got this, we’re good” became my mantra when any kind soul offered support for us. How foolish I was! Talk about stupid and unnecessary pride. Finally I realized that my pride was preventing the church from being the church to us, so I began to accept meals. We’re Methodist, and casseroles are our love language! I was inadvertently stopping people from loving on us and doing the acts of ministry that God was calling them to do for our family.

The first delivery was something called “Hot Chicken Salad.” This casserole dish of pure heaven was not a salad as such, but a culinary adventure in beautiful white chicken chunks, crunchy slivered almonds, and a saucy sauce that made my eyes roll back in my head. And for that moment, I was uplifted by the gift of a friend and church member who was also uplifted to be able to do something tangible in our fight against cancer. I still make that recipe today.

In our passage today, we see Jesus offer an act of ministry to a man who was born blind.

John 9 (The Message)

 1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

Right from the bat we see that the disciples asked the wrong question. They were focused on trying to figure out the theology behind the blindness, proving that they were blind to his need. Jesus focused on a compassionate response.

3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

We often hesitate to step into places of helping a stranger. We ask how the unhoused person ended up that way. We question if giving the person on the street some money might enable them to go off and get high. We question how the mother with a lot of kids in tow ended up on food stamps. We hesitate to support the veteran found sleeping in the freezing rain because we don’t trust the GoFundMe that a community member set up.

We ask the wrong question.

6-7 He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.

Dust and clay played an important role in Genesis 2:7: 7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Common English Bible) Jesus’ use of dust in this healing miracle harkens back to the power of creation. Indeed, Jesus created sight in the blind man. What is he trying to create in you today? What are you blind to? Where is God hoping to open your eyes so that you might offer a compassionate response?

The last sentence reminds us that when we are offered healing, we need to participate. The man went and washed and he saw. I accepted a gift of a meal and ate of the bread of empathy that night, and it made me stronger. Is God calling you to participate in your own miracle?

Say yes to the Hot Chicken Salad. It will change your life.

Soon by Kathy Schumacher

On the Basis of Grace

Posted on by Betsy

I had a conversation with a young woman last week who was unsettled by a sermon she had recently heard. The preacher recounted his cancer journey and made several statements that led the listeners to believe that he was cured because he was a preacher, and that if you pray hard enough, God will heal you. Thus, if you weren’t healed, it is because you didn’t pray hard enough. This rankled the woman, also a cancer survivor, because she doesn’t think God works that way. She does not believe that God arbitrarily chooses to heal one and condemn another to die. She does not believe her healing came from any action on her part. Many prayers were offered during her treatment, but that is not why she was healed. She believes God healed her through grace and good medicine. She believes that things just happen as they happen.

What do you think?

Understanding the concept of grace is fundamental to understanding the concept of God. Many faith practices emphasize righteousness by following a long set of rules, complying with the Law, or performing enough good deeds to “get in.” But we know that it is only by grace that we are saved.

Let’s take a look at Paul’s thoughts on righteousness, following the law, earning things on your own, and grace. This passage does not answer the question of how healing happens but helps us understand the basic issue of grace.

Romans 4 (Common English Bible)


4 So what are we going to say? Are we going to find that Abraham is our ancestor on the basis of genealogy? 2 Because if Abraham was made righteous because of his actions, he would have had a reason to brag, but not in front of God. 3 What does the scripture say? Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.  4 Workers’ salaries aren’t credited to them on the basis of an employer’s grace but rather on the basis of what they deserve. 5 But faith is credited as righteousness to those who don’t work, because they have faith in God who makes the ungodly righteous.

Paul was clearly in the camp of those who believe that one can’t claim to be able to work for their righteousness. No, he contended, faith is the result of the righteousness credited to us by the gift of God. Read how Eugene Peterson described it in the Message:

Romans 4 (The Message)

4-5 If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.

“Sheer gift.” In other words, you can’t earn it, you can’t work hard for it, you can’t be entitled to it based on your status or profession, you just have to be willing to receive it as a sheer gift. No strings attached, nothing to do on your part, money back guarantee with no questions asked gift. Our salvation and our inheritance as children of God are grace-based offerings that are freely given to all.

Romans 4 (Common English Bible) continued

13 The promise to Abraham and to his descendants, that he would inherit the world, didn’t come through the Law but through the righteousness that comes from faith. 14 If they inherit because of the Law, then faith has no effect and the promise has been canceled. 15 The Law brings about wrath. But when there isn’t any law, there isn’t any violation of the law. 

16 That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. In that way, the promise is secure for all of Abraham’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us. 17 As it is written: I have appointed you to be the father of many nations. So Abraham is our father in the eyes of God in whom he had faith, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that don’t exist into existence.

You see, the preacher was wrong. He was the blessed recipient of something he couldn’t earn and didn’t deserve just because he is faithful to his calling. He is a walking example of the sheer gift of God’s unmerited favor and love.

May we all embrace this wonderful gift.

Sunrise Gift by Dustin Daniels

Relentless Love

Posted on by Betsy

The word relentless conjures up so many images. The helpful salesman at the car dealership. Athletes preparing for the Olympics. Perfume-sample people at the mall. Wrestlers. A two-year-old. The pace of the music in Hamilton.

To be relentless is to “show no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace: To be unrelenting.” Relentless people have a stick-to-itiveness that others lack. Relentless people get the job done. I often think that if I had been relentless in my piano practicing, I might actually play the piano today. I do not. Somewhere along the way, other things crowded in and I lost my momentum. Has that ever happened to you?

One thing that is completely relentless is God’s love for you.

Romans 8 (The Message)

31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger?

The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing…

…None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done.

It doesn’t matter who you are.

It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve gone backwards.

It doesn’t matter how deep your sin is, how high your disobedience gets, how wide your lies are, or how narrow your hope is.

It doesn’t matter.

God’s love for you and his relentless forgiveness will follow you to the depths of hell and bring you back. Nothing can get between you and God’s relentless love because of the way that Jesus has embraced you.

So the next time you fall flat on your face and can’t get up, remember that God put his life on the line for you, and nothing … not trouble, not hatred, not hard times, or hunger … nothing can separate you from the great love of God through Jesus Christ, our relentless savior.

Key Largo Sunset

Stubborn Mules

Posted on by Betsy

Consider the poor mule. Through no fault of his own, he has gotten the reputation of being stubborn. Truth be told, mules are highly intelligent animals who are cautious and act out of a sense of self-preservation. Unlike the horse, whose first instinct is to flee, a mule will carefully consider his options for safety. If an instruction seems illogical or risky, he will refuse it. Unlike Yellow Labs, who just truly are stubborn for stubborn’s sake, the mule is a considerate thinker. We need to change our cliche to “stubborn as a Lab.”

It is amusing to see David use that phrase about mules in today’s lectionary passage. He tells us not to be like the “senseless horse or mule” that has to be led by a bridle.

Read the first two sections for clues on what David says we are being stubborn about.

Psalm 32 (Common English Bible)

2 The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered over, is truly happy!
2 The one the Lord doesn’t consider guilty—
    in whose spirit there is no dishonesty—
    that one is truly happy!

3 When I kept quiet, my bones wore out;
    I was groaning all day long—
    every day, every night!—
4 because your hand was heavy upon me.
    My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah

David asserted that keeping quiet about sin is an unnecessary burden that leads to great unhappiness. Refusing to confess and repent led him to groan all day and left him feeling wasted away. There is a simple solution to this, said David. Simply admit guilt, reveal your sin, and God will remove it.

5 So I admitted my sin to you;
    I didn’t conceal my guilt.
    “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord, ” is what I said.
    Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah

6 That’s why all the faithful should pray to you during troubled times,
    so that a great flood of water won’t reach them.
7 You are my secret hideout!
    You protect me from trouble.
    You surround me with songs of rescue! Selah

Many decades ago I had an opportunity to minister to a woman whose guilt had wasted her entire life away. We sat under a piano in a church’s Fellowship Hall until 3:00 in the morning as she poured out her life story to me. As a very young wife, she had an affair with a man of a different race. The affair resulted in a pregnancy that she was sure she could not pass off as her husband’s, so she had an abortion. Her deep guilt over the whole thing led her to self-medicate with alcohol and eventually drugs. One addiction fed another and she eventually lost her job, her marriage, and custody of her children. She met me after twenty years of this wasting. A church had reached out to her to attend the retreat I was leading, and she was working hard to live a clean life. But one thing was missing. She had never received Christ’s forgiveness, so she had never forgiven herself. Her new church had taught her about Jesus, but she was convinced that she was unworthy.

I began to talk about what happened on the cross. She was familiar with everything I said, but still stubbornly refused his forgiveness. The hour was late, the floor was cold, and the pastor was exhausted. Finally I asked her if she thought that she was so special that the redemption of the cross didn’t apply to her. I asked her if she thought that she was really so extraordinary that the power of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection was good enough for everyone but her. Did the power of her sin defeat the power of the cross because it was stronger? Then she broke. God broke that chain of being addicted to her past and set her free. The next morning she was a completely new woman. I ran into her years later and she was remarried, had finished her degree, and was a successful banker in her town.

Lent is about learning that you aren’t stronger than God. Lent is about understanding the damage of sin and how confession and repentance are the only things that will heal you. Lent is the time to uncover long-buried guilt and get rid of it.

8 I will instruct you and teach you
    about the direction you should go.
    I’ll advise you and keep my eye on you.
9 Don’t be like some senseless horse or mule,
    whose movement must be controlled
    with a bit and a bridle.

Don’t be anything like that!
10 The pain of the wicked is severe,
    but faithful love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord.
11 You who are righteous, rejoice in the Lord and be glad!
    All you whose hearts are right, sing out in joy!

So let us repent and move on. Let us rejoice and be glad! Let us sing out in joy.

And let’s stop being as stubborn as a Yellow Lab.

Playing Keep Away by Ashten Ree Avery

Be Reckless

Posted on by Betsy

The first time I heard Reckless Love by Cory Asbury was at a Youth Sunday worship service several years ago. Three teenage girls sang it, and I thought it was one of the most wonderful things I had heard in a long time. Those sincere young voices are in my heart today as we consider the reckless love of Good Friday.

Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.

Our Scripture today describes Jesus’ act of reckless love as he faced his final days on earth. He was speaking to a crowd of people as his death was drawing near, and explained reckless love like a grain of wheat, which must be buried in order for it to bring forth life and multiply:

John 12 (The Message)

24-25 “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

Truly his love for us is reckless. It is never-ending and overwhelming. Here he was in his final week, feeling storm-tossed about what was about to happen. But did he think of himself? No, he thought of you. He would not ask his father to get him out of it. Instead, he invited God to use his death to display his glory.

27-28 “Right now I am storm-tossed. And what am I going to say? ‘Father, get me out of this’? No, this is why I came in the first place. I’ll say, ‘Father, put your glory on display.’”

”Father, put your glory on display.”

Jesus is committing to following through. He, who was present at the creation of the world, was willing to be falsely tried, spit upon, ridiculed, beaten, scorned, pierced, and nailed to a tree for us.

How can we possibly respond to this kind of reckless love? How can we honor Jesus’ death with our lives? This is a love that you can’t earn or deserve. This is a love that chases you down. This is a love that brings the gift of eternal life.

Are you ready to stop running?

26 “If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.”

Then follow him.

Reckless Love by Kitty Hawk United Methodist Church

The Power of Broken Things

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever heard the old saying that in order to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs? People say this to comfort us when we are feeling broken by life. It suggests that in our breaking, we can become something new … a more refined version of ourselves, if you will. But breaking is hard work, and recovering is even harder. Good omelettes take time to perfect.

Now think about the broken bread that we receive at communion. There is such power in watching the loaf being torn in half! I bet you have received communion in many places and in many forms, from the casual retreat setting to the most formal of presentations in a church. I once took communion at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which may count as the most elaborate setting for communion. But probably the most profound communion experiences I have had were the day I was confirmed in my childhood church in Gibbsboro, N.J., the first time I served it as a newly ordained pastor at my church in Peachtree City, GA, and the communion settings of the Walk to Emmaus retreats. Communion is one of two sacraments in the United Methodist Church and truly is the place where God meets us right where we are. I hope you feel the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit every time you receive the body and blood of Christ, given for you.

Our passage today marks the moment when the Last Supper became the Lord’s Supper for all eternity. Read it and feast:

Mark 14 (New International Version)

12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

17 When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

19 They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”

20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. 21 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Amidst the disciples’ confusion, Judas’ betrayal, the ritual remembrance of the Passover (when God delivered his children from death at the last plague in Egypt),and the gathering of friends for one last meal, Jesus abruptly broke the bread and raised the cup, instituting the new covenant and the Eucharist. When we gather in our churches tomorrow night for Maundy Thursday services, we will remember this exact moment. “Maundy” comes from the Latin word for “mandate, command” and refers to the new commandment that followed this evening’s actions, as recorded in John 13:34-35 “34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

How well do we follow that new commandment? Do we live up to our communion invitation to participate in Christ by loving as he loved?

I hope you are able to attend a Maundy Thursday service. When you receive that broken body and shed blood, remember the new covenant.

Then go out and be the new covenant for the world. It is your mandate.

Take and Eat by Becca Ziegler

Missed Opportunities

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever regretted a missed opportunity? Listen to this story of a huge missed opportunity.

When the popular streaming service Netflix began in 1997, they weren’t a website yet. Do you remember how Netflix began? They mailed DVDs to their subscribers in red envelopes, hoping to encroach on the popular business model known as Blockbuster. For you youngins, Blockbuster was a chain of stores where you could go to rent a video tape to watch at home. I have fond memories of our every Friday night trip to our local Blockbuster where the kids would choose two videos to watch over the weekend. When Netflix started, Blockbuster had over 9,000 stores. As Netflix was moving from their DVD mailing service into the unknown territory of starting up a “dot-com” business, they made an offer to sell their operation to Blockbuster. The Blockbuster executives laughed at the notion and rejected the deal. Now Netflix is a $150 billion dollar industry and as for Blockbuster? Busted.

Some would say that this was one of the greatest missed opportunities in recent history.

In our Scripture today, the great prophet Jeremiah wept over Israel’s greatest missed opportunity. God had established them as the chosen people, had given them the fertile Promised Land, and had established them as a strong and formidable nation against their adversaries. Yet in no time at all, they turned their hearts away from God and worshipped the false idols of their neighbors. Thus God allowed Babylon to conquer them and carry them away into exile.

Jeremiah 8 (Common English Bible)

No healing,
    only grief;
        my heart is broken.
19 Listen to the weeping of my people
        all across the land:
    “Isn’t the Lord in Zion?
        Is her king no longer there?”
Why then did they anger me with their images,
    with pointless foreign gods?
20 “The harvest is past,
    the summer has ended,
        yet we aren’t saved.”
21 Because my people are crushed,
    I am crushed;
    darkness and despair overwhelm me.

Their rejection of God resulted in what Jeremiah poetically called an empty harvest and a dry summer, leaving them with nothing to sustain themselves. There would be nothing coming to heal them of their self-inflicted wounds: No healing balm would be made available as they suffered the consequences of their actions. God had offered them multiple opportunities to return, and they missed every one.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then have my people
    not been restored to health?

Are you missing out on an opportunity to be saved? Is God offering you a way out that you are refusing to take? God’s saving action plans often come in the hardship of giving things up, walking away from toxic relationships, stopping behaviors that are detrimental to your life, and choosing God above all things. These are hard things to do. But if the opportunity is from God, don’t miss it. It may be your only way out.

There’s Always a Way Out by Kathy Schumacher

Unridden

Posted on by Betsy

Sometimes I wish I had named this blog “Things I Never Noticed Before”. I realize that is a clunky and uninspiring name, but it would have been a very accurate description of what happens every time I sit down to write a devotional. I start to read the Scripture and some small and often obscure thing jumps up and presents itself, forcing me to take notice. I have discovered over the many years of reading and writing that it is often the case that previously unnoticed things are full of rich meaning.

Today’s passage tells the familiar story of Jesus’ triumphal entry in to Jerusalem just days before his capture and crucifixion. We celebrate this story on Palm Sunday, as the people who gathered to welcome him waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” Their jubilation was short lived, as this event was the catalyst for everything that happened leading up to his death.

The thing that caught my eye with the reading is the mention of the colt that was chosen for Jesus to ride. Notice that Jesus specified that the colt must be one that no one has ever ridden:

Luke 19 (Common English Bible)

29 As Jesus came to Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he gave two disciples a task. 30 He said, “Go into the village over there. When you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘Its master needs it.’” 32 Those who had been sent found it exactly as he had said.

33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

34 They replied, “Its master needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their clothes on the colt, and lifted Jesus onto it. 36 As Jesus rode along, they spread their clothes on the road.

This tiny detail and the few verses afforded to the colt are curious to me. The fact that Jesus instructed the disciples to respond “Its master needs it” was not too strange, as it was common for colts to be rented or borrowed. This suggests that an arrangement had been made ahead of time and Jesus was now just collecting his Uber. The fact that Jesus selected a colt over a horse is also not surprising. Kings arrived on war horses with a great flourish of trumpets and fuss. Jesus arrived in the manner of a man of peace, like a merchant or priest would have. He chose to humble himself in this moment even though the crowd recognized him for the king that he was. He was fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 which reads:

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion.
        Sing aloud, Daughter Jerusalem.
Look, your king will come to you.
        He is righteous and victorious.
        He is humble and riding on an ass,
            on a colt, the offspring of a donkey.

So, what can we make of the fact that Jesus requested a colt that had never been ridden? One scholar suggests that our Lord was looking for a seat of authority that was his and his alone. He wanted the undivided loyalty of this beast of burden as he rode into the cheering crowds and for all intents and purposes was riding to his death. I wonder if it is a nod to his mother’s purity. He was born of the Virgin Mary and so this critical mode of transportation and presentation needed to be alike with her. One would think that a colt that hadn’t been broken might have bucked and kicked but having the Prince of Peace as its first rider prevented that from happening.

37 As Jesus approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives, the whole throng of his disciples began rejoicing. They praised God with a loud voice because of all the mighty things they had seen. 38 They said,

“Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
    Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens.”

39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, scold your disciples! Tell them to stop!”

40 He answered, “I tell you, if they were silent, the stones would shout.”

In any case, this passage invites us to offer our King a humble and pure act of service. This one single act of this little colt remains part of Jesus’ story for eternity. Is God calling you to a single act of humble obedience? Where can you be part of our Lord’s story? May we find our way today!

Hosanna Tree by Becca Ziegler