lenten disciplines

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

Psalm 95 The Warning

Posted on by Betsy

And now, the warning.

The first 7 lines of Psalm 95 are a joyful rendering of what it is like to gather together in an assembly of worshippers and bow humbly before God in worship and adoration. Indeed, God created us for worship and this natural outpouring of admiration and appreciation for our maker is the very least we can do. David highlights the blessings that come when we sing and shout for joy to our incomparable God.

Then his tone shifts with the admonition to “listen to God’s voice right now.” He refers to Meribah and Massah, two places where the children of Israel displayed open rebellion and mistrust of God’s plan to deliver them to the Promised Land. After the miracles God had bestowed on them, after helping them escape Egypt, after bringing them through the Red Sea, destroying Pharaoh and his army as they tried to pursue them, after everything God did through Moses to save the people, their response was rebellious, unbelieving, and dismissive. They rejected God’s intervention, complaining that they should have been allowed to either die in Egypt where at least they had food, or die right there in the wilderness.

God offered them the choice to take the Promised Land by faith, and they responded with hearts that were hard with unbelief.

Psalm 95 (Common English Bible)

If only you would listen to his voice right now!
8     “Don’t harden your hearts
    like you did at Meribah,
    like you did when you were at Massah,
        in the wilderness,
9     when your ancestors tested me
        and scrutinized me,
    even though they had already seen my acts.

God won’t suffer our rejection for long. Refusing God’s ways is a sign of a twisted heart that has gone astray. As Spurgeon put it, “be not willful, wanton, or repeatedly and obstinately rebellious.” God honored their choice and left them to perish in the wilderness as Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land.

10 For forty years I despised that generation;
    I said, ‘These people have twisted hearts.
    They don’t know my ways.’
11 So in anger I swore:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest!’”

The question this poses for us today is, are you resisting God’s will for your life? Are you rebelling against his voice and refusing to hear him? Are you putting God to the test? Take a page from Israel’s book. Bow down in trusting acceptance and sing songs of joy, or rebel against God at your own risk. Listen to God’s voice right now.

The Promised Land by Lola Hilton

Psalm 95 The Promise

Posted on by Betsy

Today’s lectionary passage is the beautiful Psalm 95. Hebrews 4:7 attributes this psalm to David. It is filled with both promise and warning. Today’s reading will focus on the hopeful aspects of David’s writing in verses 1-7a. Be sure to log on for the next devotional, which will delve into the warnings found at the end of Psalm 95 in verses 7b-11.

As I read this psalm today, my thoughts immediately went to the many and varied worship experiences I have participated in over the years. I was raised Methodist (we did not become “United Methodist” until I was about 9 years old) and so of course most of my experience has been formed by my denomination. But I have also worshipped in a “black box” non-denominational church where a fog machine and heavy metal guitars were dominant. As a kid I attended services in camp settings, where church was outside and we sat on logs and scratched bug bites on our ankles. And then there was that transcendent Christmas Eve service in Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral where the service was in French. And Catholic. Of course we have all done church online thanks to the pandemic, and as I travel, I either visit nearby churches or log into my home church in Kitty Hawk to worship there.

Of all the ways I worship, I honestly have to confess that online is my least favorite. I am grateful for the fact that online is available to us when we can’t physically get to a church and for many folks, it is the only option. So while it enables me to stay in touch with my church family at home, something is always missing, and that “something” is the community of people around me, singing, laughing, shaking hands, smiling, making eye contact … things I can’t get at home on my couch.

David begins his psalm with a tender invitation to come and sing out loud to the Lord. See, that’s the problem with online worship. I have never sung with my computer during a church service. Even though the words are on my screen and I can hear the congregation singing, I can’t bring myself to sit on my couch in a quiet room and burst out in song. Maybe it’s just me, but singing has got to be communal. Raising a joyful shout to the rock of our salvation from my living room seems weird and unappealing, not to mention how much it might startle the neighbors.

Psalm 95 (Common English Bible)

Come, let’s sing out loud to the Lord!
    Let’s raise a joyful shout to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s come before him with thanks!
    Let’s shout songs of joy to him!

David recognized that singing allows us to express our thoughts emotionally, especially as we experience joy. And the songs of joy are sung to God, not for the pleasure of the gathered people. We are reminded that when we gather, God is present and it is his presence that deserves our thanksgiving. When worship becomes performative and when worships leaders focus attention on themselves, everyone loses the real purpose of worship: To come before God and God alone. This cannot be pleasing to the Lord.

Pure worship directs our attention to God’s attributes. God is great. God is greater than any other god. God’s mastery of creation is to be celebrated. God’s ownership of his creation, including us, is to be remembered. Nothing around us came from human ingenuity or hard work. Everything and everyone comes from his hands and belongs to him.

In the Hebrew language, verse 3 highlights three aspects of God’s nature. God is EL, great, mighty, and strong. God is JEHOVAH, the great I Am through whom all things are made. And God is ELOHIM, expressing the covenant relationship to humankind as something that belongs to him.

3 The Lord is a great God,
    the great king over all other gods.
4 The earth’s depths are in his hands;
    the mountain heights belong to him;
5     the sea, which he made, is his
        along with the dry ground,
        which his own hands formed.

The invitation continues with a call to humility. Worship in essence is a bowing down to the Lord. By submitting to a prostrate position, whether physically or just in our hearts, we signal our acceptance of our place before the Lord. We kneel in acknowledgment that we are but frail sheep in his hands. We depend on his care. We exist because he keeps us safe, fed, and nurtured in the pasture. We are his, and he is ours.

6 Come, let’s worship and bow down!
    Let’s kneel before the Lord, our maker!
7 He is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the sheep in his hands.

We will tackle the warnings that follow in verse 7b next time, but for now, take a moment to worship God wherever you are. Sing, pray, kneel, and bow down. The Lord is here, even online.

The Lord is Here by Becca Ziegler

Ways to Pray

Posted on by Betsy

I was blessed to be asked to preach a sermon on prayer recently, and I developed this list of different types of prayer for that message. Even though we understand that praying is simply having conversations with God and can be just that, a two way dialogue, I find it helpful in my own life to alter how I pray in order to not get into a prayer rut. I think this list would be especially helpful to you if you are trying to increase your prayer life as a Lenten discipline. Take a look:

THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE PRAYERS: This is always a good place to start any prayer effort. When we articulate the things we are thankful for, it directs our minds to our blessings and allows God a chance to hear our gratitude. Even in the darkest moment, we can find something to praise God for if we start our prayer time with a little “Thank you Jesus” moment and offer these prayers throughout the day. Focusing on our gratitude helps us see what God is doing.

FLASH PRAYERS: These prayers are prompted by interruptions or distractions, like hearing ambulance or firetruck sirens, noticing people in line at Food Lion while you are waiting your turn, or even just by driving past neighbors houses and praying deliberately for them. Usually interruptions are annoying, but let God use them to call you into prayer!

LAMENTATIONS: In deep grief and overwhelming anger, God can feel distant. We may feel abandoned. But that provides fertile ground for prayer. We can feel comfortable telling God exactly how we feel! Trust me, he can handle it. Lamenting is always perfectly appropriate in our relationship with God.  

INTERCESSORY PRAYERS: To intercede means to stand in the gap for others. It is good to keep a list of people who need your prayers and pray through the list daily.

HEARTBEAT PRAYERS: These are simple, repetitive prayers that sound like a heartbeat. My favorite one is “Fix it, Jesus!!” I pray this a lot in the dentist’s chair.

CENTERING PRAYERS: A centering prayer starts with fifteen to twenty minutes of listening in silence. We start with saying “Fill me with your presence, Holy Spirit. Speak to me Lord” and then wait. After centering ourselves in this silence, we can then begin to pray. I confess that as an extrovert, this is especially hard for me.

LECTIO DIVINA: (Sacred Reading) Rather than pray in your own words, use a prayer book or online prayer resource. Read it several times or pray yourself or someone else into the Scriptures. The Psalms are great for this.  

EMBODYING PRAYERS: This involves actively using your body as you pray. I remember watching the Jewish men ‘dinking’ at the Wailing Wall, bowing from the waist with hands clasped before them. Getting on your knees, lying prostrate on the ground, lifting your arms, or opening hands to receive are ways to practice embodying prayer. Just make sure you can get off the floor when you’re finished!

PRAYING WITH OTHERS: This is probably my favorite way to pray: gather people around for prayer groups, prayer circles, or find one person to be your prayer partner. Remember what Jesus said: “When two or more are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matt 18:20   

May your prayer life flourish as you try new ways.

Prayer Rising by Michelle Robertson

Don’t Give Up

Posted on by Betsy

Are you someone who is tenacious and refuses to give up, regardless of the obstacles you encounter? Are you like a dog with a bone? Or is it in your personality to assess a situation and decide to move on if things aren’t going your way? Take a look at today’s Scripture and see what Jesus says about overcoming obstacles with prayer:

Luke 18 (Common English Bible)

18 Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” 

6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? 8 I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”

In this Scripture, Jesus told a parable about what happens when we pray continuously. This story demonstrates the power of persistant prayer and NOT GETTING DISCOURAGED in our prayers. We can be sure that if an unjust judge will acquiesce to the persistence of a widow’s plea, how much more will a God who loves you enough to sacrifice his son for you hear and answer your prayers!

Luke 11: 13 reminds us:13 If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

God is never slow to help us. He hears us immediately when we pray and answers according to his will and what is good for us. Sometimes that can be confusing if we are praying for things that God knows are not good for us. And sometimes his immediate answer is “wait” or “no”. But Scripture is right. Just keep on praying, and when you’re done, pray some more. 

I find it curious that Jesus used an ungodly, non-believing judge who was unjust in his court as his main character. But the instruction to persist in prayer comes through very clearly. “She keeps bothering me!” the judge complains before he gives up and gives in. 

Looking through different translations for this phrase “bothering me” expands our understanding of what happened. Here are a few other ways this has been written: She troubleth me; she keeps annoying me; she keeps pestering me; she keeps driving me crazy … and the judge was ready to give her justice because she was wearing him down and beating him down with her persistence.

Let’s pause there for a moment and think about a cause you feel deeply about. I think God is telling us to fight injustice and oppression by not backing down and being persistent, loud, and steady, especially when you are up against someone who, like the judge, “neither fears God nor respects people.” So perhaps today’s lesson on persistence goes beyond just prayer.

Our United Methodist baptism liturgy includes a vow to “fight evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever form they present themselves.” This is a heavy charge. So often we want to shy away from the task of standing up for justice and helping people find freedom. But the call is clear, and Jesus’ words about persisting can be applied here, too. Whether it is in the local schools, the county boards, or the national governmental authorities, our duty is to fight evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever form they present themselves when we encounter leaders who neither fear God nor respect people.

When you go to your father in prayer today, don’t give up. We all want our Lord to find us faithful on earth when he returns to reign in justice.

Persist by Kathy Schumacher

Faster

Posted on by Betsy

Today is Ash Wednesday and many believers will commit to a form of fasting for the next 40 days of Lent. (Sundays, being the celebration of the Resurrection, are not counted in Lent.) Some might fast from food or drink. Some might fast from Social Media. Some might fast from behaviors or actions that are harmful and unproductive. Are you a Lent faster? What are you giving up this year?

Today’s lectionary passage is a fascinating look as what God desires in our fasts. The people were complaining that God did not honor or recognize their fasts. Here was God’s response. Read it through: I think you will be surprised.

Isaiah 58 (New Revised Standard Version)

Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you;
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”

Wowzers. All the chocolate/fast food/alcohol fasts have no place on this list. Are you surprised? I think God’s mandate is clear here. Surely that’s not to say that giving up a fixation isn’t valuable, good for you, or a proper response to the call to practice disciplined self-sacrifice. Those types of commitments have great value. But focusing on these things in addition to your usual Lent habits would surely honor the type of fast God desires.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
    the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be like the noonday.

Acting decisively to remove the yoke of oppression and injustice. Feeding the hungry. Tending to the needs of the afflicted. Bringing the homeless poor into our homes. Clothing the naked. Stop pointing the blame finger at others. Ceasing evil talk, gossip, and hate speech. These are the things that would please the Lord this season.
11 The Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your needs in parched places
    and make your bones strong,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water
    whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
    the restorer of streets to live in.

May we have a holy Lent together and heed Isaiah’s words, making a real difference in our communities and our world for the next 40 days. Are you in?

Queen Anne’s Lace by Becca Ziegler

To-Do Lists

Posted on by Betsy

In the year A.D. 403 a 16-year-old Christian boy from Wales was abducted by pirates and taken to Ireland where he was enslaved for five years. Eventually he escaped from this exile and joined a monastery in southern France. There he changed his name to Patrick and intended to live out his life as a monk.

But at the age of 45, God called Patrick to return to Ireland and carry the gospel to his former oppressors. Patrick went and invested the remainder of his life in serving the Irish. During the next 31 years he baptized more than 120,000 people as Christians.

In Ireland they still say of Patrick that “he found Ireland all heathen and he left it all Christian.” The church made him a saint.

While he was in his Irish exile, St. Patrick prayed for his enemies. He prayed for the prosperity of the land where he was trapped. In that exile, St. Patrick evangelized a nation. In his exile, he GOT TO WORK.

Our passage today is a letter to the Hebrew exiles in Babylon written by the prophet Jeremiah, who remained in Jerusalem. They must have been excited to receive a letter from home in their strange and foreign land! I imagine they were hoping to catch up on all the news and maybe receive a word of encouragement about God’s imminent deliverance.

Instead, they got a to-do list.

Jeremiah 29  (New International Version)

This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. It said:

4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.

Wait, come again? We’re stuck here waiting for rescue and you want us to settle down? Build houses? Marry off our children?? 

To the estranged and hopeless diaspora, this letter must have come as quite a shock. Then it gets worse.

 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

So in the midst of their despair, Jeremiah instructs them to pray for their oppressor. To pray for their unwanted city. To pray for the people who are holding them captive. And in thus praying, they would also seek peace.

This abrupt message to the exiles is a good lesson for us today. Our communities live in exiles of their own making based on political divisions that have eroded our oneness. We don’t love our neighbors like we used to, based on the flags they fly and the bumper stickers they sport. Many are estranged from their extended families and even our water cooler chats at work are fraught with danger. What to do?

Build. 

Plan. 

Adapt. 

Pray. 

Seek peace in places that you aren’t expecting to find it.

Get to work!

At the appointed time, the exiles were returned to the comfort of their homes. At the appointed time, we too will be delivered from our political exiles. In the meantime, get to work on evangelizing like Patrick, planning like Jeremiah, and loving like Jesus.

Ospreys at Work by Michelle Robertson

By Our Love

Posted on by Betsy

Growing up in the United Methodist Church, I spent a lot of time in VBS and Youth Group settings where singing was the norm. I like to sing, so this brought me great joy, even when the songs weren’t all that good. One in particular comes to mind: Not that the lyrics were bad, but the tune was a bit dreary and dirge-like. “And They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” was written by a Catholic priest in the 1960’s and became very popular, despite its f-minor tune. Do you know this song?

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they’ll know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Paul makes the same point to the church in Thessalonica. He encourages them to stand their ground in their faith and be strengthened in their love for each other:

1 Thessalonians 3 (Common English Bible)

1So when we couldn’t stand it any longer, we thought it was a good idea to stay on in Athens by ourselves, 2 and we sent you Timothy, who is our brother and God’s coworker in the good news about Christ. We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faithfulness. 3 We didn’t want any of you to be shaken by these problems. You know very well that we were meant to go through this. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept on predicting that we were going to face problems exactly like what happened, as you know. 5 That’s why I sent Timothy to find out about your faithfulness when I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was worried that the tempter might have tempted you so that our work would have been a waste of time. 6 Now Timothy has returned to us from you and has given us good news about your faithfulness and love! He says that you always have good memories about us and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you. 7 Because of this, brothers and sisters, we were encouraged in all our distress and trouble through your faithfulness. 

8 For now we are alive if you are standing your ground in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you, given all the joy we have because of you before our God? 10 Night and day, we pray more than ever to see all of you in person and to complete whatever you still need for your faith. 11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus guide us on our way back to you. 12 May the Lord cause you to increase and enrich your love for each other and for everyone in the same way as we also love you. 13 May the love cause your hearts to be strengthened, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his people. Amen.

 Look again at those last two verses: “May the Lord cause you to increase and enrich your love for each other and for everyone in the same way as we also love you. 13 May the love cause your hearts to be strengthened, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his people” (1 Thessalonians 3:12,13). We are immediately reminded of the fact that love is an essential mark of the Christian faith. Jesus says it succinctly: “This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other” (John 13:35). Without love, we have no witness. Without holiness, we have no hope. We understand holiness to be a condition of being set apart from the world and for God and God alone. Truly this church was already experiencing alienation from their community and their neighbors, who persisted in their false idol worship. But holiness requires that we don’t look, act, behave, or think like the rest of the world.

John Wesley had a lot to say about our need for holiness. He understood holiness to be part of the way of salvation that begins with God’s wooing us through prevenient grace and ending in a state of “Christian perfection,” a phrase that describes the life-long process of justification, sanctification, and holiness. Wesley defined holiness this way: “It is purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God. It is the giving God all our heart; it is one desire and design ruling all our tempers. It is the devoting, not a part, but all, our soul, body, and substance to God.”

 Paul’s encouragement to continue their work in becoming blameless in their holiness is directly connected with his encouragement about the Second Coming. It is a good reminder to us, as we strive for that same alienation from secular behaviors and temptations, to keep our eyes looking forward and heavenward to the coming of Christ.

We live in a time when un-Christian things are being done in the name of “Christianity.” Purity of heart and intention are more important than ever if we are to woo the world for the sake of Christ. Look at your own behavior: Do people know you are Christian by your love? Are we really one in the spirit? Does our unity need to be restored?

May we be encouraged by Paul’s words today to act in ways that show the love of Christ in everything we think, say, do, and post.

By His Love by Kathy Schumacher

Rest in God’s Timing

Posted on by Betsy

 It is said that patience is a virtue, and many of us may feel that it is a gift from God that somehow we missed. Have I ever shared my favorite prayer with you? Its “Lord, give me patience. AND GIVE IT TO ME RIGHT NOW!” It is hard to be patient, and even harder to be patient in the face of suffering. Today we will read Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians and think about how hard it is to wait. Paul mentions that they are waiting for the son of God to return from heaven to rescue them from the coming wrath. They were suffering persecution from their neighbors, who either worshipped false idols or were Jews who were offended by their message. Amidst this, they somehow continued their good work in spreading the good news:

1 Thessalonians 1 (Common English Bible)

2 We always thank God for all of you when we mention you constantly in our prayers. 3 This is because we remember your work that comes from faith, your effort that comes from love, and your perseverance that comes from hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. 4 Brothers and sisters, you are loved by God, and we know that he has chosen you. 5 We know this because our good news didn’t come to you just in speech but also with power and the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know as well as we do what kind of people we were when we were with you, which was for your sake. 

6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord when you accepted the message that came from the Holy Spirit with joy in spite of great suffering. 7 As a result you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The message about the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia but in every place. The news about your faithfulness to God has spread so that we don’t even need to mention it. 9 People tell us about what sort of welcome we had from you and how you turned to God from idols. As a result, you are serving the living and true God, 10 and you are waiting for his Son from heaven. His Son is Jesus, who is the one he raised from the dead and who is the one who will rescue us from the coming wrath.

Their hope and expectation of the Second Coming was commendable given the abuse and alienation they were enduring. Paul deliberately links this promise to their “turning to God from idols” (verse 9) in an effort to stem any temptation to take the easy way out and return to the idols of their neighbors. Verses 9 and 10 were written to inspire the church to see that they were no longer subject to the supposed powers of the false gods in whom they had previously believed. Instead, Paul offers reminders of their new, set-apart, and ongoing life as believers. By writing this, Paul commended both the church and “the unstoppable character of the word of God that neither difficulties nor distance can overcome.” They, like us, must be patient in the suffering as we wait for the Day of the Lord.

 This is a good reminder to rest in God’s timing. Like the Thessalonians, we wait for better times, but we are called to recognize where God is at work in our waiting. Like them, we are called to be persistent in our faith and hopeful in our expectations by being steadfast and faithful until Christ’s return. What does joy look like when we are ridiculed for our beliefs? Where is the Holy Spirit when the secular world condemns the church? How can we be patient through these times? I think we could look at the example of the Thessalonian church for encouragement. Paul loved them from the bottom of his heart. They brought much honor and joy to the early church.

May we do likewise.

Waiting for Spring by Kathy Schumacher

Self-Denial

Posted on by Betsy

One of our Lenten disciplines is self-denial. Other than fasting (!), this may be one of the hardest of all the practices to adopt. It is the one comprehensive discipline that really forces a change. To deny oneself means to stem all the urges we experience that lead us down the road of temptation, laziness, distraction for distraction’s sake, and greediness. What in your life has you so consumed that you neglect your personal discipleship? Is it food? Substance abuse? Social media? Hours of Netflix?

I spoke to a women’s group two weeks ago on the subject of Lent. I asked them to thoughtfully commit to three Lenten practices this year that would make a permanent difference in their walk with Christ. We talked not only about giving something up, but adding something in. One very thoughtful person told us that she knew she needed to give up her Amazon shopping habit, which had become a daily activity for her. She was almost afraid to say it out loud but she trusted her friends around her to receive this without judgement and to hold her accountable for the next six weeks. Dang, I admire this woman! I suggested she calculate the money that she would have spent and do something positive with it after Easter. I can’t wait to see how this turns out for her.

In our Scripture today, Jesus explained the upcoming crucifixion to his hard-of-hearing disciples. The most tone deaf among them was Peter, who shoved his fingers in his ears and “la-la-la’d” away the reality of what was about to happen:

Mark 8 (Common English Bible)

31 Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” 32 He said this plainly. But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him. 33 Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”

What a rebuke! In a self-serving manner, Peter thought he could talk Jesus out of doing what Jesus knew he had to do. Jesus called him Satan and shoved away any thought that the story might have a different ending. Peter didn’t want to lose his friend and possibly face the jeers and condemnation that this “failed mission” would bring to those who remained behind. In short, Peter didn’t get it.

34 After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. 

Following Jesus is a process of self-denial. We are called to do God’s will at the expense of just having things our own way. We are taught to follow the commandments and to serve the Lord with gladness. We are expected to love, give, and put others first in the same way that Jesus did. We are led to deny our own desires and put Jesus’s cross on our shoulder.

35 All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them.36 Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? 37 What will people give in exchange for their lives? 38 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Self-denial requires the courage of my retail addicted friend. Self-denial is an eye-opening experience that helps you balance your life and put your feet on the path of righteousness. Self-denial is challenging, but the reward is gaining back your life. Isn’t that worth a try?

The Father’s Glory by Hannah Cornish