A Daily Lent

The Pattern Includes Resurrection Resurrection Sunday – April 12, 2020 Resurrection follows death. Every time. It is the immutable, God-given pattern for all of life. Death is not the end. Life is the end. In John 11, Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus, goes through a litany of titles for Jesus. Jesus tells her straight-out that he is the resurrection and the life. Then he asks, “Do you believe this ?” He is not asking if she believes in resurrection as an idea or as a theological proposition. He is asking if she believes that resurrection and life are God’s established pattern for the world. Affirming Jesus’ resurrection is not enough. Rather are you willing to enter into this rhythm of birth, life, death, and new life for yourself? This is not only new life. It is also real love. English mystic Evelyn Underhill wrote a great deal about spirituality in the last century. She taught both significant religious leaders and ordinary lay persons with a simplicity that I find c...

Monday of the First Week of Lent Daily Reading: Matthew 16:13 –19 Focus Passage: "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matt. 16:15 – 17) When Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say I am?” he had no interest in Peter’s opinion. Peter’s opinion was no more or less relevant than the next person’s opinion. The question was not about Peter’s belief system or about how much information he had accumulated concerning Jesus. Jesus asked Peter about his experience. “Who have you experienced me to be? What is the nature of our relationship?” It’s a good question, inviting us away from theory and prescribed answers. The question encourages us to consider our experience in the grit of life. After all, it is po...

Thursday after Ash Wednesday Daily Reading : Luke 9:22 – 25 Focus Passage : Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?” (Lk. 9:23 – 25) “Discipline” and “denial” are dirty words for plenty of people. The words reinforce stereotypes many people hold about what it means to follow Jesus. And many Christians feel intimidated because the words suggest something difficult and unattainable. Yet, Jesus said that those who follow and learn from him (disciples) must “deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow.” To be sure, words like “acquisition” and “accumulation” would be friendlier to modern ears. Westerners seem to be wired to “have more” and “do better.” In every facet of life, we live...

I've recently found the work of Steve Garnaas-Holmes through some friends who regularly forwarded his poetry and psalm-work to me. His website is www.unfoldinglight.net. Steve will also add you to his daily mailing list if you you'd like. His work has touched me, and this morning's poem is beautiful. SNOW AND ASH This snow, deep but fine like ash drifting over your sidewalk will be gone in weeks. But you shovel it today anyway because today you need to walk out of your house. You shovel it while it is snow before it is regret. Before it melts this short life is yours to choose well with, what to shovel, what not to shovel. Hard to do, to put your shoulder to the work of compassion when you could stay in. So many conflicting winds would drift your life into ruinous places. Only the warm energy of life guides you, carving out this path and not another. Mortal, pause amidst your labors, and receive the grace you need. Remember you are snow, a...

Resurrection Sunday John 20:1 – 9 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from ...

Holy Saturday Matthew 27:57 – 66 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “...

Good Friday John 18:1 – 5 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) The death of Jesus serves as a tangible expression of the reality that death and life are woven together as one, as inseparable in the whole rhythm of the created order. This is how God created the world. It is spring where I live in Texas. Trees are budding. Flowers are blooming. Ducklings are being born...

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent John 8:51 – 56 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?” Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “Whoever keeps my word will never see death.” Jesus’ language always carries several layers of meaning. Of course, we will all see death . . . not just at the end of our earthly life, but all along the way. All of us, if we truly find life, also experi...