February is a holiday month. We begin by waiting for the ground hog to predict the end of winter. We commemorate two of our greatest presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We set a date aside to celebrate an old Saint of the church, St. Valentine as a special day for lovers to remember each other in special ways.
From the 17th to the 23rd we observe Brotherhood and Sisterhood week. Of course, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.
Lent is a religious season designed by the early Church as a time for each of us to look within. It is a time of self-reflection, self-denial, and self-preparation for Holy Week. It is a time to particularly realize the passion of Christ in one’s life. We might call Lent: Forty Day’s of the Cross.
On Ash Wednesday the cross is a faint shadow. Some denominations burn last year’s palms to make the ashes, and the worshippers are marked on the forehead with an ashen cross. Then as the days pass, as it was with Christ’s ministry, the cross looms ever larger and foreboding.. Just so, the sacrifice and agony of the Lord should become more present to the worshipper in each day of Lent.
When I walked through the Garden of Gethsemane on a long-ago visit to the holy lands, I was especially touched by the suffering of Jesus’. The original olive trees among which Jesus walked prayed are still living in the garden. These trees are between 2000 and 2500 years old. And what is most striking about them, in addition to their age, is how gnarled their trunks are. They bear wrinkles and scars of these last two thousand years having a weather-beaten appearance bespeaking the agony of Christ as he seated blood over his decision to bear the cross on our behalf. The trees speak of God’s agony as God watches over this weary, war-torn world. There is not even peace in the land where God promised peace at His son’s birth.
I was moved not only by the thought that my Lord and Savior walked in this very place and perhaps touched these very trees, but also by the thought that the outward appearance of these ancient olive trees must look like the heart of Christ as he agonized over his death on the cross for me and you. His disciples who he had asked to watch with him, fell asleep. He was left alone to agonize (Luke 22:39-46).
How much his Church today is like those first disciples. For the most part his church sleeps while Christ continues to sweat blood over his creation. We as individuals and as a church cannot continue to give God our second best or a back-handed effort. We can no longer remain asleep while family life, community, morality, and moral responsibility continue to decline. We need to realign our priorities and commitments The first priority being Jesus Christ and his will for our lives. He still agonizes over what we do or fail to do.
So let us permit this Lenten season to be a time of recommitment and deeper dedication to the Lord of the Cross and the God of Resurrection. Let us not let Jesus agonize alone anymore.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
EASTER'S COMING
Hi, All,
Yesterday was Ash Wedesday. It's a pity that many Protestants don't take the day very seriously like our Romanish brothers and sisters do--Catholics, Episcopalians, and Lutherans. We Methodists, Baptists, and other anabaptist traditions acknowledge Lent, but the practice of Ash Wednesday seems to be lost on us for the most part.
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance. I liken it to Rosashana, the Jewish Day of Atonement. At the Jerusalem Temple, the High Priest would hold his hands over a peffect lamb, one "without spot or blemish." As he did this he would confess on behalf of the people of Israel and himslef of all the sins they committed thoughtout the year. After the sins were cast upon this perfect lamb, he would be driven into the wilderness taking upon him the sins of the people.
Two men waited there to receive the lamb and throw him to his death over a cliff. This was done so that the sin-bearer would not return to the city bringing with him the people's sins which would be revisited upon them. This animal was known as the "Scape Goat."
Jesus of Nazarreth was our scapegoat. He is "The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." He is the perfet human who bore upon himself on the cross of Calvary, not only the sins of the Jews, but of the whole world; one time for all eternity, for all humanity.
There is no sin so heinous that God will not forgve, nor is there any depth to which God's grace will not go to redeem any and all who who are in need of redemption.
This is reason alone we should take Ash Wednesday and the whole season of Lent seriously. We need no more to make sacrifices to win forgiveness, Christ accomplished that on our behalf. But we are called to be "Living Sacricifes," that is, to live lives worthy of the death fo Christ and for what he has done for us.
Are you carrying your sins upon you? Is your heart heavy with sorrow? Are there secrets of which you are ashamed? Turn your burdens over to Jesus. His yoke for you is easy and his burden is light. He died for you no matter who you are nor how low or unworthy you feel. He knew about you before you were conceived and He died so that you would not have to.
Have a blessed Lent,
Richard
Yesterday was Ash Wedesday. It's a pity that many Protestants don't take the day very seriously like our Romanish brothers and sisters do--Catholics, Episcopalians, and Lutherans. We Methodists, Baptists, and other anabaptist traditions acknowledge Lent, but the practice of Ash Wednesday seems to be lost on us for the most part.
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance. I liken it to Rosashana, the Jewish Day of Atonement. At the Jerusalem Temple, the High Priest would hold his hands over a peffect lamb, one "without spot or blemish." As he did this he would confess on behalf of the people of Israel and himslef of all the sins they committed thoughtout the year. After the sins were cast upon this perfect lamb, he would be driven into the wilderness taking upon him the sins of the people.
Two men waited there to receive the lamb and throw him to his death over a cliff. This was done so that the sin-bearer would not return to the city bringing with him the people's sins which would be revisited upon them. This animal was known as the "Scape Goat."
Jesus of Nazarreth was our scapegoat. He is "The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." He is the perfet human who bore upon himself on the cross of Calvary, not only the sins of the Jews, but of the whole world; one time for all eternity, for all humanity.
There is no sin so heinous that God will not forgve, nor is there any depth to which God's grace will not go to redeem any and all who who are in need of redemption.
This is reason alone we should take Ash Wednesday and the whole season of Lent seriously. We need no more to make sacrifices to win forgiveness, Christ accomplished that on our behalf. But we are called to be "Living Sacricifes," that is, to live lives worthy of the death fo Christ and for what he has done for us.
Are you carrying your sins upon you? Is your heart heavy with sorrow? Are there secrets of which you are ashamed? Turn your burdens over to Jesus. His yoke for you is easy and his burden is light. He died for you no matter who you are nor how low or unworthy you feel. He knew about you before you were conceived and He died so that you would not have to.
Have a blessed Lent,
Richard
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