Journey to the Cross - Day 23

Lent Day 23 - Monday, March 19
John 3:14-15    "Re-Purpose"
"As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (TEV)

     Two symbols: a snake and a cross.  Two representations of death and plague, torture and humiliation.  Negative symbols.  But God gives them a new life, a positive image.  They aren't just re-cycled or re-used, they are totally changed into a new purpose! The snake becomes a symbol of healing and wholeness.  The cross becomes one of the most recognized symbols in the world - the ultimate symbol of Christ's victory over death and a new life through God.  
     God makes things new - he can and does no less with each of us.  To what new purpose is God calling us?  As Rick and I retire, how are we being called to "repurpose" our lives?   This goes right back to the question Rev. Katy posed yesterday in her sermon: What good works has God prepared/created me to do?  What does our purposeful life look like?
Resource: d365.org/Peter Hanson 

Journey to the Cross - Fourth Sunday

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT - March 18
LOVE COMES TO THIS  
d365.org Weekly author: Peter Hanson
"Love has its reasons....Love intends a result; love has an end in mind.  When we say, 'God is love', we need to remember that." (PH)


Psalm 107:1-4
"Oh, thank God - he's so good!
His love never runs out!
All of you set free by God,

Tell the world!  (Message, v. 1)
What do we do first when we hear REALLY great news?  When a hoped for event occurs, a letter arrives, or a promise is kept?  We want to tell someone!  We pick up the phone and send a text or make a call.  We go to our computer and post it.  We probably don't stand on the front porch and shout it out, but we could! 
God's love and action in our lives is no different.  What is the FIRST thing we should do?  THANK, GOD!  And then, tell the world! God's love is not something we can or should keep to ourselves.  It is truly THE Good News.  Why do we become hesitant to share the miracles, the extent of God's powerful love?  This is news that must be sent out!  We must witness to God at work!  
God is good.  God is love.  All the time!  Spread the word.  

Journey to the Cross - Day 22

LENT DAY 22:  Saturday, March 17
Psalm 19:1-4   "A Shout-Out to God"
"God's glory is on tour in the skies,
God's craft on exhibit across the horizons....
Their words aren't heard, their voices aren't recorded.
But their silence fills the earth, Unspoken truth is spoken everywhere."
(The Message 1, 3-4)


    D365.org author Julie Pennington-Russell used the term "shout out" in her devotion this morning.  Not being up on city vernacular, I had to google the term on the "Urban Dictionary" website.  A shout-out, used as a noun, is an acknowledgment of high respect and regard.  I think the key words here are acknowledgment and respect: unspoken and silent, yet an ever present witness to the presence of our God in the world He has created.  Unrecorded music is sung in the heavens.  Are we listening in silence?  In awe?  In worship?  Stop in busy pursuit of daily activities.  Take time to wonder - to stand in awe of God's handiwork - and to return the "Shout Out" to God.  That is and can be a form of worship. 
     Pennington-Russell closed each devotion this week with the following benediction from Hebrews 12 (28-29).  I'll use it to close out this week.  
Therefore, 
Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
Let us give thanks,
Which we offer to God in acceptable worship
With reverence and awe.
For indeed our God is a consuming fire.

Journey to the Cross - Day 21

Lent Day 21 - Friday, March 16
1 Corinthians 1: 20-25   "God Wisdom"
"Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one.  Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God.  Human strength can't begin to compete with God 'weakness'."  (The Message)

     God has chosen and will continue to choose the most unexpected ways to reveal himself, his power, his message, his purposes.  We simply DO NOT have that knowledge.  Paul calls it "foolishness".  We might call it the absurd: 99 year old women giving birth, giant arks, time stopping, waters parting, and God coming to us in a humble birth.  This is not the way that our intelligence works.  This isn't the way is should be!  But it IS the way of God! 
     God does not work through the power and knowledge of the wealthy or wise.  Not his modus operandi!  When we see the cross, we must see God, in all the craziness the cross represents.    We must continue to see God in all his unexpected ways with his up-side-down wisdom  (at least to our view!)  Maybe we should stand on our head and we would get a better picture of God!  Expect the unexpected!  Be prepared to find God in all his foolishness!  

Journey to the Cross - Day 20

Lent Day 20 - Thursday, March 15

1 Cor 1:18-19    "Foolishness"

"For the message about Christ's death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's power.  The scripture says, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the understanding of the scholars."  (TEV)

     We live in an age of rapidly expanding knowledge, multiplying so fast it is beyond human capacity to understand.  God operates in that same world - beyond our ability to comprehend.  God works through the weak and the powerless, so there can be NO DOUBT that it is only through God, his power, that the work is done.  God works through those we consider "fools" - it's how Christ was regarded.  

     This was also the text for last Sunday's sermon, coupled with Psalm 19.  I didn't quite understand how it fit in on Sunday.  But perhaps we consider the wonder of God, the proclamations of the heavens and nature, to be unworthy of "conventional wisdom" or that of the "scholars".  We can't begin to understand the magnitude of the nature of God.  Is it foolishness to think God might speak to us through a butterfly, through a sunrise or sunset, or the glory of a night sky?  I think not.  Let us set aside our understanding and operate from God's wisdom.  Let us regard it a compliment is someone were to tell us, "You are a fool for Christ!"

Journey to the Cross - Day 19

LENT DAY 19: Wednesday, March 14
John 2:18-22     "Temple Address"


"Jesus answered, 'Tear down this temple and in three days, I'll put it back together.' .... Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple."  (The Message, 19-20)


     We love to "put God" in his "place" - at church, a temple, a holy site.  But buildings can be destroyed in a moment of time - a fire, a flood, a tornado.  The Israelites considered the Temple and Mt. Zion as the abode of God.  But in this passage, Jesus is saying HE is the NEW temple, a temple that cannot be destroyed, lost, or taken away.  NOTHING can take the presence of God from us - it is about relationships, not buildings.  
     This made me think about God as having an "address" for the mail (our concerns & petitions?) to be delivered.   God can never be in the "dead letter" box, because we have an all-present, ever-current forwarding address.  Jesus is God's forwarding address.  
     What about our temples or churches today?  We need to remember the physical building isn't what is important - it's what we do inside and outside those building walls, in relationship and service to God, that matters.  Buildings are temporary, God is eternal.  Where is your temple?  Where is mine?  Is God's mail being delivered?  

Journey to the Cross - Day 18

Lent Day 18 - Tuesday, March 13
John 2: 13-17   "Spring Cleaning!"


"It was almost time for the Passover Festival, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.  There in the Temple he found men selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and also the moneychangers sitting at their tables.  So he made a whip from cords and drove all the animals out of the Temple, both the sheep and cattle; he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins; and he ordered the men who sold the pigeons, 'Take them out of here!  Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!'  His disciples remembered that the scripture says, 'My devotion to your house, O God, burns in me like a fire.' "  (TEV)

     Jesus shows a little of that passion here.  He gets "all fired up" about the abuse he finds in his Father's house.  Rev. Katy recently asked our church, "What would you do if Christ came tomorrow?"  Our response was to "throw a party!"  Katy suggested that we might want to clean house first, suggesting the question might really be "What would CHRIST find if he came to our church tomorrow?"  
     Our Father's house, our temple, is where we meet God.  It might be more than a building - a place, a relationship, a dream, a passion, or an experience.  Regardless of the shape of our temple, if God were to enter, what would he find? (Not to mention that God enters daily.....)  Hopefully he would find some positive actions and responses, but what else?  What spring cleaning do we need to do to honor our God and show the value we place on his relationship?  What clutter of life has gotten in our way to prevent a pure relationship with God?  Clutter of over-scheduling?  Clutter of priorities?  Blight of mis-spoken words?  Mini sins?  (Is there such a thing?)  
     We need to do a little spring cleaning in our hearts, our lives, our churches, our communities to prepare for the party of God.  Let's take our passion for our living God and get out the mops and the rags and CLEAN!    I'm off to clean the kitchen!  (And those who really know me, understand that cleaning is usually at the bottom of my list!) 

Journey to the Cross - Day 17

Lent Day 17 - Monday, March 12
Exodus 20:4-6   "No Generics!"
"Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals." (verse 5, TEV)

     Store brand cereal, generic drugs, imitation vanilla, fake Oreo cookies, used cars, Salvation army clothing.  There are certainly times when you don't need top quality, when the Dollar Store variety will fit your needs.  But not when it comes to God!  God accepts no substitutes!  God is the REAL Oreo cookie, the Coca Cola, the Kellogg's of Gods.  We wouldn't think of having a relationship with a picture of our spouse, would we?  We can't have a relationship with anything other than God himself (herself?)  He is the ONE worth building all else of life around.  Worship ONLY the best.  Trust ONLY in the one true God.  Accept no substitutes, because there are none.  

Journey to the Cross - Third Sunday

Third Sunday in Lent: Sunday, March 11
Weekly Focus:  PASSION
Featured Writer: Baptist Pastor Julie Pennington-Russell

     Passion is what inescapably drives us to attention, to action.  I love the saying that our calling should be where "our passion meets the world's greatest need".  Passion is what we get "all fired up" about!  God has a passion, too.  His passion is for the renewal of life and reconciliation with all he has created.  JP-R writes, "When a person gets close to the fire of that which drives God, it can set that person aflame."  What a great thought!  To be on fire with God's passion, which can and should create a passion within ourselves.  Can you feel a "holy heat" saturating your body when you spend time in company with God?  


Exodus 20:1-3   "Boundaries"
"I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.  Worship no god but me." (TEV) 


In Exodus, with the Ten Commandments, God established boundaries for his people, a basic set of rules as a framework for living in right relationship with God and with each other.  We are free to live outside these limitations, but it will NOT be life to the fullest.  Our parents set boundaries as children, boundaries that said, "I love you enough to make these rules!"  God has done nothing less.  Boundaries are a sign of utmost love.  

Birthday Hike

     The weather forecast for Saturday, March 10, was cloudy and possible rain.  I was disappointed as Friday had been gorgeous, but filled with things to do.  But....we awoke on Saturday morning to a clear blue sky and decided....let's go while the going is good!  Not knowing how long we would have, we headed up to Dooley Summit with snowshoes in hand, prepared for whatever.  Even if the outing ended up short, we were going to get outside for my birthday!  
     The snowshoes stayed in the car.  We could have used them, but didn't need them as the road surface was fairly well packed and made for relatively easy hiking.  Later on, up on the hillside, we had a few moments of sinking in to our knees, but nothing major!  

Our destination is the large knoll in the background.

     Mostly we revealed in the sunshine, the incredibly blue skies, especially to the north and east, and the wonderful colors on the rocks.  The temperature was in the 40's!  

Rick in front of our Truffula Tree

     Our hike took us past Trail Creek road to the area where the road is drifted with snow (and we felt the wind definitely pick up!)  We decided to veer off-road and climb to the top of the knoll just east of Dooley.  We usually call it Jed's Knoll or Jed's Dooley as he climbed it the first time thinking he was up on Dooley! I mostly find this windswept and fire desolated area fascinating for the wild trees that remain with their dry and white branches.  The fire that swept the Dooley Summit area was over a decade ago, yet little has returned to grow.  The lower hillsides are covered with the tidy rows of replanted trees, but nothing is growing back too quickly.  Near the top is a huge tree with a mass of intertwined branches - I thought it looked like the truffula trees of The Lorax (which then made me think we should go to the movies later today and see the movie!  Which we did!)  We took a few pictures up on top, but the wind blew hard or the sun made our eyes squint, so they aren't photo album quality!  
     We were back down to the car by noon!  A great birthday outing! 


See all the pictures HERE!  

Elkhorn Mts. in distance