by Jason Byassee, March 21, 2014
Jason Byassee
I long for the day when the first question I get at church isn’t, “So how are you feeling?” I have been moved to see the church care for me and my family through back surgery and a stomach bug. But in an effort to change the subject, let me tell you what else is going on these days at Boone Methodist.
First: we are going to overhaul our audio/visual system throughout the campus, starting with the family life center, then the sanctuary, then the chapel. This will be expensive (some $200,000), but it is long overdue. You will start to see new equipment in Crossroads within three weeks. I learned (from another doctor visit!) this week that I have above-average hearing. And despite this, I often cannot hear in the sanctuary. If you sit under the balcony in the sanctuary you can hardly hear a thing. The chapel is worse still–outfitted essentially with car stereos that are past their prime. When Sarah Strickland sought to have music played at an event in our family life center recently, nothing happened. When this overhaul is over, any leader who asks for a song or video as part of worship will be able to be confident it will work. I am especially grateful to Buck Roberts of Selah Media here in Boone who will do this overhaul for us, to Alan Herman who led a task force to decide between five bidders, and to our new member and leader Doug Kaufman who will project manage it for us.
Second, this has been a busy season of missions for us. Our Guatemala team has recently returned with wonderful photos and videos you can see on our church’s Facebook page. Luke Edwards and Colette Krontz have planned a family mission trip for us for this summer to Cherokee. In each of these places and on each of these pilgrimages, Jesus works powerfully and lives are changed there and here.
Third, we have some Sunday School additions you should know about. Jonathan Allen, one of our most terrifically talented teachers, has launched a new Sunday School class called Oasis aimed at age 18 to parenthood. We find that the key differentiator isn’t so much calendar years as it is stage of life, and folks pre-kids have more in common than folks with kids. A Lenten study upcoming will be offered by Natasha Schoonover in the conference room starting March 23 on bodies–the body of Christ, and our bodies. And on April 6th and May 4th we’ll have special offerings in the chapel–Brandon Wrencher, our new pastor at Blackburn’s, and Lindsey Long, our outgoing one (sniff!) will brief us on the staggeringly beautiful work they’re doing in Todd on April 6. On May 4 George Thompson, our former pastor, will teach in the Sunday School hour and offer a reception and book signing at 2 pm. We also have a new online Sunday School option for which you can peruse courses here: https://www.churchnext.tv/school/catalog/ and let pastor Jason know which you’d like to try. Lent is a time for new commitments, and joining one of these Sunday School classes would be a great way to be filled with more of Jesus.
Finally, in worship we have begun a new series on Treasure that will run through Easter. Vern Collins in Crossroads and I in the sanctuary will preach through brief texts from the gospels on what we really treasure. Please continue vigilantly with what you’ve given up for Lent–we will collect an offering for missions on Easter. Read the devotionals on the Facebook page and website or in the booklets in the chapel. Please also feel invited to join our Stephen Ministers in a First Friday Fast–they give up a meal on the first Friday of the month, and when they feel hunger they turn it to prayer. What a great season–to redirect all our hearts Godward.
Which is what the church is for in the first place.
Spring Service Blitz
Saturday May 3, 2014 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
You will notice that our trip prices have increased a small amount for this summer. This change reflects a change in the price of the organizations that we are going through. We want everyone who wants to go on any of our trips to be able to go without cost being a deterrent, however we recognize that the cost can sometimes be prohibitive. With this in mind we want you to know about our Spring Service Blitz that will happen as our yearly fundraiser for our summer trips. Through this fundraiser a student may raise part or even all of their trip costs in one day of work. You will receive more details about this fundraiser closer to time but please go ahead and put this date on your family calendar. New this year is that if your child plans on attending our Daytona mission trip then this day of local service is a prerequisite for going. Again, more details will follow soon but please mark this date on your calendar accordingly.
Wilderness Trail
Wednesday June 25, 2014 – Wednesday July 2, 2014
A backpacking ministry located in southwest Virginia. They use being in the woods for a week as a way to lead students into a place where they can escape distraction and focus on their relationship with the world and with God. The backpacking part is overnight hiking, carrying everything you need in a pack. It means setting up a different camp every night and then hiking to a new camp the following day.
There is no experience necessary. They provide everything and instruct in all areas. If you are out of shape, you can do it. If you’re an avid backpacker, you won’t be disappointed. For more information visit www.wtrail.com.
This trip is for rising 9th – high school seniors. The cost is $330 with a $50 deposit. Checks can be made out to Boone UMC, with trip name and child’s name in the MEMO line. Permission slip required. Only 40 slots available.
Daytona Beach FL Mission Trip
Sunday July 20, 2014 – Saturday July 26, 2014
Our annual summer mission trip. This year we’re heading down South to Daytona to serve the poor, the homeless, the elderly, children, and those with physical and mental disabilities. Check out the website below for more details. We will also have a day of fun in the Daytona area tacked on to the end of the trip. For more information visit www.youthworks.com.
This trip is for everyone. The cost is $400 with a $50 deposit. Checks can be made out to Boone UMC, with trip name and child’s name in the MEMO line. Permission slip required. Only 50 slots available.
Monday Third Week of Lent
March 24th reflection by Chris Grimmett
Luke 4:24-30
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “I assure you that no prophet is welcome in the prophet’s hometown.” Every time I hear this I cannot help but smile. That might sound a little strange–it doesn’t seem to be very hopeful–but I find myself drawn to it.
In my first year at Duke Divinity School, I’ve been blessed to learn so much about what it was like to be a prophet. For class we read from a man named Abraham Heschel, who wrote about what this life might have looked like. He describes a prophet as a person who saw so much potential in the people of Israel. The prophet saw that they were willing to accept mediocrity, but wanted something better for them. The prophet wanted the life God desired for them, the life promised for them if they would live out the covenant. The prophet looks at the world differently. Things that only slightly bothered the people would enrage the prophet. Israel would see the pain of others, countries at war, people being oppressed, and wish it were different. But at the end of the day, Israel continue living on as if there was nothing they could do (sound familiar?). This left the prophet frustrated, yelling, “Don’t you see? It doesn’t have to be this way!”
Those who have had kids may have felt something similar. A prophetic life is a hard one. Always calling people out and holding them accountable doesn’t make one very popular. Heschel describes how lonely being a prophet would have been. As Jesus said, the prophet isn’t even welcomed in his or her hometown.
So why do I read about the type of life Heschel describes and want it for myself? It sounds exhausting. Because it’s the kind of life God calls us to live. We have enough people in our communities who focus on themselves. God is calling us to look around at the world and ache the way God’s heart aches. To look around the world and be frustrated that people are just continuing to live as nothing needs changing. A prophet wants us to open our eyes. To see children in school who cannot keep their eyes open during the day because of the hell they have to go through at home. To not ignore that people around the world are hiding in fear from a government who oppresses them. To be outraged that Americans per year will spend $16 billion on chocolate, $11 billion on engagement and wedding rings, $800 million on Girl Scout Cookies, $65 billion on soft drinks, $11 billion on BOTTLED water, $117 billion on fast food, but then allow 50 million Americans go hungry every single day. And let’s not even get started about adding the rest of the world to that number.
I want to be more like a prophet because a prophet’s heart desires what God desires. In Lent, I ask that you join me in asking God to shape our hearts to be more like a prophet’s. Jesus said “I assure you that no prophet is welcome in the prophet’s hometown.” Why then haven’t we gotten kicked out of ours yet?
Tuesday Third Week of Lent
March 25th reflection by Rev. Keith Tutterow
Consider Your Ways In Your Heart
“Consider your own ways in your heart” (Haggai 1:5,7, Geneva Bible, 1560). “Take your ways to heart” (same text, CEB).Unless you were intentional, you would miss the brief book of Haggai. Once you find it, you might wonder why you did. But when you glimpse what Haggai was about, you find there the message of Lent (Spring). Indeed, most translations omit the reference to the heart. Of course, the heart is a metaphor which has wide applications, but the prophet was using the word to engage the people to look within themselves from the perspective of God’s grace. The editor of the Geneva Bible introduced Haggai this way: “When the time of the seventy years of captivity prophesied by Jeremiah was expired, God raised up Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi to comfort the Jews and exhort them to the building of the temple.”
The people of God seemed uninterested in building a temple. As we say: their hearts were not in it. The message of the prophet directed their attention to themselves, to what they really wanted to be and do in this new freedom which the LORD of Hosts had given them. They were busy about everything but God. Haggai knew that motivation would come from willing what was good, what God wanted them to do. Their ways were misdirected to themselves. That’s where Haggai the prophet began: “pay attention to, or consider, your own ways in your heart.”
That’s where we begin building the spiritual house, that is, a dwelling place of God. Pay attention to the ways–your ways–not someone else’s. This is not morbid or moody introspection, simply wrapping ourselves around ourselves. It is not data processing, adding and subtracting to see if we are all right. The heart is where we meet God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Do you really want to see God, or is the way of our hearts to avoid God?
Under some leaders who were summoned and challenged, the people began to build. Obedience always brings results. As the work to which God called them got underway, something happened: God joined the enterprise. “I am with you.” God was not a spectator presence, but the active energy and direction for the leaders and people.
Wednesday Third Week of Lent
March 26th reflection by Caitlin Tremper
“Is the Lord among us or not?” – Exodus 17:7
Modern translation: So is God present or not? Will God provide for us? Where is God?
Confession: I ask myself this question all the time. Only it sounds a little more like “GOD, WHERE ARE YOU?!” or “ARE YOU EVEN THERE?!” I ask this question when I hear or see horrifying events unfold throughout our world on the news. I ask this question when it feels like the world is crashing down all around me. I ask this question when I’m coming off a “spiritual high” from a retreat, church service, or mission trip. And I ask this question when it’s been a long, long time since I have felt that particular, overwhelming feeling that I get when I just know God is present.
In the book of Exodus, the people have been liberated by God and set free from the hands of Pharaoh. But wait – Now they’re wandering through the desert. They’re thirsty. The people are looking at their children and animals, realizing they have nothing to drink. No water means their animals will die. No water means their children will die. And no water means they will die.
Wasn’t God supposed to take care of them?
Where is God?
In this story in Exodus, even Moses is questioning the presence and provision of God. Even their leader is afraid God won’t follow through. Even their leader is questioning God’s faithfulness (although we should probably give Moses a little slack since he’s afraid the people are threatening to stone him to death…). But how are we supposed to show people a reality that is not visible?
Here, God instructs Moses and the elders to go to this rock where God is standing. Here, Moses strikes the rock with his staff and water wondrously pours forth in the middle of the desert. This staff was the same one that miraculously turned into a snake and it was the same staff that was used to turn the Nile into blood. This water, a source and sustainer of life, is a miraculous sign that God is present, God will provide, and that God is not always visible in ways that we recognize.
In this season of Lent, as we prepare for the death and resurrection of Christ may we become more deeply aware of God’s never-ceasing presence among us. May we seek out the presence of God through our doubt. And may we recognize more deeply the presence of God with the knowledge that God will provide for us through the gift of a meal, in our daily work, community event, and time spent with loved ones, like God provided for the Israelites with water in the desert.
Thursday Third Week of Lent
March 27th reflection by Kelly Broman-Fulks
If you watch American Idol, you’ve likely taken notice of 16-year-old, tuba-playing, spunky Malaya. She is overflowing with enthusiasm. In her Top 13 performance, she was exuberant over her song choice. She was so exuberant, in fact, she struggled with her delivery of it. The judges’ critique was for Malaya to gain better control in the future. A little like Malaya, I’m bubbling over with anticipation. My excitement is NOT because of my singing. I won’t put anyone through that misery. My excitement is for this upcoming Easter and an opportunity to share a few words. You see, God is at work in me, and I can only hope that He weaves a little restraint into these words as they tumble out across this reflection about…ironically…restraint. (And, so, this is my apology for any babbling in my writing.)
First, I should make it clear what I mean by restraint and why I think it is important. Restraint refers to attempts to moderate behavior and to avoid impulsive decision-making. When we practice restraint, we don’t necessarily deny our feelings, but we look to God for help as we temper our actions. Restraint protects our relationships with friends and family because, hey, we’re typically easier to be around when we practice a little self-control.
What are the behaviors we impulsively slide toward that get us into trouble? There are so many ways to go about this, but I’ll focus on the familiar seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. Do you recognize any of these thorns from situations you’ve been involved in?
I’ve recently watched a family grieve over a loved one who passed away after he rejected a relationship with them for decades. The troubles were made worse by his impulsive behaviors. I’m certain God didn’t want him to die without his family around him, but he did. Restraint was largely missing from his life. Unity with his loved ones was wasted.
Today is March 27, and we find ourselves at the halfway point in this season of Lent. We have an opportunity to reflect on the first half of the season while considering our steps through the second half. Are we content with how we live our lives? Do we refrain from evils that would snag us out of relationship with God and loved ones? And, finally, do we seek God’s will and the fullness in life He desires for us?
Scripture for today’s reflection is from Jeremiah 7:23, which tells us, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.” To help me with this verse, I picked up a Matthew Henry’s Commentary that belonged to my Grandfather and found this little truth, “Let God’s will be your rule and his favour shall be your felicity.”
In brief conclusion is the theme of this reflection – restraint. It’s the way of patience and prayer. It’s also the way of Jesus who lingered on the cross.
Friday Third Week of Lent
March 28th reflection by Amy Justice
Love your neighbor…no matter how much they resist or how strange their mask!
Look mom, they are selling leftover Halloween costumes at the grocery store! Molly was excited because we missed trick-or-treating in the states this year. It was not overstock merchandise or an off-season sale. Fasching is a holiday time that people in Germany celebrate in an attempt to scare away winter ghosts and partake in a “sin-free” period (meaning anything goes) before the Lenten season. The celebrations culminate on Monday before Ash Wednesday with “Faschnacht” (carnival night). In our region of Germany, we have seen a few costumes like the ones in the picture since we have been here (the season, called the 5th season, actually starts on 11/11), but now many of the stores are selling costumes and have decorated their windows with scary masks.
There is a darkness to this time that is more pronounced than your typical fat-Tuesday feasts and Mardi Gras parties. I believe it is rooted in an underlying fear that there really is no hope. I fear they believe that this time of indulgence is the only joy they have left, and the cry of people seeking to fill a deep void rings loud and clear. Fasching also emphasizes that Europe, although still strongly influenced by the Christian calendar and holidays, is no longer experiencing the spirit of God. There are pockets of Germans who have been re-introduced to Christ and are trying to wrap their heads around reaching out to their own people, many of whom have checked the “Christian” box, but have never walked with our Savior.
In Acts, Paul gets frustrated with those who have heard the truth and still won’t wake up; sometimes even walking away from them shaking the dust from his sandals. But he does not stop praying for them and often comes back to them to try again. As American Christians, it is easy to think “What’s wrong with you? How can you hear the truth and not believe?” But even in countries where the Christian heritage is deep, there are still “unreached people”. Yes, they know about Jesus Christ, but the Good News has not “reached” their hearts for some reason. We must never stop reaching for them!
During this season of preparation and prayer, please take a moment to pray for the German people. Pray that we, as Christian visitors, would have the opportunity to introduce the love of Christ in a fresh way and be in the right places at the right times to minister to hurting hearts; that German Christians would have the courage to battle the forces of darkness that have a nation convinced that God is dead; and that God will move in ways that display His love, hope for mankind and desire for relationship with all of us.
Saturday Third Week of Lent
March 29th reflection by Jordan Scruggs
The prophet Hosea, the author of today’s Old Testament text, is regarded by some rabbinic traditions to be the most important prophet in all of Israel’s history. Hosea was primarily concerned with the question of the Israelite’s faithfulness to God. His prophecies were addressed to Israelites who, convinced that their obedience to God was determined by how closely they followed religious regulations, had neglected God’s commands to exhibit love and mercy to their neighbors. In short, their theology had confused legalism with the law of love. In contrast, God’s message through Hosea calls to the people, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice!” Through Hosea, God tells us that the primary indicator of our faithfulness to God’s commandments isn’t whether we follow a set of rules, but rather the way that we treat one another.
Today’s New Testament scripture from Luke 18 indicates that more than eight centuries after Hosea’s ministry ended, Jesus was still addressing the same human tendency mistake legalism for the law of love amongst the people of his own time and space. In this passage, Jesus tells a parable to some religious leaders who are convinced that their observance of legal practices means that they can claim moral superiority over their less-pious neighbors. So dedicated had these leaders become to abiding by the rules that they were blind to their own sins of pride and arrogance!
More than 2,000 years after Jesus’ ministry (and closer to 3,000 after Hosea’s!) it seems that human beings still struggle with the same habit against which Jesus and Hosea warned us. Though many of us have good intentions in our desire to keep God’s commandments, the sinfulness of our hearts can easily distort this honorable practice into a self-righteous competition to see who can follow the rules more closely. Instead of exercising mercy and discernment with others, we become so caught up in legalistic perfection that we thrust many persons with an honest desire to draw near to God out from our fellowship!
The tragic commonality of practicing legalism over the law of love is this: it is often much easier to be legalistic than it is to imitate the kind of love that God has shown us. Most of us to do our best get to church on Sunday, to say a prayer before dinnertime, and to give what we can to support our church. What is more difficult is doing our best to follow Jesus to the cross – to take risks in loving and forgiving that mean we might lose something valuable, like our reputation or our social standing.
Don’t get me wrong – emphasizing the tenets of the law can be invaluable in many ways, particularly in how they can help us to structure our lives in response to the call of God. But God’s instruction for us in today’s passages means that the law, when exercised in its fullness, doesn’t look like legalism. It looks like love – more specifically, the love that crucified Jesus – which is the same love that causes us, ultimately, to triumph over death.
Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 30th
A Guatemalan Story
Sebastian’s father was killed while rescuing his family from their blazing, make-shift shelter. This child was terribly burned over half of his face and most of his chest. With no plastic surgery, his massive scars are a life-long vivid reminder of the dangers inherent to poverty.
When we first met the family in 2010, and despite his mother’s tender care, Sebastian exhibited a deep sadness that he carried with him every heavy step of his day. Tomasa, his widowed mother of five young boys, bravely persevered by diligently working at her simple handmade loom, the sole source of nominal income for this dear family of six. The family diet consisted almost entirely of tortillas, with limes and salt.
Through our scholarship program, Tomasa began receiving regular monthly financial assistance for her 4 youngest sons, all in primary school. Almost immediately, their diet expanded to include simple vegetable soups, occasional chicken, and rice or beans.
In 2011, Sebastian began showing signs of new life. The sadness occasionally gave way to smiles and even some joy, sometimes losing himself in the moment of a good story, joke or other distraction. Yet, Sebastian badly failed 4th grade and the future looked bleak.
But in 2012, lives changed dramatically. All 4 boys began exhibiting more happiness. They played like healthy kids. Their school work improved, and Tomasa’s stomach disorder disappeared. And Sebastian? He won “comeback student of the year” and the prize of a coveted new bicycle.
Their “casa”? It was a tattered shell of a hut with dirt floor and little else. We were able to replace it with a simple two-room cement block structure with metal roof, concrete floor, small windows, large covered porch, and a new efficient wood burning cooking stove. This is a common design of new Mayan houses in rural Guatemala. No indoor running water or toilets in these homes. Yet, to them it is heaven on earth.
Today, this success story of healing and love continues. When we see the look of deep gratitude on the faces of Tomasa and her boys, we are thrilled to be a part of God’s evolving love miracles.
Monday of Holy Week
April 14th reflection by Sarah Strickland
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. – John 12:8
WHAT IF WE WERE ALL FULLY PRESENT?
Growing up, as a devout Roman Catholic Portuguese family, lent was an important time to “carry your cross” and give up something that you felt you really had been giving excess of your time, your thoughts or your wants to-an idol without that description.
As we grew older we struggled to find the right thing to give up and would usually go straight back to the traditional “I will eliminate caffeine from my diet” for 40 days knowing that every headache that resulted was truly an opportunity to “carry that cross”. When Easter would arrive we would celebrate and consume all of the chocolate and Starbucks drinks we could find and return to our normal life checking off the “giving up something significant” and being ready to defend our serious struggle and how it helped us become closer to Christ.
Seven years ago, as Lent approached, I realized that removing caffeine from my daily routine was not going to happen. Jimmy was working from sunrise to bedtime as an athletic trainer at a prestigious high school and I was working at a youth soccer club while trying to maintain some sanity with our 3 kids under the age of 5. As my dear friend from Disciple class, Jenny Schrum, says, “You Win!”
I could not keep up the pace and was not willing to try just to gain favor with my aunts this time.
I prayed about what to do and decided to take a new route. Rather than giving something up, I added something to my daily routine. This change helped me grow significantly in my relationship with Christ and allowed introspection rather than limitation in my life.
The change was a weekly bible study with a dear friend and mentor, Becky Sillers. The book we used was titled Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. It got right to the heart of eliminating distraction and being fully present when God is near. Even to this day I fight my Martha tendency to stay busy, check the twitter feed, like every positive status I see on Facebook and reply as efficiently as possible to every text and email I receive. But in doing so, have I truly been present to any of these people or potential opportunities to be a witness?
If Christ walked into my home today he would not be tallying how many things I did but looking at what was in my heart and whether or not I was willing to stop, sit at His feet, and listen – be truly and fully present.
I pray that throughout this Lenten season you can join me or help me to become fully present in my prayer time, quiet time and my relationships. No matter how many days are ahead I will have a laundry list to check off of things to do, but without being fully present for Christ I will miss the joy, the peace and the love that He offers.
May you have a blessed Lenten season filled with spiritual growth, deepened relationships and opportunities to be fully present to hear the message He brings.
Amen.
Tuesday of Holy Week
April 15th reflection by Luke Christy
When I was a kid I had a lot of arguments with my parents over rules. As a twelve year old boy rules just seemed to be a way for my parents to keep me from having fun. Most of my rule breaking occurred when I was playing with my next-door neighbor, Wells. One particular benefit of being best friends with Wells was that he owned his very own bb gun. To the twelve year old me there was nothing more fun than shooting that bb gun. However, his parents and my parents had come together to make a rule that Wells and I could only shoot the bb gun when an adult was present. Of course it did not take long for Wells and I to break this rule and shoot the gun without supervision. The freedom of shooting the gun without a parent looking over our shoulder was just as good as Ralphie from the movie “A Christmas Story” had made it sound. In this state of euphoria though I somehow managed to pull the trigger and accidently shoot my best friend in the whole world right in his leg. After a few tears and some blood a doctor determined my friend would be fine, but in that moment I was reminded why we have rules.
In Matthew 5:17 Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” This is one of those really confusing things Jesus says, because his ministry seems to be all about breaking rules and questioning the law. The cool thing about Jesus though is that he was never too worried about how to follow rules and laws; he was more concerned with WHY we should follow the rules and laws, and the intentions behind them. The question: WHY is a much more exciting question that can lead to many possibilities, and the season of Lent gives us time to reflect upon this question. Our God has given us freedom, freedom to choose, freedom to experience, freedom to enjoy, and freedom to learn. This is a season to go deeper in our faith and reevaluate WHY we do what we do. Shooting my best friend with a bb gun taught me why I should follow rules. That experience taught me that my parents did not want to prevent me from shooting the gun, but that they wanted to look out for my safety. There was a deeper meaning behind the rule than I was able to realize. Today let’s ask ourselves the question: why? Why do we make the decisions that we do? Why do we react the way we do? Why do we choose to live the way we do? Why are we seeking a relationship with Jesus? Lets reflect on the intentions behind our rules and actions, and remember that we are on a journey that leads to finding the tomb empty and Jesus resurrected!
Prayer: God, thank you for the wonderful opportunity to be in relationship with you. Help us find the WHY behind our rules, laws, and intentions. Help our thoughts, words, actions, and intentions glorify you. Remind us to be mindful of WHY we do the things we do so that our intentions and love for you and one another may be pure. We love you, Lord.
Wednesday of Holy Week
April 16th reflection by Doris Hedrick
You Do It to Me
Matthew 25:34-36
As a Christian I thought that I was doing everything right: helping others when I saw a need, contributing to the local food pantry, giving clothing to Goodwill, working as a nurse, caring for the sick, giving money to the church to help pay for mission work. I had even been a part of mission teams traveling to other places. The one thing that I feared was visiting prisoners.
There was a juvenile correction facility in our community and it was suggested that our church go there and do Bible study with the young people. I was adamantly opposed. But a friend persuaded me to help with a weekend event there. When I met the “prisoners,” I realized that they were simply children who had made mistakes and were paying the price for what they had done. Later, when an opportunity was presented to me to work at this facility, I gladly accepted the job.
I learned that God’s grace is sufficient for all, no matter what mistakes we have made. God, through God’s infinite wisdom, placed me exactly where I was supposed to be, and, as a result, I was able to share my faith in many ways every day with the youth I encountered. Through grace, my fear vanished and I, too, received forgiveness for not trusting in the words of scripture.
Prayer: Father, I thank you for the gift of forgiveness. Let me always remember that your grace is bigger than any sin and that you long for me to repent and seek you. Amen.
~Doris Hedrick
Natural Bridge Station, VA
This devotion comes from the Society of St. Andrew’s 2014 Lenten booklet, “Create in Me a Clean Heart,” and is reproduced here with Society of St. Andrew’s permission. The Society of St. Andrew is a nationwide hunger relief ministry, engaging volunteers in the biblical practice of gleaning to provide healthy food for neighbors in need. Learn more at www.endhunger.org.
Maundy Thursday
April 17th reflection by Diana Haas
Give, and it shall be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put in your lap. Luke 6:38
“One of You will betray me”..Jesus spoke these words to His closest friends, His chosen 12 disciples. What would each of them do or say?
How would you respond?
“The Last Supper” Service is a dramatization of this moment. My husband Paul and I work together each year to bring this to life at Boone UMC.
Each year my first prayer is to ask God if He wants us to do this service, and then ask Him to bring the individuals He wants to portray the disciples and Jesus.
I think of this throughout the year and talk to people, but inevitably at least one must be replaced, sometimes at the very last moment!
Over the years more than 50 men have participated in this service. It has become a tradition at our church.
In these 22 years I have learned that God will provide the right ones for each time. It is this blessed assurance that keeps me calm when I am most concerned about this service, or for that matter, anything else in life.
God speaks through all of us to reach those in need. He also teaches each of us to rely on Him and He will provide.
Good Friday
April 18th anonymous reflection
Jesus, Remember Me As You Come Into Your Kingdom
There is a beautiful Taize chant using these words. It is wonderful as a background for meditation. The celebration of the coming of Jesus’ Kingdom is the culmination of Lent and Passion Week when His resurrection signals the defeat of death. We can only imagine the glory of Jesus’ kingdom and of His saying to us, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father…” (Matt 25:34). What an overwhelming victory for One who was described as “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows…[who] “took up our infirmities…was pierced for our transgressions and on whom “the Lord has laid … the iniquity of us all.” (Is 53:3).
However, we might choose to meditate on the source of the words in the chant (Luke 23:42). The man who said them was not a faithful follower of Jesus; he was not even a respectable person. He was a criminal. Surely he was not among those who could be told “Well done, good and faithful servant…” (Matt 25:21).
This man was being crucified, and so was Jesus. And Jesus had spent the night before being abused and beaten. How much more piteous Jesus must have looked than even these men beside him. And yet, amidst his own agony and pain, in an amazing moment of insight and clarity this offender recognized Jesus as the Son of God and asked that he would not be passed by in the final triumph. And Jesus’ response? “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
What a marvelous reminder of the wideness of God’s mercy. No matter what my situation, no matter the depth of my sin, even in suffering and distress I know that Jesus has paid the price for my redemption (Rom 3:24) just as He did for this thief on the cross next to Him. And what does he ask of me? Money? Riches? Repayment? No! He asks that I follow him and both live and spread the Good News. …For He is Worthy to Receive Glory and Honor and Power…. (Rev 4:11). Amen
Holy Saturday
April 19th reflection by Creighton University’s Online Ministries
Today we contemplate Jesus, there in the tomb, dead. In that tomb, he is dead, exactly the way each of us will be dead. We don’t easily contemplate dying, but we rarely contemplate being dead. I have had the blessed experience of being with a number of people who have died, of arriving at a hospital shortly after someone has died, of attending an autopsy, and of praying with health sciences students over donated bodies in gross anatomy class. These are blessed experiences because they all brought me face-to-face with the mystery of death itself. With death, life ends. Breathing stops, and in an instant, the life of this person has ended. And, in a matter of hours, the body becomes quite cold and life-less – dramatic evidence that this person no longer exists. All that is left is this decaying shell that once held his or her life.
Death is our ultimate fear. Everything else we fear, every struggle we have, is some taste of, some chilling approach to, the experience of losing our life. This fear is responsible for so much of our lust and greed, so much of our denial and arrogance, so much of our silly clinging to power, so much of our hectic and anxiety-driven activity. It is the one, inevitable reality we all will face. There is not enough time, money, joy, fulfillment, success. Our physical beauty and strength, our mental competency and agility, all that we have and use to define ourselves, slip away from us with time. Our lives are limited. Our existence is coming to an end. We will all die. In a matter of time, all that will be left of any of us is a decomposing body.
Today is a day to soberly put aside the blinders we have about the mystery of death and our fear of it. Death is very real and its approach holds great power in our lives. The “good news” we are about to celebrate has no real power in our lives unless we have faced the reality of death. To contemplate Jesus’ body, there in that tomb, is to look our death in the face.
Today’s reflection will lead us to the vigil of Easter. This night, communities from all over the world will gather in darkness, a darkness that represents all that we have been reflecting upon today. And there, in that darkness, a fire is lit. That flame is shared around the community until its light fills the room. Then, a song of exultation is sung, proclaiming that Christ is the light of this night. And, there, in the light of Christ, we will read the scriptures that prepare us to celebrate God’s revelation. This is the story of our salvation – how God prepared to rescue us from the power of sin and death. The God who created us, who led a chosen people out of slavery, raised Jesus from death. We can rejoice that death has no final victory over us. We can celebrate our faith that we have been baptized into the death of Jesus, so that we might be baptized into his life.
As we behold the body of Jesus in the tomb today, and as we contemplate the mystery of our death, we prepare our hearts to receive the Good News of life. We know that tomb will be empty and remain empty forever as a sign that our lives will not really end, but only be transformed. One day, we will all rest in the embrace of Jesus, who knows our death, and who prepares a place for us in everlasting life. Our reflection on this holy Saturday, and our anticipation of celebrating the gift of life tonight and tomorrow, can bring immense peace and joy, powerful freedom and vitality to our lives. For if we truly believe that death holds no true power over us, we can walk each day in the grace being offered us – to give our lives away in love.
Taken from the “Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer” on the Creighton University’sOnline Ministriesweb site: http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html Used with permission.
Easter Sunday
April 20th reflection by Jason Byassee
There is no analogy for the resurrection of Jesus. We have tried to find one: it is like a flowering tree–bare in the winter, reborn in the spring. Or it is like a caterpillar that goes into a cocoon one thing and comes out another.
Or it is like being born all over again. Or it is like being revived after one has died. It is like sleep, after which we wake up refreshed.
In every case, it is child’s play simply to parrot, “not it isn’t.” Because “it” never is. In the case of the analogies from nature, the resurrection is no natural thing. Bodies don’t lie in tombs and come back as something else or better. They lie in tombs and return to the dust. In the case of the analogies from birth and health care and sleep and death, none quite gets there. The bible uses each analogy to describe our conversion to new life in Christ (Jn .3:5 & 16, Eph. 5:14, 1 Cor. 15:6).
No, the most natural thing there is, is people are born, live, and then die.
Yet, on Easter morning, we confess that what can’t happen, did happen. Jesus rose again in his body and appeared to his friends. One person passed through the gears of death and then passed back through the “wrong” way, stripping those gears and depriving their power over the rest of us.
And that’s what’s truly miraculous about Easter. Not just that one man rose. If that’s all it is, good for him, but not much good for us.
But here is where biblical faith gets truly interesting. The claim is not just that one man rose, but that he’s the beginning of a general resurrection. Jews believed that at the end of the world, all people would rise, receive their bodies back, and stand before God in judgment. That’s what the word “resurrection” meant: a time when God would set the world right, giving justice to the oppressed, casting down the proud, and making the world right.
What’s weird–and this is one of the only things we Christians changed from our Jewish forebears–is that the general resurrection has begun. With only one Jew. That one has passed through death via resurrection. He has been judged righteous. The resurrection and judgment of all flesh has begun. It’s just taking a little while to get from resurrection #1 to resurrection #2, or #7,000,000,000.
Are you getting the point? Our resurrection will one day be as physical as Jesus’. It will be bodily. Jesus eats fish (Lk. 24:42-43), his friends touch him (Lk. 24:39). But our bodies will not be limited the way they are in this world. Jesus walks through walls (Jn. 20:26), he vanishes and reappears (Lk. 24:31). He has his scars, to be sure (Jn. 20:27). But his wounds are healed, made holy (pardon the pun), transcendent with God’s forgiving mercy.
And here there are analogies in the New Testament. Jesus is the “first fruits” of those who have died (1 Cor. 15:20 & 23). His resurrection is like the first taste of a new crop–sweet, juicy, more tender than you remembered. You haven’t tasted it in months, you worked hard for it, and here it is. Or the Holy Spirit is the “down payment” of all of our resurrection (2 Cor. 1:22 & 2 Cor. 5:5). A down payment is a commitment, born of sweat and toil, that the buyer will make good on the borrowed money. The resurrection is God’s down payment that he will raise us all.
