Saturday, April 03, 2010

Weekly Devotionals

Thank you for joining our church on our Lenten Journey.

Our devotional ministry is actually a year-round effort. To read our weekly devotionals, go to http://www.jmdevotional.blogspot.com/.

Be blessed by the song.

Devotional 4-4-10

John 20:1-18

Usually, it seems, our older family members are the reliable sources for family history and tradition. As details get mixed up or forgotten, “Grandpa” or “Grandma” could help get the story straight. My maternal grandmother was wonderful in many regards, including the telling of family stories. However, she had a propensity to embellish. My sister and I observed that the older she got, the more ornaments she hung on a family story.

The four writers of the Gospels of Jesus Christ have varying accounts of Jesus’ resurrection. Mark, the oldest gospel, has the briefest account with the fewest details. John, the latest gospel, has more detail and broader stories.

Matthew says there was an earthquake, not recorded in the other three gospels. Matthew says there was an angel at the tomb who greeted two Marys when they arrived. Mark says a young man greeted three women who went to the tomb. Luke says two men in dazzling apparel greeted three or four women, depending on how the Greek text is understood. John says Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and was greeted by two angels inside the tomb, later seeing Jesus whom she supposed was the gardener. Luke says that after the women returned and told the disciples what they had seen, Peter went to the tomb. John says Peter and John both ran to the tomb. There are other varying details and different post-resurrection stories.

The cynic who discounts the resurrection as fable might find a “gold mine” of argument in these conflicting recollections that raise understandable suspicion about the evidences of Jesus’ resurrection. Can’t these writers get their stories straight? This is a classic ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’ example of blindness to a basic truth because some of the information or unimportant details do not align.

While the evidences recorded by gospel writers between 40 and 90 years after the time of Christ are different, they offer the same truth, pointing to the same risen Christ. Frankly, does it really matter that the stories are not in precise agreement? I believe there is a much greater, stronger, and more important evidence that Jesus lives, and that evidence is within our lives.

When others see you where you live, work, learn, worship, or play, what evidence do they see? In the conduct of your life, do others find no evidence of a living Christ in you – that it appears you believe Jesus is dead and his teachings irrelevant? Or do they see evidence of a living Christ?

Please pray with me. Loving and gracious God: on this joyous day of celebration, may I look to the risen Christ with a new eye toward evaluating whether my life contributes to the evidence that Jesus is alive in our world. Let my life reflect sacrificial living for the cause of Christ and the joyous living of his teachings. In the name of the risen Christ, Amen.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Friday, April 02, 2010

Devotional 4-3-10

Read: Lamentations 3: 1-9, 19-24

The events of this wonderful and horrible week have come to a screeching halt. The holy deeds have been offered. The Last Supper shared. The pathway to Golgotha walked. The crucifixion was real. The body of Jesus has been taken from the cross and buried. The stone has been placed to close the tomb. The followers of Jesus had to be in shock. It all seems to be over—all the hopes and dreams; all the expectations of promise seem gone when Jesus breathed his last breath. It is a day of disappointment; a day of despair; a day of darkness.

The writer of Lamentations told us about the feeling: “He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.” (3: 4-5)

We have known the darkness. It has come to us in many forms: the death of one we love; the breaking of a relationship; the darkness of illness; the battle of depression; the weight of hopelessness.

On this quiet, Holy Saturday, the church takes a break. The altar stays bare. The church is “dark” (no weddings, no services, no Holy Communion). Even though we know what tomorrow brings, we pause on this day to join with those early followers of Christ and feel the darkness.

Dan Schutte is a Roman Catholic hymn writer. (He wrote a favorite of many, “Here I Am, Lord”—No. 593 in the United Methodist Hymnal.) He offers another hymn inspired by St. John of the Cross who wrote the book, The Dark Night of the Soul.

Holy Darkness

Holy darkness, blessed night,
heaven’s answer hidden from our sight.
As we await you, O God of silence,
we embrace your holy night.

  1. I have tried you in fires of affliction;
    I have taught your soul to grieve.
    In the barren soil of your loneliness,
    there I will plant my seed.
  2. I have taught you the price of compassion;
    you have stood before the grave.
    Though my love can seem like a raging storm,
    this is the love that saves.
  3. Were you there when I raised up the mountains?
    Can you guide the morning star?
    Does the hawk take flight when you give command?
    Why do you doubt my pow’r?
  4. In your deepest hour of darkness
    I will give you wealth untold.
    When the silence stills your spirit,
    will my riches fill your soul.
  5. As the watchman waits for morning,
    and the bride awaits her groom,
    so we wait to hear your footsteps
    as we rest beneath your moon.

    Holy darkness, blessed night,
    heaven’s answer hidden from our sight.
    As we await you, O God of silence,
    we embrace your holy night.
The darkness does not get the last word. Even the writer of Lamentations knew this long before Christ came among us. “The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it, and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (3: 19-24) May this be a day of holy darkness.

On this day, O God, you, too, knew the power of darkness. We bring before you our dark days. Walk with us through them. Assure us again of your presence, we pray, so that we might feel you with us even when life feels hopeless. Help us to see the promise of your tomorrow. Amen.

Rev. Mark Conner
Western District Superintendent

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Thursday, April 01, 2010

Devotional 4-2-10

Please Read John 18:1-27

I’ve never been too critical of Peter for denying Christ. It’s easy to point an accusatory finger at him for denying any knowledge of Christ not once, not twice, but three times. But he had several excellent excuses. He was needed to be a leader of the Christian movement after Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Had he confessed to knowing Jesus, it is likely he might have been crucified alongside him.

When, during the Last Supper, Jesus foretold of Peter’s denial, Peter was understandably horrified. None of us wants to admit that in a moment of weakness, we will let our friends down. Peter, ever bold, exclaimed, “Not me! I’ll be with you until death!”

Perhaps the lesson for Peter and us is to not make promises we cannot keep. I know, like Peter, in moments of spiritual joy, I have promised God that I will never abandon my new ways. Then, like Peter, in moments of weakness, I too deny Christ.

If I really think about it, and if I’m really honest, I find there are many ways I deny Christ daily—not in so many words, but by my actions.

When I react out of anger instead of responding out of love…am I denying my relationship with Christ? When I walk past the beggar, averting my gaze…what am I saying about my life of grace? When I read an article about a CEO going down, and I think, with glee, that “he got his” instead of feeling compassion, am I responding as Christ would have me respond? When I speed through the store to get ahead of a mother with a load of groceries and children, what does that say about my Christian walk? The hymnist Johann Heermann captured that feeling in Ah, Holy Jesus. (UMH # 289).

Who was the guilty?
Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee!
‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.


Peter meant well, but words are easy. Living up to them is the hard part. Fortunately, there is hope for Peter, and there is even hope for the likes of me. Thankfully, God is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

Dear God, this Good Friday, we pray for grace to love you more, and to love others more. Amen.

Jeff Taylor

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