Devotional 3-25-13

Please read Isaiah 42: 1-9, the First Song of the Suffering Servant

It is Monday of Holy Week, and already the palms of yesterday’s procession are beginning to dry out. The cries of “Hosanna, blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord” have faded in volume and enthusiasm. The Cross of Calvary is coming into view and we would prefer not to look. We thought that God’s justice would come through power and might, but the Suffering Servant’s song reminds us again that true power comes through Christ’s sacrifice and service.

You met Heather Murray Elkins a couple years ago at your Convocation. Heather has told a story from her family’s time in North Carolina. Someone told them of a deserted monastery which was far off the main highways. They had been tempted to make this journey by an offer of religious relics. This long abandoned retreat center was being destroyed after being bought by a corporation. The architect was offering any of the statues and carvings to anyone who would carry them off. They found the right spot then traveled on foot like pilgrims to a shrine.

It was a mistake from the beginning. The statues that were left would have required a crane, not two adults, a small child, and an older Volkswagen Beetle. They decided to call it an adventure. Bill (Heather’s husband) began to unpack their picnic basket and prepare lunch. Heather and her young son, Daniel, did a little more exploring.

In the center of what had been a garden, they discovered a crucifix. Even in its abandoned state, it dominated the garden. Heather looked, judged the size and weight and dismissed it as too big, too heavy – too bad. She lifted Daniel, ready to carry him back to lunch.

Heather then told, “The stiffness of the child stopped me. He had turned to stone. His eyes were like x-rays, restlessly scanning the body there on the cross. From the shock on his face, I realized that he had never seen one of these before. Every cross he had ever seen had been empty. This one was not empty. This one was filled with the dying agony of a good, strong man.”

“Jesus?” Daniel questioned, his eyes still on the form. Heather answered, “Yes, it’s an image of Jesus.” Suddenly Daniel exploded into action and sound, “Take him down!” he shouted. He began pushing against her crying out loudly, “Take him down!” Bill came running, prepared to defend his son from any danger. It was comfort that was needed—comfort and the telling of the story.

When did we learn to take this action of Christ for granted? We make our crosses pretty and sometimes forget that the cross was not always empty. Who taught us to see this text of the Suffering Servant without seeing the blood, the agony, and the hurt?

Here is the gift of this week: God’s Son journeyed through this week and made his way to the cross so that we are able to believe. No matter how much we have heard about the cross; no matter how many crosses are around us in our lives, the one big need remains that we find in Christ’s death the gift of forgiveness and life. We cannot take Christ down because that is his gift to us. The Suffering Servant gives his life to give us life.

Prayer: We thank you, God of life, that your grace and forgiving love is based not on our excellence, our good works, or our piety, but on the work of your Son, Jesus. Help us that we may walk faithfully with you in in the journey to the cross. Amen.

Rev. Mark Connor

Devotional 3-31-12

Please read Mark 11: 1-11
It’s April Fool’s Day.  Did anyone invite you to a party (that isn’t going to happen)?  Maybe someone sent you some mystery doughnut seeds (that look a lot like Cheerios).  Someone will be working to “get you” today.  Be careful.  Be very careful. 

A quick internet search will inform you that no one has a good answer for why we have an April Fool’s Day.  Some attribute this day of foolishness to a 16^th Century change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, when the New Year was shifted from latter March to the first of January.  But there are holes in that theory.  Although no one seems to know how the day came to be, it is surprising that many cultures around the world celebrate some kind of a foolishness day for practical jokes and harmless pranks.  

It is interesting that this year’s April Fool’s Day marks the beginning of our Holy Week.  On this day, we remember the celebration of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  We, who know what will happen during the rest of the week, can almost imagine this as a foolish April Fool’s Day hoax.  It looks like someone has been “pranked.” 

Jesus makes his way into Jerusalem finally acclaimed by the people of Israel.  Those folk spread their coats along the roadway.  Some stripped leafy palm branches to line the pathway.    They shouted:  “Hosanna!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!”  (Mark 11: 9-10). 

I can imagine the disciples and others who were looking for the Messiah thinking, “Finally.  After all the work and listening we’ve done for the past three years.  Finally, he’s taking his rightful place.  People are actually getting it. Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of David – our rightful king.  Now he can overthrow the Roman occupation and restore again our Jewish state.  Maybe now we will get our reward.” 

The acclaim is short lived. We know what this week brings.  We know the story of a Passover Meal, of an arrest, the mockery of a trial, and the pathway to Golgotha.  We know that this man acclaimed today will be hanging on a cross on Friday.  This parade—this celebration – does seem like a cruel joke.

Ride on, ride on in majesty! Hark! All the tribes hosanna cry
Savior meek, pursue thy road with palms and scattered garments strowed.

Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die
O Christ, thy triumphs now begin o’er captive death and conquered sin.

Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die;
Bow thy meek head to mortal pain, then take, O God, thy power and reign. (Henry H. Milman)

Prayer:
Loving Christ, help us who acclaim you King to walk faithfully with you through the times of joy and affirmation and the times of hardship and trial. As Christ walked the way of the cross, help us to walk this week in obedience and faith. Amen.

Rev. Mark Conner
Western District Superintendent

Devotional 4-20-11

The scripture readings for the day include: Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Psalm 70; Hebrews 12: 1-3, and John 13:21-32. These are wonderful readings (and I hope you will take time to read them all). Please focus for a moment or two on the passage from Hebrews 12.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right had of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

I was surprised to find this as a text for the Wednesday of Holy Week. I usually think of these words as a text for All Saints’ Day celebration. I find great comfort and hope in remembering the faithful cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and are now cheering us on as we share in the race that is our own life. In a memorial service years ago at annual conference, Bishop William Boyd Grove, offered a picture of the church with no roof. The balcony then extends heavenward with those saints filling the pews, looking in upon us, concerned for us and our race, cheering us on as they pray for us. It is a wonderful and comforting image. Reading these words during Holy Week reminds me that I find that comfort and sense of hope only because of what Jesus has endured for us.

It is Wednesday and we have been through all this before. We know the story of the next few days. We know what had to be endured before that great cloud of witnesses could take their place. We know that tomorrow we will gather in remembrance of a Passover table where bread and wine were shared as an enduring covenant of love and everlasting life. We know that after the supper there will be shame and humiliation as Jesus is taken and tried. We know that Friday will bring pain and suffering and ultimately death. Yes, we know those are not the last words, for we are an Easter people.

 know there is Easter joy coming. I know there are new life possibilities through Christ. But sometimes life is tiring. Sometimes I get so caught up in the “busyness” and the everyday things of life that I lose heart. I whine (one of my “spiritual gifts”) and think that I am running this race alone. The preacher/writer of Hebrews encourages us to keep on in faithful living (even when it is difficult) because we have a relationship with Jesus. Jesus endured the shame and pain of all that we humans could do to him. He did that for us. He didn’t count the cost. He gave himself for us. That cloud of witnesses is there to cheer us on because Jesus loved us enough to give himself for us. (There is even the promise of a place for us in the balcony seats among those great witnesses because of Christ’s great life gift.)

Sometimes it is helpful for me to hear these words of life and hope in a different voice. Hear this paraphrasing of this Hebrews text as Eugene Peterson offers it in The Message.

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over the story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Prayer:

Loving Christ, we are amazed at the way you faithfully lived through all of life’s humiliations, shame, and pain. Help us to keep our eyes focused upon you that we may faithfully live today and tomorrow as we run this race of life. Amen.

Mark Conner

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

Devotional 4-6-09

Readings for the day: Isaiah 42: 1-9, Psalm 36: 5-11, Hebrews 9: 11-15, and John 12: 1-11

An Extravagant Act

Busy, taking care of others, thankful Martha
Cooking and serving a feast.
Family and friends gathered at the table
Enjoying her food;
Celebrating Lazarus;
Giving thanks to Jesus.

Lazarus alive from his stinking grave;
Eyes wide open to the ways of life
And the taste of Martha’s cooking.
Sharing with friends again;
Knowing the precious gift of life abundant.

Listening Mary moves into action.
She offers her thanks and praise to her friend.
With extravagant, costly perfume, she anoints her Master.
Leaning over she lets down her hair
And with it she tenderly wipes those blessed feet.
The aroma of love fills the house.

Miserly, watchful Judas doesn’t understand.
“Why the waste? Remember the poor!
The cost of this perfume could feed hundreds.”
All the while, he lines his pockets.

Jesus, child at his father’s carpentry bench;
A wise youngster with the Temple scholars;
A cousin shares the water of baptism;
A time of testing and temptation in the desert;
An open scroll as he begins to teach;
The joys of a family of followers who sometimes get it – and sometimes don’t;
Friends,
People freed from limitations,
Lazarus eating beside him;
He knows what is coming –
A donkey ride, rejection, pain, death.
All the images come rushing in
As the precious ointment touches not his head,
But his feet.
The feel of her hair, the knowing of her heart,
And he says, “Celebrate her. The poor will be here long after I’m gone.”

I don’t understand the extravagance of Mary.
My practical mind says, “A little bit of perfume will do the anointing well enough.
Sell the rest. There are people who have real needs.”
Yet, the thankful, listening Mary knows something that I don’t always remember;
She knows who is life and light and love and hope and grace.
She responds to all that has been given her with a heart wide open.
What extravagance!

What do I give in response to the extravagant way of Christ?
An hour for worship—maybe some Sunday School time
A church meeting here and there
Sing a song, offer a prayer
My tithe
Some Bible study, a kind word to someone in need
Some grumblings when things don’t go the way I want
A smile, alms offered for the poor
A time of fasting
A word of thanks
Mary gives of her heart, while too often I count the cost.
I want to listen and learn and give as Mary did.

Prayer:
May the extravagance of Mary’s love touch my life in such a way that I will give of my gifts to my sisters and brothers as I give to Christ. Amen.


Dr. Mark Conner
Western District Superintendent

Mission Prayer Focus and Response:
April 6: Upshur Parish House, Buckhannon: Carol Duffield, Director
The parish house operates a food share co-op, a layette program and housing repair. Among their educational ministries are tutoring, nutrition information and other life skills such as budgeting and parenting.
Today we pray for the Upshur Parish House. One of their important ministries is nutrition training. Give ten cents for every low calorie item you have in your cupboard.

Devotional 3-9-08

The words to the early church for this day come from the 12th Chapter of Romans. In that text, Paul offers to the church a list of “marks of the true Christian.” He includes: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer . . . Bless those who persecute you. . . Live in harmony . . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12)

I must confess that Paul’s lists can leave me a bit weary. He seems to expect so much of those who bear the name of Christ. These Lenten days of self-examination help me to see how clearly I miss the mark of God’s expectations and hopes. (I am continually thankful for God’s merciful grace and forgiveness.) As I heard this list of Paul, I thought John Wesley’s “Three Simple Rules:” Do no harm; do well; and stay in love with God. Mr. Wesley seems to take all of Paul’s lists and sums them up in three simple, easy to remember statements.

Retired Bishop Reuben Job has offered a new book for the United Methodist Church: Three Simple Rules – A Wesleyan Way of Living. He writes: There are three simple rules that have the power to change the world. While they are ancient, they have seldom been fully put to the test. But when and where practiced, the world of things as they were was shaken until a new formation, a new world was formed. The Wesleyan movement is a prime example of this new creation that is formed when these three simple rules are adopted as a way of living. (p. 7)

Do no harm. That means that I will be on guard so that all my actions and even my silence will not add injury to another of God’s children or to any part of God’s creation. I will invest in the effort to bring healing instead of hurt; wholeness instead of division; and harmony with the ways of Jesus rather than the ways of the world.

Do good. I can decide to do good to all. It is a challenging way to live. To love God with my whole being and to love my neighbors as much as I love myself will never be easy, but it is essential to our spiritual life, our life of faith, and our life with God.

Stay in love with God. Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” When we are deeply in love, we will be constantly formed and transformed by that relationship. Staying in love with God involves prayer, worship, study, and the Lord’s Supper as well as feeding the lambs, tending the sheep, and providing for the needs of others.

These three simple rules promise a way of living to change your world. It’s a way of living that can guard your life from doing evil and enable you to do good. It’s a way of living that provides a way to stay in love with God in this world and the next. In living this way we discover the full inheritance we have as the children of God.

Help us, O God to do no harm; to do good; and to stay in love with you. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Mark Conner

Three Simple Rules – A Wesleyan Way of Living by Bishop Reuben P. Job is published by Abingdon Press and can be purchased through Cokesbury for $5.00 (That isn’t a commercial for Cokesbury – just a way to get a very helpful, little book.)