Devotional 4-11-11

The Brother With the Donkey


Matthew 21:1-11

“Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a donkey tied there with its colt. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, say that the Master needs them and he will send them at once.”

I love Holy Week and I love this story. I love a parade. And this was the beginning of a parade for Jesus. A few weeks ago I was in New Orleans for a church conference, and I saw two parades -- one in downtown New Orleans and another in Biloxi, Mississippi. They both were wonderful. I loved them both. I thought about all of the preparation it took for the bands to practice and people to build the floats. I thought about where this brother had met Jesus before this day.

How did you know? How did you know it was Jesus who needed a donkey? Did you have a vision? Did an angel appear in a dream? Was it hard to give? Was it difficult to give something for him to use? Did you have any idea that your generosity would be used for such a noble purpose? Did it ever occur to you that God was going to ride your donkey? Were you aware that all four Gospel writers would tell your story? In making such a request, Jesus is claiming to be king.

It could be that God wants to use your donkey during this Lenten season and enter the walls of another heart, another city, another community or another nation. Will you let him? Will you give it? Or will you hesitate?

That brother who gave Jesus the donkey is just one in a long line of folks who gave little things to a big God. Scripture has quite a gallery of donkey-givers. In fact, heaven may be a hall of fame to honor God’s uncommon use of the common.

It’s a place you won’t want to miss. Look through and see Joseph’s coat, Rahab’s rope, Paul’s bucket, David’s sling, and Samson’s jawbone. Put your hand around the staff which split the sea and smote the rock. Sniff the ointment which soothed Jesus’ skin and lifted his heart. Blessed is he or she who comes in the name of the Lord.

Rev. Jeremiah Jasper

Devotional 3-11-11

Journey to Jerusalem
Matthew 4:1-11

The temptations of Jesus are always the beginning scripture lessons for the Lenten Season. These scriptures introduce what could have been a challenging journey for Jesus, following a forty-day fast in a wilderness place.

Satan, the tempter, provides several carefully contrived challenges in the form of suggestions, geared to what he perceives to be probable weaknesses in anyone who has undergone forty wilderness days, even this man called Jesus.

Jesus is armed with the words “It is written” and does not cave to temptation but proceeds on his journey to a higher place, Jerusalem . The way to Jerusalem is always up. (Even today, one must fly into the Tel Aviv Airport , for there is no airport in Jerusalem .)

During this Lenten Season, from March 9 through April 24, we are called to accept the challenge to journey upward, to Jerusalem , in our minds, bodies, and souls. We, too, may be tempted--in completely different ways--but our responses can be just as steadfast, if we remember, “It is written.”

On this journey to Jerusalem , let us stop by Tiberius to see the Church of St. Peter ; let us visit the Baptismal site at the Jordan River and remember our baptism. (I had the privilege in 1992 of being a part of a devotional led by Bishop William B. Grove on the Sea of Galilee, the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes, and to partake of food on the Mount of the Beatitudes.)

Let us stop by Cana to see the setting of the first miracle that Jesus performed and the church that stands as a memorial before moving on to Jericho , the city of Palms . Here we see the sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus before visiting the Spring of Elisha and browsing through the wonderful glass factory for souvenirs--reminders of this special time and place.

We travel on to Bethlehem to see the Shepherd’s Field, the Basilica of Nativity, and the Star of Bethlehem.

But when we reach Jerusalem, we know we have come to a higher place--the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Garden Tomb, the Western Wall, and the Stations of the Cross. Jesus knew when he reached Jerusalem, the journey prepared him to better understand that if there was no cross, there would be no crown.

May our Lenten Season be filled with intermittent times of reflection, growth, and good works as we pray to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who came that we might know the Way, even the way of the cross. Amen.

Rev. Jeremiah Jasper

Devotional 3-27-10

What It Means to Know Christ
Phillipians 3:4-14

How precious is the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise; it is holy beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree isnot death but life, not darkness but life. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return.

This was the tree on which Christ, like a King on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the lord of death and freed the human race from sin. This was the tree upon which the Lord, like a brace warror wounded in hands, feet, and side healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the cross, cut way the shoots of wickedness.

The wonders accomplished through this tree were foreshadowed clearly even by the mere types and figures that existed is the past. Meditate on these, if you are eager to learn. Was it not the wood of a tree that enabled Noah, at God's command, to escape the destruction of the blood together with his sons, his wife, his son's wives and every kind of animal? And surely the rod of Moses prefigured the cross when it changed water into blood, swallowed up the false serpents of Pharaoh's magicians, divided the Red Sea at one stroke and then restored the waters to their normal course, drowning the enemy and saving God's own people? Aaron's rod, which blossomed in one day in proof of his true priesthood, was another figure of the cross; and did not Abramham foreshadow the when he bound his son Iassc and placed him on the pile of wood?

By the cross death was slain and Adam was restored to life. The cross is the glory of the apostles, the crown of martys, the sancitication of the saints. By the cross we put on Christ and cast aside our former self. By the cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock, destined for the sheepfolds of heaven. --by Theodore of Studios

Submitted by Rev. Jeremiah Jasper

Devotional 2-17-10

A Poem by Robert Herrick

To keep a True Lent

Is this Fast, to keep
And Larder lean?
And clean
From fat of Veal and Sheep?

Is it to quit dish
Of Flesh, yet still
To Fill
The platter high with Fish?

Is it to fast an hour
Or rag'd to go,
Or show
A downcast look and sour?

No, tis a Fast, to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat
And meat
Unto the hungry soul.

It is to fast from strife,
From old debate
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.

To show a heart grief-rent;
To strave thy sin;
Not Bin;
And that's to keep thy Lent Holy.

Submitted by Rev. Jeremiah Jasper

Devotional 3-15-09

THE CALL TO LENT
II Corinthians 5:2-6:2

Prayer—Lord, at the beginning of this Lenten Season, I sense my need of you. Yet, I’m not quite sure how to reach. I heard someone say, “Read your Bible,” but too often the words are like bullets that ricochet off my mind. I heard someone say, “Pray”, but my prayers, hurled heavenward, fall back to earth like lifeless stones. I heard someone say, “Meditate,” but my wandering mind was lost in a desert of random thoughts. Lord, speak to us through your Word, and let it penetrate our minds, and our hearts. Lord, speak to us through our prayers, and turn the lifeless stones to bread. Lord, speak to us in the midst of meditation, that we may see, amid life’s wilderness, the way, the truth and the life. Take us, God, take our bodies. Take these sins, these things we do when we try to take charge of our own life, and burn them. Return them to ashes, that the wind will blow—let the wind of the Spirit blow through and cleanse us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Lent is a time to take the time to let the power of our faith story take hold of us, a time to let the events get up and walk around in us,
a time to intensify our living unto Christ,
a time to hover over the thoughts of our hearts,
a time of place our feet in the street of Jerusalem or to walk along the sea and listen to his word,
a time touch his robe and feel the healing surge though us,
a time to ponder and a time to wonder…
Lent is a time to allow a fresh new taste of God’s spirit!

Lent is a time for the asking of hard questions and the facing of hard choices.

Lent is a time of bringing order out of our chaos.

Ash Wednesday and Lent are all about consecrating our lives anew to Christ. It is about taking that step that no one can take for us—the step of a deeper and more intense personal walk with Christ. Listen to these beautiful yet powerful word of St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who know no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
LET’S BEGIN BY CENTERING OUR THOUGHTS ON THE IMMEDIACY OF WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US IN CHRIST. Recently a pastor surveyed a hundred members of various churches about the significance of the cross. This is the question he asked: “Would it make any difference in your life if Christ had not died on the cross?” Remember now, he asked this question of church members. Here are the results: 45% said they didn’t think it would make any difference.

25% said they thought so, but when asked what the difference would be, they weren’t sure, 20% said it make all the difference in how they lived and believed, 10% said they didn’t know, because they didn’t understand what the cross was all about.

The cross is the symbol of our salvation. It is a constant reminder of what God has done in our behalf. That’s the first thing we need to see—the immediacy of what Christ had done. BUT WE NEED TO ALSO CONSIDER THE INTIMACY OF WHAT HE HAS DONE. Paul says, “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” AND FINALLY PAUL’S WORDS REMIND US OF THE URGENCYOFOUR RESPONSE. Now is the day of salvation. The Gospel confronts us with a decision that must be a declaration that must be voiced. Why? Because God has made an enormous investment in the outcome. Our response should be urgent. Now is the day of salvation. Now God is calling each of us to this Lenten Season. What will you do for God during the next 40 days? Jesus is going to speak to us during the Lenten Season. Those in darkness, He will be their light. Those in pain, He will be their healing. Those in sorrow, he will be a comforter. Those in anger, he will be love. Those is fear, he will calm. Those in hunger, he will be your bread. Those who thirst, he will give water. Those in need, he will fill. Those who are heavy laden, he will give you rest. God is calling us to the Lenten Season. Give someone some living water. Wash someone’s feet. Give someone in darkness a light. Give someone with no hope a vision. Be a witness for Jesus for someone in need to see and experience Jesus. Give someone having a bad day, an unexpected blessing. Give a former friend the gift of forgiveness. Give someone broken, shalom, real peace. Give someone fractured, your healing touch. Give someone sick, God’s anointing touch through your hands. Have and blessed Lenten season. Amen.

Rev. Jeremiah Jasper

Mission Prayer and Response Focus:
March 15: Pray for the ministry of Heart and Hand House
March 15-21: We celebrate Heart and Hand House in Philippi, Bob Wilkins, Director
They sponsor several programs that assist are a residents for maintain economic stability and independence. They support a farming ministry which emphasizes locally grown produce for the restaurant industry. They coordinate new home and home repair programs, They also provide after school care programs for children and youth. They provide items for new moms and babies. They have a giant food panty which constantly needs restocked.