The Path to Joyful, Unrestrained, Undistracted, Obedience

Daily Scripture Readings

Lent Year One

February 18, 2013

Lord Heal My Soul - Psalm 41 

Uploaded on Apr 30, 2010

Composer: Eric Becker
Psalm 41

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Sons of Korah - Psalm 52: Why do you boast

 Uploaded on Dec 31, 2010

Sons of Korah - Psalm 52: Why do you boast

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Psalm 44

WordLiveUK

Published on Aug 20, 2012

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Old (Hebrew) Testament Deuteronomy 8:11-18 A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity (*p. 227)

Israel faced severe hardship in the desert during the forty years they wandered. They had to depend daily on God for food, for water, for shelter, for life itself.

Now they have crossed over into the land of milk and honey. The fertility of the land is in marked contrast to the barrenness of the wilderness. “The plenty of the land poses the threat that Israel will forget the Lord and exalt itself. “ (*p. 227)

“We live as a blessed people, created in the image of a gracious and merciful God. God calls us to a life of blessing, through love and obedience.

“For Wesleyan Christians this is the call to a life of sanctification and holiness; as we walk in the ways of the Lord, we are on the path that leads to life.

“Along the way the roads will diverge and important decisions will loom before us. In these moments, we pray for wisdom and courage to choose life, holding fast to the disciplines that will keep us close to God’s purposes for us.” (*p.254)

Epistle Hebrews 2:11-18 “Exaltation through Abasement”

“Christ’s entrance into the heavenly realm announces the glorious destiny of all disciples. But Christ is also the bridge, as it were, by which we cross over to that goal.

“His own experiences of pain and shame assure us that our path of discipleship, though filled with experiences of loss and suffering, will also lead to ‘glory,’ and that our high priest knows from personal experience what we need to arrive there securely….

“God led Jesus through a path of hardest testing and deepest loss so that Christian disciples would be confident of Jesus’ sympathy and help in their own trials.

“Wesley observed that suffering incurred for the sake of obeying Christ helps ‘[to wean] us from sin causing our affections to be set on things above.’

“When people think that death is the final word, fear of death will keep them from fully obeying God and seeking God’s justice. Fear of death diverts their energies [from being obedient to God’s will] toward worldly achievement, amassing wealth, and seeking pleasurable distractions to ‘make the most out of life’ while they can.

“Because Jesus faced death and emerged victorious from the grave, we can be freed from this fear for joyful, unrestrained, undistracted obedience.” (*pp. 1485, 1486)

Gospel John 2:1-12 The Wedding at Cana (*p. 1288)

“Jesus is the bringer of God’s overflowing grace and end-time salvation, which the prophets depicted as a wedding feast and a time of abundant wine. In Jesus, God’s future salvation and abundant life are present now.” (*p.1288)

Abba, Father

Keep me humble. Let me feel my pain as a reminder of the barrenness of the wilderness, as a reminder of the “path of hardest testing and deepest loss” walked by your only begotten son. May my energy be freed from the distractions created by pain, and turn to “joyful, unrestrained, undistracted obedience.” Amen.

The daily readings are adapted from The Book of Common Prayer, Daily Readings for Year One.   http://www.crivoice.org/lent1.html

*My personal study bible for this Liturgical Year is The Wesley Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Abingdon Press, 2009

Walk By Faith

God is righteous because of whom he is. God’s righteousness is inside; ours is outside.  Remember when God declared all that he created was good, yes, very good. Righteous. Somewhere along about Genesis 3, Adam and Eve – we – take upon ourselves the knowledge of good and evil. What did we do? We think if we listen to lies and deceit, we will become like God. God, I Am Who I Am, has created us in His image, made with all the right stuff. We are who we are, but by disobedience, we get un-right. We are no longer that who we were.

When God calls to us in the garden, we have hidden because we are exposed. Righteousness is no longer internal. We have become afraid of whom we have become. We try to make ourselves right. We sew fig leaves together; we try to hide the unrighteous shame.  We think maybe if we hide, God will not note we are no longer right when he finds us. We make excuses, thinking if we introduce the blame game, we can distract God from the wrongness. Instead, God sends us out to understand who we were. To discover who we are. Did anyone notice? Not in fig leaves. Not in shame. No, God covers us. If we would but see, he has given us a Robe of Righteousness. The flaming sword of His creative Word becomes the first law. We cannot return. We separated ourselves from God. He gives us the Law and the Prophets. He sends his only Son. God gives us everything we need to become who we were.

From time to time, we remember. Cain saw the carefully stored garments, but dies because his brother does not know. Abel banished and Seth born. Their sons hear the stories. We realize that even though we are unrighteous, we can proclaim God’s righteousness.  From generation to generation, the story can be told. The robe of righteousness can be passed. Often it is carefully unpacked. We learn to sing and dance. We call it prayer and praise. Then we carefully conceal it so it will not give out.

Along comes a great, great, ever so great grandchild. Enoch becomes a father. Enoch took the cloak out of moth balls and wore it – all the time. Then Enoch walked with God. He understood. He got it. Enoch’s grandson told that story. It is possible to recover one’s righteousness. All we have to do is put on the robe, and not take it off. Noah got it. When God finally got fed up with the pack-it-up, put-it-in-moth-balls, take-it-out, put-it-back. In all this time, two men – only two – figured it out, Enoch and Noah.

God chooses to start again, not from the beginning, but from the point of understanding. He made His instructions clear and unambiguous. Noah wears the Robe of Righteousness onto the ark.

Paul, a whole testament later, tells us the story. He gives us a roll call of the heroes who unpacked the mantle and wore it as they walked with God. He finds in in the Prophets, packed carefully away, the path of righteousness: wear the robe, live by faith, walk with God. The course he thought he knew until he learned on a road leading to Damascus. The path Jesus walked to Gethsemane.

One cannot go back beyond the flashing sword, but one can walk on by faith. The trust that Jesus God, true and righteous, took the sword of unrighteousness into his side. The story told by John, the beloved disciple, who took up the Cup of Salvation and heard Jesus say “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you. Receive the Holy Spirit. Thomas put your hand into my side. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.”  Wear the robe. Carry the cup. Receive His Spirit.  Walk by faith. Not from but to, Amen and amen.

Genesis 3-6, Habakkuk 2, Hebrews 11, John 20

Snakes: Lent, Week 4, Sunday, Year B

Through Jesus Christ our Lord; who was in every way tempted as we .are, yet did not sin; by whose grace we are able to triumph over every evil, and to live no longer unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again. 

Numbers 21:4-9                              Ephesians 2:1-10                          John 3:14-21

 I grew up in the Panhandle of Texas.  Just beyond our house was a vacant lot.  By late July or early August the grass was tall, dry and rattled in the hot, dry wind.  But, at the back of the lot was a small concrete slab shaded by an elm tree; perfect for playing marbles.  I knew I wasn’t supposed to go there. I was barefoot. Watching for sticker patches.  Watching for red ant beds.

I became irritable and cross.  I felt something slither across my foot.  There was the rattler end of a diamondback disappearing into the grass.  My next step would put me in a rattlesnake nest filled with hatchlings, small but many, and poisonous.  I screamed.  Daddy came.  I expected a spanking. I got picked up and embraced with incredible love.  Saved.

The children of Israel were up to their stiff necks in deadly snakes.  God suddenly had their full attention.  Suffer your consequences but “look up and be healed.” (Numbers 21:4-9 MSG)

The Ephesians were up to their necks in disobedience. “It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy … he embraced us … made us alive in Christ.”  (Ephesians 2:1-10 MSG)

Jesus said to Nicodemus “In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert…it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up – and everyone who looks up to him…will gain a real life, eternal life.”  (John 3:14-21 MSG) Saved.  

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen