Unedited The week prior to Holy Week and Easter 2020 Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death

The following readings and notes are intended for knowledge and meditation. Pastor Kim Stover Tuesday, March 31, 2020 Psalm 143 2 Kings 4:18-37 Ephesians 2:1-10

The Daily Readings include three readings, the first is from Psalms. As you read this Psalm, think in specific terms of the virus and COVID-19.

Psalm 143 NOTES Hear my prayer, O LORD; An appeal to God to hear your prayer as a matter of God’s faithfulness with a reminder give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; that God is righteous and therefor God’s answer answer me in your righteousness. will be righteous. Don’t judge me! Do not enter into judgment with your servant, Substitute VIRUS for enemy in this movement. for no one living is righteous before you. While you may not be impacted personally by For the enemy has pursued me, the virus, keep in mind that as of March 31, crushing my life to the ground, Noon, 3500 people in the USA have died. On March 15, our first cancelled day of worship, making me sit in darkness like those long dead. only 57 had died. On Monday, March 30, I included a link to an Therefore my spirit faints within me; article on grief. Grief is the experience of any my heart within me is appalled. loss, and in our current situation, even though we do not have the virus, we have lost freedom of movement and decision. It is an experience in I remember the days of old, which the spirit faints and the heart is appalled. I think about all your deeds, “I remember…, I think…, I meditate…I stretch I meditate on the works of your hands. out my hands to you. This is an ironic expression I stretch out my hands to you; to be reading now in our social distancing. my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Those who have lost loved ones are now telling distressing stories of not being able to say “goodbye.” Reaching out to medical Selah (No one is quite sure what this means. Possibly, professionals, family, and friends which was “Refrain.”) pretty easy and personal is now complicated and impossible when parents suffer alone and die from the disease or its complications. Yet, we can reach out to God, thirsty for good news; yet hearing nothing encouraging.

Page 1 of 5 “Answer QUICKLY!” Can’t you hear in Gov. Answer me quickly, O LORD; Cuomo’s press conferences, “Quickly. Quickly”. my spirit fails. His sense of urgency is clear. So also with the Psalmist, whose spirit not just faiths but, now, fails. Do not hide your face from me, or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit. Don’t hide from me. The Psalmist fears death.

Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, Elvis might sing this line, “Love me tender. Love for in you I put my trust. me true, never let me go.” Teach me the way I should go, Teach me… for to you I lift up my soul. Save me… Save me, O LORD, from my enemies; Teach me… I have fled to you for refuge. Lead me… Teach me to do your will, To me, the “level path” would be “normalcy of for you are my God. life.” The ups and downs of the past year have Let your good spirit lead me been exhausting and I don’t even want a big “up” on a level path. after this terrible “down.” Just a level road ahead would be wonderful.

The biblical writers often use this expression, For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life. “for your name’s sake.” When we pray, we often In your righteousness bring me out of trouble. close with “In Jesus’ name.” In doing this we are In your steadfast love cut off my enemies, calling on God to act such that we all gladly and destroy all my adversaries, express our praise of God. In saying, “in Jesus’ name, we are anticipating through our crediting for I am your servant. Jesus, that Jesus will be praised and lifted up. The last five lines are summary and punctuation! Now return and read thoughtfully, as meditation.

2 Kings 4:18-37 The Reading The Background When the child was older, he went out one day to his father The following is a stor y of among the reapers. He complained to his father, "Oh, my restoration/resurrection of a boy. head, my head!" The father said to his servant, "Carry him to Elijah is with now with God and his mother." He carried him and brought him to his mother; Elisha follows in his footsteps. the child sat on her lap until noon, and he died. Elisha’s ministry seems to be at a time of many wars involving Judah. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, The kings of Judah do not have the closed the door on him, and left. Then she called to her “prophets” approval. “Prophets” here is a community of those who judged husband, and said, "Send me one of the servants and one of the kings as refusing the way of God. the donkeys, so that I may quickly go to the man of God and In the story just prior to our reading, come back again." He said, "Why go to him today? It is Elijah has encountered a woman neither new moon nor sabbath." She said, "It will be all whose husband has was one of the right." Then she saddled the donkey and said to her prophets (objectors). He has died

Page 2 of 5 and his creditors are threatening to take her two sons and sell them to servant, "Urge the animal on; do not hold back for me settle the debt. Elijah solves the problem by blessing the widow’s oil unless I tell you." So she set out, and came to the man of supply (cooking oil) and as she pours God at Mount Carmel. it into the many jars they have collected, she never runs out. Sales of When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi the oil are used to settle the debt. his servant, "Look, there is the Shunammite woman; run at (Keep in mind that a woman’s access once to meet her, and say to her, Are you all right? Is your to the economic system of her day husband all right? Is the child all right?" She answered, "It is happened through a male. ) all right." When she came to the man of God at the On another day, Elisha encounters a mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to Shunammite woman. (a native or push her away. But the man of God (Elisha) said, "Let her inhabitant of the town of Shunem alone, for she is in bitter distress; the LORD has hidden it north of Mt. Gilboa in ancient Palestine.) She feeds him and Elisha from me and has not told me." stops by for a meal whenever in the Then she said, "Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, area of her home. She and her Do not mislead me?" He said to Gehazi, "Gird up your loins, husband realize that Elisha travels through the area quite a bit so they and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, offer a room for him to stay, as well give no greeting, and if anyone greets you, do not answer; as the meals. Over time, Elisha offers and lay my staff on the face of the child." Then the mother to do her and her husband a favor, a of the child said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself reward for their kindness. Elisha live, I will not leave without you." learns that she has no son or hope of having children, as her husband is old. So he rose up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and So Elisha promises a son in a year’s laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no time. Fast forward: the son grows up, sound or sign of life. He came back to meet him and told but dies after complaining to his father of a headache. The woman him, "The child has not awakened.” finds Elisha and complains that she When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying did not ask for a son, and in fact Elisha’s gift to her has brought dead on his bed. So he went in and closed the door on the complete misery. Elisha revives the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. Then he got up on son from death. the bed and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and while he lay bent over him, the flesh of the child became warm. He got down, walked once to and fro in the room, then got up again and bent over him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite woman." So he called her. When she came to him, he said, "Take your son." She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground; then she took her son and left. QUESTION: What was the relationship of the woman who went to Jesus’ tomb and found him alive? ______

Page 3 of 5 Ephesians 2:1-10 Death and Resurrection Here, death is not a physical one but a You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which spiritual one from which one is living you once lived, following the course of this world, according to the flesh, “following the course following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that of this world.” It is expressed as disobedience is now at work among those who are disobedient. All towards God. of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, In times gone by, it was supposed that the following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by mischievous spirits lived in the air space between people and God. That is what is nature children of wrath, like everyone else. meant by “following the ruler of the power of the air.” These in between spirits kept us from But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with the love of God and all of God’s glory by which he loved us even when we were dead through promoting disobedience. our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by Christ descended through those spirits in the grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him air to us, and then ascended into God’s glory and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ with us in tow, so to paraphrase. This was done out of God’s grace, since “we were Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the dead through our trespasses.” immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us “For by grace you have been saved.” We in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved have kind of substituted “faith” as the saving through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift act. But faith is what Professor Walter of God — not the result of works, so that no one may Bowman called a downpayment, a small boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ deposit that allows one to call the whole of Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand salvation one’s own. to be our way of life. I think of it a little differently. When others ask for proof of your salvation, they are asking for something tangible, persuasive. But these Wednesday, April 1 proofs depend on human reason and Psalm 143 strength of intellect. Some things simply Jeremiah 32:1-9, 36-41 cannot be proved in this way. Yet we are able Matthew 22:23-33 to say, “by faith” I hold my salvation to be true because faith lives within me. Faith is its own proof, fully realized in the day for which Thursday, April 2 it is intended. Psalm 31:9-16 1 Samuel 16:11-13 Philippians 1:1-11

Friday, April 3 Psalm 31:9-16 Job 13:13-19 Philippians 1:21-30

Page 4 of 5 Saturday, April 4 Psalm 31:9-16 Lamentations 3:55-66 Mark 10:32-34

Holy Week The final week of Lent begins with the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. The week concludes with The Three Days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and The Easter Vigil. The most distinctive feature of the Sunday of the Passion is the procession with palms. This tradition originated in the church in Jerusalem during the fourth century. The oldest Greek and Latin liturgical texts understand the branches as symbols of hope, life, and victory. The hero’s welcome accorded Jesus was seen as anticipating his impending victory over death. The week remembers Jesus’ celebration of the Passover, his betrayal, persecution, trial, and crucifixion. The intensity of Jesus’ suffering is upheld during this time--as dreadful as it is, it is not to be denied. Suffering, especially the suffering of a crucifixion, once thought to be a curse, is not outside the realm of God’s redemptive power. It takes much faith to embrace this idea, and that is the faith we see in Jesus. O Sacred Head now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down, now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown. O sacred head, what glory, what bliss till now was thine! Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call thee mine.

Sunday Sunday of the Passion Matthew 21:1-11 Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 26:14—27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54

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