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2020 Lenten Devotional Christ Lutheran Church Marine on St. Croix, MN February 26 - Ash Wednesday Worship at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Disposition of Ashes and Holy Communion at both Services. Wednesday Lenten Worship 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. March 4—April 1 Maundy Thursday April 9 6:30 p.m. Worship Good Friday April 10 6:30 p.m. Worship Easter Sunday April 12 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. Worship 2 A heart-felt thank you to all the contributing writers of this Lenten Devotion Booklet. Your willingness to share your faith with the congregation is valued. Christ Lutheran Church 150 Fifth Street Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota 651-433-3222 clcmarine.org 3 Before there can be an Us, there is a Me. Sounds right. Sounds even simple. Whether we are talking about two people or two hundred people, any notion of Us presumes the individual—presumes the Me. And while for the sake of appearances we often project a Me that is stable and solid, completely put to- gether - for many of us the real Me is barely holding it together. We suppress. We ignore. We hide the truth of our lives, the truth of what it means to be Me. During these days and weeks of Lent we are hoping to be a safe place for you to be honest with all of who you are. We are inviting you to find strength and heal- ing by acknowledging that sometimes our lives are not perfectly put together. Sometimes our lives are not stable and solid. Sometimes being Me looks desper- ate and anxious. Sometimes it’s admitting you’re broken or imprisoned by the guilt and scars of days gone by. Sometimes being Me feels like you are aimlessly wandering day after day in a life void of any sense of meaning or purpose. If we really want to talk about what it means to be Me - then we have to be willing to say that we all get to the point of feeling sick and tired of being Me. Besides our worship services on Sundays and Wednesdays, we are hoping this daily devotion will provide a safe space of honest reflection and contemplation about the struggles and challenges of life. And how those struggles and challenges shape not only our understanding of what it means to be Me, but also of the God who embraces all of who we are and loves us just the same. 4 THIS IS ME: Being Mortal Pastor Joel Martin Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26 1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Throughout the year our Sunday liturgy often includes the words, “let us be honest with our- selves, each other and God.” We say them as a way of entering into a time of confession and forgiveness. And I have to admit there are times in which we say them and don’t think much about it. But every so often the words stop me in my tracks. “Let us be honest.” “Let us be honest with ourselves?” No thank you. It’s like asking me to step on a scale. Why do I need to step on a scale. I know I weigh 190 lbs. I don’t need a scale. But in case you haven’t seen me lately, I don’t weigh 190 lbs. I haven’t weighed 190 lbs. since I was in high school. “Let’s be honest with ourselves?” Let’s not, and say we did. It is a lot easier to avoid the obvious, to live an illusion, to diminish the brokenness, to hold on to what was, to sup- press the pain, to deny what is really happening. But the illusion, the holding on, the deny- ing, suppressing and avoiding begins to add up. It’s becomes a lot to carry and before long it really begins to take its toll on your life – physically, relationally, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. It is a day centered around confession. Confessing who we are and who we are failing to be. Confessing what we have done and what we have failed to do. Confessing our actions and our inactions, our words and our silence. It is a day centered around being honest about all we are carrying in our lives and the toll it is taking in our relationships with each other, with God, and even with ourselves. But it is also a day centered upon hearing a word of grace. It invites us to honestly see what is most elemental in us, what endures: the love that creates and animates, the love that can- not be destroyed, the love that is most basic to who we are. It is a day centered upon hearing a word of hope. It invites us to imagine where God’s love will lead us, what it will create in and through us, what God will do with our lives in both our brokenness and our joy. It is a day centered around hearing a word of forgiveness. It invites us to free ourselves and each other, to set it down and let it go and stand honestly and lovingly in the mirror of life before us saying, ‘This is Me.’ Let us be honest. 5 Kay Hempel Thursday, Feb. 27 1 Corinthians 13:12 - For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. When you look in a mirror you don't see through it. You see your reflection. As I began thinking about this familiar verse, I was suddenly struck by Paul's use of the word mir- ror. According to A.N. Wilson in his book Paul: the Mind of the Apostle, because of its use in pagan rituals the word 'mirror' represented 'mystery' to the Corinthians. Perhaps, for the Corinthians, the mystery was this new faith with this new God who loves you and asks you to love, not just your family and your neighbors, but your ene- mies as well. There were no visible figures of this new God like they had in their pagan religions. All they had were people who told about Jesus of Nazareth and his teachings about this God of love. This man had been killed for his teachings and then miraculous- ly had risen from the dead. The Corinthians were being asked to live a life of love, ser- vice and sacrifice for others and to wait for full understanding after death. They were asked to trust a whole lot. Unlike the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Thessalonians, all those early converts, we now have a history behind our faith with symbols, churches, the Bible. Our Christianity is no longer a new religion. Yet, we still face the same unknowns. When we look in a mirror we see ourselves with all our blemishes and faults. Perhaps, for us, the mystery is that God loves us in spite of all our imperfections, and failings. Those early Christians believed fiercely in this new faith of love. They lived it, told oth- ers about it, suffered ridicule, and many died for it. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their courage and persistence. 6 Bea Melby Friday, Feb. 28 Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understand- ing. In all your ways acknowledge him, and the Lord will make straight your paths. I have been sick 4 times since Thanksgiving so I have had many full days this winter to sit in my chair by the window from which I have a 180 degree view of the open back couple of acres sur- rounded by woods. Deer come day and night to feast on the hackberries that the squirrels have shaken from the tree into the snow. As I watched the deer walking their trails this year I honed in on a couple of things I have never noticed before. The deer, being in energy saving mode in winter, move slowly and calmly down their well- traveled trail. The trail is deep from hundreds of footsteps and it heads straight to the berries. What I noticed is that their trail is not one packed down surface but a series of individually packed footprints hollowed out in the snow. Once they break trail they save energy by high- stepping into the same spot with each step thereafter. They all do it, step after step, hind feet following front feet, never having to look down and never missing a step. I read about it, “hinds feet,” in a story 30 years ago but haven’t thought of it since. There it is. It’s so cool. They stay the straight easier course trip after trip, step after step, day after day. It’s their security instinct, their fundamental nature to survive that they seem to be cooperating with. It’s cold, they’re hungry, they are aware of the dangers out there, and they follow the straightest easiest path. They don’t think about it, they don’t override their fundamental nature. It’s in their DNA. They just do it. I believe that all human beings are created in the likeness of God, that our fundamental nature is divine and perfect Love.