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Dear Friends, Lent Is the Season in the Life of the Church

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Dear Friends, Lent Is the Season in the Life of the Church Dear Friends, Lent is the season in the life of the church where believers hearts are prepared for the celebration of Easter. It is a season that reminds us that our redemption comes at a cost, Jesus’ blood, and that we don’t celebrate the resurrection without also journeying to Jerusalem and the cross with Jesus. Over the centuries, Lent has become a season that is primarily about sacrifice. Many times, we reduce Lenten sacrifice to “giving something up for Lent;” often something like sugar, alcohol, chocolate, meat, social media, or some other practice or thing we think we’d be better off without. The practice is, at its best, an opportunity to focus and enable us to think more deeply about discipleship and our relationship with God. Giving something up can, ostensibly, remove extraneous things so that our focus on our relationship with God can become sharper. Often, though, we approach this discipline with an ulterior motive: to lose weight, to drink a little less, to break our habit of eating too much chocolate, to wean ourselves from checking social media every 15 minutes, or to break some other deleterious habit. All of these motivations are good, but they sometimes fall short of the mark of heightening our awareness of God’s presence and power in our lives and enabling us to hear God’s call to follow him. There is another tradition that is parallel to the practice of giving something up for Lent: starting something new. Sometimes it is a practice of daily prayer, or Bible study, or meditation, or exercise, or some other habit that will draw one closer to God. Again, like giving something up, there is the possibility that one will start something with a motive other than deeper discipleship: health reasons or the desire to be more productive. These reasons are fine, but the purpose of a Lenten practice is to develop a habit that will lead to a deeper and more sustaining relationship with God. This devotional is offered to you in the spirit of starting something new for Lent. It is my hope that it will be an entry point, or a change of pace, for daily devotions. Each day will have a scripture, a brief reflection, a question or two, and a brief prayer for the day. The devotional is also organized by themes, week-by-week. In the history of the Church, Lenten fasting is not done on Sundays because Sunday is always a feast day in the life of the church, but I have written devotionals for Sundays, too. The Sunday devotionals, though, are the breakpoint for each week and the Sunday themes are unrelated to the themes of the week. Each Sunday, the scripture reading will be the reading for the sermon on Sunday with a brief reflection on that theme. The Lenten Sermon Series this year is “Questions and Answers with Jesus,” because throughout Jesus’ ministry people were constantly asking him questions, and his answers reveal to us who Jesus is and what God is doing through him. I hope that you will use the Sunday devotions to either reflect on the sermon or to prepare yourself for worship to give you some familiarity with the scripture as you participate in worship each Sunday. The other themes in this devotional are: Study, Prayer, Sacrifice, Repentance, Action, and Remembering. As you go through these devotions, I hope that you will carve out 15 minutes each day read, reflect, and pray. It is also my prayer that by doing these devotions for a few minutes each day, you will cultivate a new habit that will sustain, stretch, and encourage you to draw near to God as we move toward Easter. Of course, if you have questions, thoughts, ideas, or just want to talk about these devotions or anything else, I would love to hear from you! Yours in Christ, Ryan Balsan, Pastor Wednesday, February 17, 2021 Scripture: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 John Calvin once wrote that the human mind is a factory for idols. What he meant is that human beings can take almost anything and make it into an object of worship, misconstruing the importance of any object, practice, or attitude. Even our worship and service to God can become idolatrous if they are done for the wrong reasons. This passage is one of the traditional scriptures read during Ash Wednesday worship. It warns us not to make any penitential practice an idol. It is a reminder that practicing spiritual disciplines is something we do, not for public consumption, but to draw near to God. Jesus’ words are more than mere instruction, though, they are also challenging. They challenge us because he tells us that when you “practice your piety before others in order to be seen by them,” then the recognition from others is the reward, and there is no further reward from God. Today, as we begin this Lenten journey, take a few minutes to pray about what Lenten practice you will take up, or what Lenten sacrifice you will make. Perhaps you will want to write it down somewhere, or maybe you will keep it to yourself. In any case, remember Jesus’ admonition from this passage: that we do not pick up or put down a particular practice so that we will be noticed, but instead so that we will draw near to God. When we make changes to our lives so that we will grow in our relationship with the Lord, God pays attention and God will notice. Questions: 1. Are you planning to do something different this Lent? If you are giving something up, or taking something up, what do you hope God will do in you in these coming weeks? 2. Why do you think Jesus was concerned that his followers would engage in disciplines as a way to show off or be noticed? 3. How can we practice our faith so that it will be noticed by God, but not to be noticed by other people? Do you think it is wrong, or you will lose God’s approval if your Lenten practice is noticed by others? Prayer – This prayer is from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship Almighty God, you despise nothing you have made and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite heats, that truly repenting of our sins, and acknowledging our brokenness, we may obtain from you, the God of all mercy, full pardon and forgiveness; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen 2 Thursday, February 18 Scripture: Philippians 4:4-9 What do we spend our time thinking about? The things we spend our time contemplating and thinking about give a lot of shape to our lives. In fact, care in our thought life is an important part of spiritual health and discipleship. In a document written by the Protestant churches in Germany called “Ten Articles on the Freedom and Service of the Church,” the leaders of the church wrote this, “We act disobediently if in our worship we confess that God is the Lord of our life and then, in our daily life, accept the absolute claims of an ideology and thereby withdraw from obedience to the absolute demands of the first commandment.” The Church in Germany was, of course, wrestling with their history of complicity during the Nazi years which led to a clear message that commitment to an ideology over our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ is an error and falls short of living faithfully. The word to the Church in Germany, though, is a word that is important for the church to hear in every time and place. It is also important for us as individual people to hear and consider, too. In the passage for today, the Apostle Paul charges the believers in Philippi to rejoice, because the Lord is near. He challenges them to pray in everything, trusting that a life of prayer will give us peace that surpasses understanding. In the context of prayer, though, Paul also tells the Philippians, and by extension us, to think about things that are pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent, and things that are worthy of praise. Paul knows that prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and focusing on things that are good and beautiful are important pieces of our spiritual health and are even signs of maturity. Questions: 1. What are some reasons that you have to rejoice today? 2. In the winter, and during the pandemic, it can be difficult to see and focus on the beauty around us. This isn’t a question, more of a challenge. Today, as you go through your day, look for moments and places that you see beauty, stop and take it in. Then, give thanks to God for beauty that surrounds you. Prayer – This prayer is from William E. Channing, an 19th Century American Pastor O God, animate us to cheerfulness. May we have a joyful sense of our blessings, learn to look on the bright circumstances of our lot, and maintain a perpetual contentedness. Preserve us from despondency and from yielding to dejection. Teach us that nothing can hurt us if, with true loyalty of affection, we keep your commands and take refuge in you. Through Jesus Christ our Savior we pray. Amen. 3 Friday, February 19, 2021 Scripture: I Corinthians 13:1-13 This passage is best known from weddings, because the Apostle Paul reflects beautifully, on movingly, on love.
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