Saturday, April 19

Emptiness comes between Good Friday and the Resurrection. Total emptiness . . . darkness . . . nothingness. A full day and night of it.

Life changes and we experience transitions. The pattern of those transitions is the same: endings, emptiness and new beginnings. Death, dormancy and new life are parts of all creation's cycle -- given by the Creator.

What happens in the emptiness? Relief from pain of endings . . . waiting feeling the depth of nothing . . . fear of the unknown.

God is there in the emptiness and God is constant. The Creator has always brought new Life out of death. We can embrace the emptiness, letting go of fear and patiently waiting through the inner preparation for what is to come.

Faith takes us through the emptiness to promised new beginnings and to the Resurrection.

Peg Rosenkrands (1990)

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For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

Dear God, in the certainties of nature, help us to see Thee. Plant beauty in our hearts and put a song on our lips that we may impart faith and joy to those who can no longer sing. Help us to put our trust in Thee, even when skies are darkest, knowing that nothing can harm our souls. Amen

From my mother's book of devotions and dated April 23, 1965.

Eleanor Osborn (1990)

Good Friday, April 18

Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Psalm 80:3

Psalm 80 is a hymn calling for Israel’s restoration. The refrain, in verse 3, is repeated in vss. 7 and 19. The message is clear. A desperate people, presumably in exile, want God to remember his covenant with the people of Israel. God is held responsible for the bad times the people are now experiencing. God is felt to be inattentive, absent. We, too, have times when we feel abandoned by God--times when we feel vulnerable, exploited, weak, with death and/or destruction on our heels. We wonder if God is still with us. But like the Psalmist, even though we may wrongly hold God responsible for our troubles, we recognize that God is the only reliable solution for our problems.

Jesus on the cross understood what it feels like to be abandoned. He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me from the words of my groaning?” (Psalm 22) But Jesus knows that on the other side of his misery and destruction lies liberty and eternal life. Jesus also knew (and taught) that true freedom exists only in and through our relationship with God. When I feel God is absent, I have to listen carefully for God’s voice and ask myself, “How does God want me to serve others in these present circumstances.” As Jesus spoke to the thief suffering next to him on a cross, I believe Jesus wants us, out of our weakness, to reach out to fellow sufferers and be a caring presence.

Prayer: Dear Lord, our God, even when we feel forsaken we are not. Grant us discernment to see your activity among us and give us courage to be part of it, even and especially in our weakest moments. Amen

Ernest Krug (2014)

Maundy Thursday, April 17

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, ‘You are not also one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not.’ One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters. It was early in the morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover.

John 18:25-28

DENIAL OF JESUS

Simon Peter had not the courage to admit he was one of Jesus' disciples and denied him when questioned by the servant of the high priest.

Are there times in our lives when we too deny Jesus? Perhaps not by word of mouth but rather by lack of action, in going about doing good, as we have been commanded.

Are we lacking in faith to follow these commands? Recall the words of the well-known hymns, "Faith of our Fathers and "My faith looks up to thee, thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine."

Prayer: O Lord, help me to be strong in my faith and live it daily, by word and deed. Amen.

Verna Smith (1991)

Wednesday, April 16

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you refused!

Luke 13:33-35

 

Who were these murderous children who

stoned the prophets? why didn't

they recognize the divine

longing to gather,

embrace and

LOVE?

Not you! Not me!

But ... Would I throw

a stone? Have I recognized

the longing He has for me to

set self aside and snuggle under His wing?
 

~ Anonymous (1990)

 

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I WONDER

You know, Lord, how I serve You

With great emotional fervor

In the limelight.

You know how eagerly I speak for You

At a women's club.

You know how I effervesce when I promote

A fellowship group.

You know my genuine enthusiasm

At a Bible Study.
 

But how much would I react, I wonder

If you pointed to a basin of water

And asked me to wash the calloused feet

Of a bent and wrinkled old woman

Day after day

Month after month

In a room where nobody saw

And nobody knew.
 

This “earthy" poem is from a book entitled TeII Me Again Lord, I Forget by Ruth Calkin. It has meant a great deal to me!

Delpha Brown (1991)

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My favorite prayers:

O God, when we weep your hands wipe the tears from our eyes. When we hunger and thirst, you invite us to your table until we are errant no more. When we are frightened, you enter into our darkness and hold us against all harm. When we are faithless, you forgive and welcome us back and kill for us a fatted calf.

O God, on whom we count when we are in need, remind us of our side of the Covenant that of being your People, of feeding your sheep.

O God, forgive our pious platitudes, our unending excuses for not giving. Reach into our hearts and wipe away the dust until once more we can clearly see your love written there. Amen.

 

Evelyn Gehres (1991)

Tuesday, April 15

Be still and know that I am God.

Psalm 45:10

 

When a large family with thirteen children gathers around the dinner table, you can imagine the clamor! A guest who had joined such a family for a meal turned to the mother and asked in a loud voice, “How in the world do you get their attention?"

"I whisper," the mother answered.

Today's loud, brash, warring world is not much different than the one in which Jesus walked. There was strife in the Middle East. people were treated without dignity and harshly. There was hunger, poverty, illness, confusion then as there is now. But through Jesus, God whispered a message of Good News---"You are loved with a love that will not let me go!"

We can wonder if such a whisper is enough in a world of greed, stress, dishonesty, war, and loss. Yet it is there. The power of God's whisper is evident---in the stillness of creation, in the stillness of a human gesture of love, in the stillness of prayer, and in the stillness of a favorite scripture passage.

The amazing shout of God that says, "I so love this world that I give my beloved Son" still whispers through the ages.

Prayer: God of Grace, help me quiet myself and find times this day to stop and be still and know that you are God. Amen.
 

Katie Thoresen (1991)

Monday, April 14

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.  In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations,    and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,    and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.  O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Isaiah 2:1-5

 

If you were in church on a particular Sunday last summer, you'11 remember watching a single red balloon as it floated lazily across the sanctuary ceiling, high above the choir. An escapee from a wedding the previous day, it simply followed the path of air conditioning currents -- until it fell into the grip of a recessed lighting fixture. Not even Louise's fine sermon could compete with the magnificent, inevitable POP! that resounded throughout the whole building.

I often return to this balloon image in my private meditations. The desultory bobbing reminds me all too often of myself as I float from one activity to another -- all very worthy and meaningful, of course! Sometimes I feel helpless in the face of schedules, concerns, desires, and hopes. I need a much greater power to hold me and center me, just as the balloon was finally captured by the heat of the light.

But what is the result of being exposed to the centering energy of God? After all, the balloon exploded. And an explosion is jarring and disturbing, isn't it? Well, it can be, unless it's fun and delightful, which in the case of the balloon, it was. Laughter rippled throughout the sanctuary that day, shaking us out of our usual Sunday morning expectations. Everyone enjoyed the unexpected change. I've concluded that it's up to me to expose myself to the heat & light of God. That energy is warming, enveloping, and important to my health in every way. And the explosion? It's not for me to worry about. I'll just let it be the surprise that is meant to be.

Prayer: As Jesus absorbed your light, O God, He exploded into unsettling words and deeds, disturbing death, and finally, delightful everlasting life. Give me the courage and patience today to sit for a time in your light. Center me in your love so that all I do will flow freely from You. Amen.

Kathryn Treece (1991)

Palm Sunday, April 13

I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.

Luke 19:40

In this temporary sanctuary

Granted permanence in the sacred imagination

We arrive as ruins yet unearthed

Hollowed and broken scraps

Cherished monuments to our Creator and Culmination

To worship One as foreign as our self-knowledge

And as familiar as our foundered dreams

Who will assemble our fragments

Into a cracked and fragile whole

Dig us up, O God,

And sort us out

Interpret our meaning and usefulness

To those who will come after

But stymie the worship of silent stones

Monuments to men's mercurality.

Rather, out of the cracked lips of these placid rocks

Narrate our entwined history

And suffer us our partiality.

Prayer

May we not be silent:

In our praise,

in our cry for justice,

in our pleas for peace.

May we not be silent:

In our words of love,

in our questions and doubts,

in our sorrow and anger.

May we not be silent until your Kingdom comes

in final victory over all creation. Amen.

Amy Morgan (2014)