SATURDAY, APRIL 3

John 19:25  Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Last year, I had a miscarriage.  It’s a peculiar kind of grief.  It’s a life that was, but wasn’t.  The grief, more than anything, is over what never will be.  We could have other children, but we will never have this child.

As I waited two days for the procedure to remove the pregnancy, my body felt like a tomb.  I was a bearer of death.  When I awoke from the procedure, I began to sob.  Even though the child was dead, there was some comfort in cradling that death inside me.  Once it was gone, I felt truly empty.

I thought of Mary, bearing a child destined for death.  She held her son, helped him grow, only to watch him die in a cruel and painful way.  I used to wonder how she could sit at the foot of the cross and watch him die.  I now imagine the worst part of it all was when they rolled a great stone in front of his body, sealing him off from her forever.

One blessing is that my miscarriage happened in the spring.  As I grieved, I was surrounded by new life everywhere I looked.  Trees budded and flowers bloomed.  My comfort, and the comfort of us all, is how God continuously brings life out of death.  Plants die to fertilize the soil for new growth.  God is this constant generative force, always promising, and always delivering new life.  God rolled the stone away from Jesus’ tomb, bringing forth the promise of eternal life for us all.  Even in the tomb there is the promise of life.  

Prayer:  Life-giving God, we thank you that nothing, not even death, can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Amy Morgan

GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 2

Hebrews 10:23-25  Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

On Good Friday when we remember the crucifixion of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we also remember how bleak the hope of eternal life in Christ must have seemed to the disciples on that day.  What the disciples didn’t yet know that day was that Jesus would be raised from the dead on the third day, forever dismissing the notion that the life of every soul ends with death.  We now live with the knowledge (and hope) that our relationship with God in Christ is permanent.  And yet, that hope is fragile, and we easily question God’s love for us when we feel alone and in pain.  So the author of Hebrews reminds us that we are a community of faith and need each other.  We must “provoke one another to love and good deeds,” and we must meet together for the purpose of “encouraging one another.”

God gives us grace to meet God’s demands upon us, but God does this through a community of faith.  We owe it to ourselves and to our brothers and sisters in Christ to “be there” for one another, to be agents of God’s grace for one another.  Wednesday Night Connect, Wednesday Evening Worship, Saturday Worship, Sunday Worship, Bible study groups, Presbyterian Women, choirs, Focus, Covenant groups, Shawl Ministry, “Dinner for Eight,” and other gatherings of believers present opportunities to give and receive God’s grace as we “see the Day approaching.”  Individually, we tend to feel inadequate to the task of being faithful to God, but together we become the body of Christ in the world.

Prayer:  God of grace, forgive our self-centered resistance to being the body of Christ.  Continue to call us into communion with you and with one another so that we might “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.”  Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who has saved us from ourselves to be members of his body, the Church.  Amen.

Ernest Krug

MAUNDY THURSDAY, APRIL 1

Luke 22:19  Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”

Come to the Table

When we celebrate Communion, we are reminded that Jesus invites everyone to the Table.  In the hymn Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ (The Presbyterian Hymnal, #514) the second stanza begins, “Christ is able to make us one, at the table He sets the tone, teaching people to live to bless, love in word and in deed express.”

When we come to the table, we are reminded that there are folks missing.  We read of people in churches who have been turned away from Communion because of inappropriate behavior or left out because they cannot eat gluten or because they don't have the cognitive ability to understand the mystery of Communion (who does?).

One of our priorities at FPC is to expand the breadth of the Table by offering gluten-free Communion elements, addressing mobility issues of coming to the Table, and inviting people of all ages and abilities to lead and participate in worship.  We continue to learn that our church family is complete only when everyone gathers at the Table together – when our Leader Dog for the Blind puppy-in-training yelps in an unexpected interlude, when our friend Terry reads Scripture in Braille, when Walt can find a place to easily maneuver his walker, and when children of all abilities are welcomed in worship with their unique needs and gifts of joyful noise.

When we are able to partake together of the bread and cup, God gives us a glimpse of the mystery of wholeness, and we begin to understand that this is indeed the joyful feast where “Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again, pass the Word around: loaves abound!”

Prayer:  Gracious God, yours is an open Table of welcome and hospitality for all people in the name of Jesus Christ.  At the Table of Christ all are received with gracious love and open arms.  Let us share the means of your grace in the name of Christ who makes us one.  Amen.

Cindy Merten

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31

Acts 2:22  Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know-this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.  But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

God gave us the gift of Jesus Christ and salvation.  Even though man tried to destroy him by crucifixion, he rose through the will of God, and will forever be our spiritual leader and savior.  How defining this gift from God is!  How can one not have unquestionable faith in God and his Son.  How fortunate we are to receive this gift, to be able to mourn Jesus' crucifixion, but joyously celebrate his rising on Easter and know that he is with us in our daily lives.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, as we offer our daily prayers to you, please know how grateful we are for all your blessings, but especially the gift of your Son and the peace of knowing that we have eternal salvation through Him.  Amen.

Barbara Buchanan

TUESDAY, MARCH 30

Matthew 6:25-34  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry … Look at the birds of the air … Consider the lilies of the field … Do not worry about tomorrow.”

Psalm 23:5  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

A Parable and a Zen Story

Henry Nouwen, in his book Reaching Out, helps us to move from 'hostility' to 'hospitality'.  It's not too easy.  He advises, in the words of the parable, to not worry about our needs.  That's not easy either.  To illustrate how we might go about it he tells us the story of a Zen master:

Nan-in, a Japanese Zen master during the Meiji era (1868-1912) received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.  Nan-in served tea.  He poured his visitor's cup full, and kept pouring.  The professor watched the overflow until he could no longer restrain himself.  “It is overfull.  No more will go in!”  “Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of opinions and speculations.  How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

For all of Isaiah's talk about punishment of both foreign and domestic hostility, both his and Christ's vision of the Kingdom of God is one of overwhelming hospitality.  Nouwen continues,

To convert hostility into hospitality requires the creation of the friendly empty space where we can reach out to our fellow human beings and invite them to a new relationship.  Just as we cannot force a plant to grow but can take away the weeds and stones which prevent its development, so we cannot force anyone to such a personal and intimate change of heart, but we can offer the space where such a change can take place.

Following Dr Nouwen's advice is perhaps harder than we like to consider, but not following it is to ignore the lessons of both the prophet and the Messiah.  Agree?

Prayer:  Father God, truly our cup does overflow.  Help us to empty ourselves of pride and self-importance so that you have room to fill us with the joy of the relationships for which we were born in your image.  Amen.

Ross Stuntz

MONDAY, MARCH 29

Psalm 102:6-7  I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.  I watch, and am as a sparrow alone.

Lost
(by Janet Munson)

Paddling but going nowhere.
Quacking urgently while spinning round and round.
A distressed lonely calling… no replies.

This describes a young merganser
we observed near the shore of Lake Huron
from our cottage deck in July.

How could WE be of help?
Where would WE find his family?
How even then would WE re-unite them?

Many minutes later
emerging slowly down-the-shoreline
came the muted, then distinct
sounds of quacking
as his family paddled toward him,
finally greeting; necks entwined
proceeding on their journey.

Prayer:  Unike the lost and lonely duck on Lake Huron last summer, may we patiently wait when lost; confident of Your return to our midst.  Amen.

Janet Munson

PALM SUNDAY, MARCH 28

Psalm 150:6  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord

Psalm 46:10  Be still and know that I am God

Breath Prayer
(by blogger Christine Sine)

Breathe in the breath of God
        Breathe out your cares and concerns
Breathe in the love of God
        Breathe out your doubts and despairs
Breathe in the life of God
        Breathe out your fears and frustrations
We sit quietly before the One who gives life and love to all creation
We sit in awe of the One who formed us in our mothers’ wombs
We sit at peace surrounded by the One who fills every fibre of our being

Breathe in the breath of God
        Breathe out your tensions and turmoil
Breathe in the love of God
        Breathe out your haste and hurry
Breathe in the life of God
        Breathe our your work and worry
We sit quietly before the One who gives life and love to all creation
We sit in awe of the One who formed us in our mothers’ wombs
We sit at peace surrounded by the One who fills every fibre of our being

Prayer:  Spirit God, with your breath you gave life to all creation.  Fill us, renew us, and restore us with each breath we take so that we may praise your name and sing of your glory.  Amen.

Sheila Roebke