Tuesday of Holy Week
(3/22/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 12:20-36

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

In the thirteenth verse of the fourth chapter of the first letter of Peter, we read,

"But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"All who suffer and carry heavy burdens are called by Jesus to cast off their yoke and take up his, which is easy, and to bear his burden, which is light. His yoke and his burden are the cross.

"Walking under this cross is not misery and despair, but refreshment and peace for one’s soul; it is the highest joy. Here we no longer walk beneath our self-made laws and burdens, but rather under the yoke of him who knows us and who himself walks along with us under this yoke. Under his yoke, we are assured of his proximity and fellowship.

"When a disciple picks up his or her own cross, it is actually Christ himself who is thereby found."

What are the "self-made laws and burdens" that we labor under? Do we know the joy of working under Jesus' yoke?

In the first verse of the seventy-first psalm, we read,

"In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"There is no hope in denial or avoidance, for ourselves or anyone else. New life can only be born out of the seed planted in crushed soil. Indeed, as the psalmist notes in the seventeenth verse of the fifty-first psalm, 'The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.'

"What keeps us from opening ourselves both to the reality of the world around us and to God’s healing hand? Could it be that we cannot accept our powerlessness and are only willing to see those wounds that we can heal?

"Could it be that we do not want to give up our illusion that we are masters over our world, and therefore, create our own Disneyland where we can make ourselves believe that all events of life are safely under control?

"Could it be that our blindness and deafness are signs of our own resistance to acknowledging that we are not the Lord of the Universe? Often we don't realize how much we resent our powerlessness."

Let us pray:

Lord, during this Holy Week when you were rendered powerless for our sake, we will strive to accept our own weaknesses and to depend on You.

In a few moments of silence this day we will remember times in our lives when Your strength became clear because of our weaknesses. Amen.

Monday of Holy Week
(3/21/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 12:1-11

Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15

In the twenty-third verse of the ninth chapter of the gospel according to Luke, we read,

"Then he said to them all, 'If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"Our cross is already there, ready, from the very beginning; we need only take it up.

"But to keep us from believing that we must simply choose any arbitrary cross, or simply pick our suffering as we will, Jesus emphasizes that each of us has his or her own cross, ready, appointed, and appropriately measured by God. Each of us is to bear the measure of suffering and rejection specifically appointed for us. And the measure is different for each of us. God deems some worthy of great suffering, and to them he grants the blessing of martyrdom.

"Others he does not allow to be tempted beyond their strength.

"The cross is not the horrible end of a pious, happy life, but stands rather at the beginning of community with Jesus Christ.

"Every call of Christ leads to death...death awaits us, namely death in Jesus Christ, the dying away of our old form of being human in Jesus' call.... Suffering is the mark of the disciples of Jesus Christ. The disciple is not above the teacher.

"Discipleship is...having to suffer. Thus did Luther count suffering among the signs of the real church.

Let us pray:

Lord, who can face the thought of suffering and rejection? We know we cannot without your grace. Help us to be the kinds of disciples you have called us to be. Amen.

In the sixth verse of the forty-second chapter of Isaiah, God proclaims,

"I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations...."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"When all is said and done, what we must learn above all is to offer ourselves -- imperfections and all -- to God. If we keep waiting until we are 'worthy' of God, we will move farther rather than closer to Him. It is through our broken, vulnerable, mortal ways of being that the healing power of the eternal God becomes visible to us.

"We are called each day to present to the Lord the whole of our lives--our joys as well as sorrows, our successes as well as failures, our hopes as well as fears. We are called to do so with our limited means, our stuttering words and halting expressions.

"In this way we will come to know in mind and heart the unceasing prayer of God’s Spirit in us. Our many prayers are in fact confessions of our inability to pray. But they are confessions that enable us to perceive the merciful presence of God."

Let us pray:

Lord, instead of worrying about the times when we can't pray and when we're discouraged, we will try to turn them into opportunities to trust You alone. Amen.

Saturday, Fifth Week of Lent
(3/19/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 11:28-44

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 12:13:1-14

In the twenty-eighth verse of the eleventh chapter of the gospel according to Matthew, we hear Jesus say,

"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"Our rest, our peace, our refreshment, and our deliverance is Jesus Christ alone. He alone is truly human. And in this true humanity he is God. He is our deliverer and our peace and our rest. 'And I will give you rest.' Everything hinges on this 'I.'

Not an idea, not a word, not a preacher, but 'I,' the man Jesus who knows us all--who suffered and struggled through everything we have to suffer through, the man Jesus, our Redeemer.

"There are two possible ways to help persons who are oppressed by a burden. Either you take the whole load off of them so that in the future they have nothing more to carry. Or you help them to carry it by making the carrying easier for them.

"Jesus does not want to go the first way with us. The load is not taken from us. Jesus who carried his own cross knows that we are destined to be burden carriers and the bearers of our own cross.

"Moreover, he knows that we are sanctified only under this burden and not without this burden. Jesus does not take from us the burden God has laid upon us. But he makes the burden easier for us by showing us how we must carry it."

Let us pray:

Lord, help us carry our crosses without complaining and bitterness. Amen.

In the twenty-seventh verse of the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel, God speaks of his relationship with the children of Israel, proclaiming that,

"My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Henri Nouwen writes,

"Above all, praying means to be accepting toward God who is always new, always different. For God is a deeply moved God whose heart is greater than mine. The open acceptance of prayer in the face of an ever-new God makes me free. In prayer, I am constantly on the way, on pilgrimage. On my way I meet more and more people who show me something about him whom I seek. I'll never know if I've reached him. But I do know that he will always be new and there is no reason for fear.

Let us pray:

Lord, we believe that in all our prayers you are calling us to new lives. Take away our fears so we can respond to your call in service to others. Amen.

Friday, Fifth Week of Lent
(3/18/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 11:1-27

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 12:12-21

In the third through the fifth verses of the fifth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, he says,

"And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us,

"because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"Today we in the church know far too little about the unique blessing of enduring and bearing--to bear, not to cast off, to bear, but neither to collapse, to bear as Christ bore the cross, to endure beneath it, and there, underneath, to find Christ. When God imposes a burden, those who are patient bend their hands and believe it is good to be humbled thus--to endure beneath this burden.

"But to endure beneath it!

"To remain firm, to remain strong as well--that is what the word means, not anemic, giving in, shrinking back, enamored of suffering--but rather to gain strength under that burden as under God’s grace, to preserve God’s peace with unshakable constancy.

"God's peace is found among the patient.

"The gradation from suffering to hope is no self-evident earthly truth. Luther said that one could very well put it quite differently, namely, that suffering produces impatience, and impatience produces obstinacy, and obstinacy produces despair, and despair disappoints us completely. Indeed, thus must it be if we lose God’s peace, when we prefer an earthly peace with the world to peace with God, when we love the security of our lives more than we love God.

"Then must tribulation become our ruin."

Do we value patience? Do we pray for the grace of responding patiently to trials and tribulations?

In the thirteenth verse of the twentieth chapter of Jeremiah, the prophet proclaims,

"Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"The children of God need to support, protect, and hold one another to God’s heart. You belong to a minority in a large, hostile world. As you become more aware of your true identity as a child of God, you will also see more clearly that many forces that try to convince you that all things spiritual are false substitutes for the real things of life.

"When you are temporarily pulled out of your true self, you can have the sudden feeling that God is just a word, prayer is a fantasy, sanctity is a dream, and eternal life is an escape from true living. Jesus was tempted in this way, and so are we.

"Do not trust your thoughts and feelings when you are pulled out of yourself. Return quickly to your true place, and pay no attention to what tricked you. Gradually you will come to be more prepared for these temptations, and they will have less and less power over you. Protect your innocence by holding on to the truth: you are a child of God and deeply loved."

Let us pray:

Lord, may we thank you for the many ways your Spirit has enriched our lives, especially in guiding our lives of prayer, placing within our hearts the confidence that you have heard every prayer we have ever uttered. Amen.

Thursday, Fifth Week of Lent
(3/17/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 10:19-42

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 12:7-11

In the twenty-second verse of the fourteenth chapter of Acts, we read that,

"There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, 'It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.'"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer exclaims,

"How much grumbling and unwillingness, how much contradiction and hatred of suffering has come to light among us!

"How much denial, stepping aside, how much fear whenever the cross of Jesus began to cast even the tiniest shadow over our personal lives! How often have we believed ourselves capable of preserving our peace with God while simultaneously avoiding the suffering, renunciation, maliciousness, and threat to our existence!

"And the very worst is that we have had to hear repeatedly from our Christian brothers that they despise one another's suffering...

"God will take no one into his kingdom whose faith has not proven genuine amid tribulation and suffering. This is why we must learn to cherish our tribulation.

"The tribulation that seems so harsh and abhorrent in our lives is in truth full of the most wonderful treasures a Christian can find.

"It is like an oyster with a pearl inside, like a deep mine shaft in which one finds one metal after another the deeper one descends into it; first ore, then silver, and finally gold. Suffering produces patience, and then experience, and then hope. Whoever avoids suffering is throwing away God's greatest gift along with it."

Let us pray:

Lord, help us to learn what Christian suffering has to teach--and to cherish those lessons. Amen.

In the fourth verse of the one hundred fifth psalm, we read,

"Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"The prayer of little faith is where you hold fast to the concrete of the present situation in order to win a certain security.

"In prayer of little faith, you aim at getting what you ask for, any way you can, instead of being directed toward the person who might or might not be able to make that wish come true.

"The man or woman of little faith prays like a child who wants a present from Santa Claus, but who becomes frightened and runs away as soon as he gets his hands on the package. He would rather have nothing more to do with the old bearded gentleman.

"All the attention is on the gift and none on the one who gives it. It?s as though you were putting on blinders and your spiritual life is reduced to a beeline toward what you want."

Let us pray:

Lord, most of our prayer life has meant begging for gifts we want. Teach us to focus on you, the giver of gifts. Amen.