Sign of the Cross
Read: Galatians 6:14
Have you ever counted the number of crosses in your church? Ours has
10 just in the chancel area. In your community? In the Bible-belt South,
I counted 114 in 10 blocks before giving up. I have crosses in my home,
my office, and my jewelry box. But my favorite cross is one I carry with
me: the sign of the cross. It's a "prayer in action," which
goes back to the early centuries of the church: Using my thumb and first
two fingers (three reflecting the Trinity), I touch my forehead, middle
chest, left, then right shoulder with the words: "In the name of
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
In making this cross, I show my faith in the Triune God and my
redemption in Christ crucified. Making the sign of the cross, I remember
that I am sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with Christ's cross at my
baptism. With this cross, the pastor assures me of forgiveness of sins,
blesses the Holy Supper, and gives the benediction.
During Lent, as we reflect on the cross, we join with Christians
through the centuries by making the sign of the cross, a practice Martin
Luther encouraged during home devotions. The cross shows the cost of our
redemption: the holy, innocent, bitter suffering and death of our
beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. I claim that I am His and He is mine under
the sign of the cross.
Prayer: Help me grow in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Response: Practice making the sign of the cross during your
devotions today.
March for Rights
Read: Galatians 3:26-28
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the march for voting rights, an
important date in my city of Selma, and the nation. On March 7, 1965,
200 African-Americans began a peaceful march seeking the right to vote.
As they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, they were met by
state troopers with police dogs, tear gas, and billy clubs. National
networks interrupted programming to show the violent images of troopers
attacking the innocent marchers in what became known as "Bloody
Sunday." Five days later President Lyndon Johnson proposed the
Voting Rights Act to Congress.
The Civil Rights Movement brought to the nation's attention the
terrible and dangerous inequities for African-Americans living in the
South. Men and women of faith, led by Christ's freeing Gospel, risked
everything to create a better world. I am proud that many members of my
church were part of this movement, seeking rights for all guaranteed by
our nation's constitution but denied in practice. I am proud to belong
to a faith where my Savior showed no partiality and offered saving grace
and mercy to all.
It seems appropriate to celebrate the Civil Rights movement during
Lent, because it is at the foot of the cross that we all stand equal—equally
sinners, equally saved. In Jesus Christ our Redeemer we find the power
to love all people despite the cost.
Prayer: Prince of Peace, give us the power to stand up for
mercy and justice. In Your name, Amen.
Response: Read the Martin Luther King Jr. letter from a
Birmingham jail.
Soul Food
Read: John 6:48
While in Mississippi, I helped a friend clean out her aunt's freezer.
When we lifted the lid, I almost fainted. There, sitting on top of bags of
flour and cornmeal, was an entire pig's head. A city girl, I wasn't used to
food staring back at me. "Wonderful," my friend said. "I'll
cook you up some jowls and dressing. You'll love it!"
Many cultures use "every part of the pig but the oink," but for
my neighbors, cooking pigs' feet, tails, jowls, and intestines went back to
days of slavery, when those were the only parts of the pig they got.
Today it's called "Soul Food" and you can find it on many
tables, North and South. A distinctly African-American cuisine, Soul Food
celebrates delicious meals prepared creatively from little or nothing. With
the right touch, cooks we know can make even the smelly mess of empty pig's
intestines - chitterlings - taste good.
During Lent we remember our own need for "Soul Food"—the
Lord's Supper. Jesus gives us His body and blood to keep us in Him now and
eternally (see John 6:54, 56). Through Christ, we are forgiven and freed to
reach others with His all-embracing love.
True to her word, my friend invited me for hog jowls and dressing. I
closed my eyes and tasted the most marvelous melt-in-the-mouth dressing I've
ever eaten. In the Lord's Supper, refreshing food for my soul, I "taste
and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8).
Prayer: I come O Savior, to Your table, for weak and weary is my
soul; You, Bread of Life, alone are able to satisfy and make me whole. Amen.
Response: Give bread to the world through Lutheran World Relief.
Good Samaritans
Read: John 4:9-10
Some friends showed us a side of our Southern city that was disturbing:
the back door to the doctor's clinic, the restaurant that refused them
service, the segregated movie balcony, the drinking fountain designated
"colored." Thankfully official segregation is over, but its
shadows remain.
When Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water, He went against
discriminatory custom. Jews did not touch a Samaritan's cup, much less drink
out of it. Yet Jesus not only asked for the cup to drink from, but talked to
a woman. At a hot dusty well in an obscure village, Jesus gave her living
water of eternal life in Him. Through her, He reached her whole community.
It is painful to remember the prejudice that treated others as less than
full citizens entitled to every right and privilege of this great nation.
This is clearly the work of man, not God. Jesus shows us boundless love.
Through Him, we can tear down walls that divide and build bridges of love
and understanding.
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or
Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given one Spirit to drink (1
Corinthians 12:13).
Prayer: Send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, Gracious Father, to
rule and direct us according to Your will in Christ Jesus, Amen.
Response: Dig deep; confess your own prejudices that might exist.
Lessons from the Pecan Tree
Read: Luke 12:33-34
Southerners say to plant your garden when the pecan trees bud out. Late
bloomers, pecan trees bud when the freeze is over and warmer days are
guaranteed.
As the pecan tree buds this month, it pushes off the last clinging pecans––scattering
them across the ground long after pecan harvest has ended. Even though new
life is not visible, it sheds the old to make way. Pecan trees show that to
put on the finery of new life, you must get rid of the past that clings.
What an excellent reminder during Lent to cast off the sins that cling so
that we can experience the budding of new life. And Jesus offers a way:
"Sell your possessions ... give to the poor."
Following Jesus to Mississippi, we had to sell the house we had renovated
on a tree-lined street within walking distance of our church and a shop that
sold homemade bratwurst. I couldn't see what good could come from losing
something I cherished. Then I met—and fell in love with—the children in
The Quarters. Children crowded into our three-room rented house, filling it
with love.
Today a Lenten pecan sits on my desk. It reminds me that nothing in this
world is as precious as the new life we have in Jesus, giver of salvation
and all true treasure.
Prayer: Merciful God, what You ordain is always good! Your will is
just and holy. Direct my life and help me to follow, meek and lowly. In
Jesus' name. Amen.
Response: Sell a possession that possesses you. Give the money
away.
Creche
Read: 2 Corinthians 9:8
I have a small collection of creches
made by craftsmen around the world I keep out all year. I like to see the
holy family as crafted by Asian, South American, and African artists; it
helps me see the Savior born for all nations.
One morning I found the Peruvian baby Jesus on the floor with both hands
broken off. Apparently my new puppy had been "investigating" the
manger. I immediately found another location for my nativities. Later I saw
a message in the mess: We are to be Christ's hands in the world, sharing the
Good News of His salvation and showing His love.
Too often my prayers focus on what I need (forgiveness, always; help,
often) or for His solution to problems that seem beyond my reach. Not often
enough do I offer my hands to God, to serve His people in this place. During
Lent we focus on the passion of our Lord, the nails that pierced His hands,
His feet. We see His love stretched out on the cross, but sometimes we
forget that our resurrected Lord gives us, His disciples, the power and
command to be His hands, doing His work.
We can serve Him by taking His Gospel into all lands and neighborhoods
through our words and actions. For me, that means supporting missionaries
around the world and serving Him in my own community. As I love my neighbor,
I love my Savior.
Prayer: O Dearest Lord, Thy precious hands with nails were pierced for
me. O pour Your Spirit on my hands that they may work for Thee. Amen.
Response: How can you be Christ's hands today?
Songs for the Soul
Read: Psalm 108:1
He grew up in a world of war for most of his young life and early
adulthood. Soldiers burned his hometown. Later he and his wife lost four
of their five children. Today is the birthday of hymn writer Paul
Gerhardt (1607-1676), one of the most cherished poets of the early
Lutheran church. His hymns, still found in our hymnals, reflect a deep
faith forged in the fire of trials and tribulations
As a pastor, Gerhardt practiced the Christian love and charity he
preached, never turning a beggar, orphan, or widow away from his door.
One historian described him as "a man of faith ready to dare or
suffer all things for God's sake." Despite the troubles he knew all
his life, his heart poured love of God in Christ, still enriching our
worship over 300 years later: "Why should cross and trial grieve
me? Christ is near with His cheer, Never will He leave me. Who can rob
me of the Heaven That God's Son for my own To my faith hath given?"
During Lent, we remember his hymns of great faith lighting his way
through darkness: "O love, how cheering is thy ray! All pain before
thy presence flies; Care, anguish, sorrow, melt away Wherever thy
healing beams arise. O Jesus, nothing may I see, Nothing desire or seek,
but Thee! Jesus, Thy boundless love for me."
Prayer: "O Jesus, nothing may I see, Nothing desire or
seek, but Thee! In suffering be Thy love my peace, In weakness be Thy
love my power; And when the storms of life shall cease, Jesus in that
important hour, In death as life be Thou my guide, And save me, Who for
me hast died." Amen.
Response: Look for Gerhardt's hymns in the hymnal and take
time to read them.
|
Prayer Intercession Page
Prayer Requests
Archives
Send Your Thoughts
and Feedback
Browse the Archives