March 2011 Devotionals

Tuesday, March 29

Finding Spiritual Color by Rosina Pohlman

I remember Valentine’s Day this year. Not the easiest holiday for many, but still the last flash of celebratory color (excepting a cheerful display of green in March) that we’ll have for a long time. Outside is a similar lack of color – and the gray-yellow sheen atop the icy embankments of snow doesn’t count (sorry). It’s not surprising that this time of year tends to bring on darker moods and a lack of inspiration. Winter is beautiful in it’s own way, but it just doesn’t engage the spirit like warmth and color do.

A few years ago, two artists took Central Park – long snowy and bare at that point – and filled it with swooping trails of bright orange fabric. Some liked it and some didn’t, but I think everyone could agree that it added a good deal of color to a landscape that had previously lacked it. The color hadn’t come from nature, but through the forces of creativity – an internal light that later became physical.

I think that lent is in large part about locating that internal light. When nature isn’t offering us much, we have to reach inward to find inspiration. It’s an opportunity, really: the dullness of the outside world and lack of pleasurable distractions therein allow us to tap into a meditative state. It allows us to come close to our faith in a way that is more difficult the rest of the year.

Letting go of something usually relied upon is a good way to bring that inner light to focus (and learn how much it is that light, and not the habit/substance/thought pattern that sustains us), but I don’t think it’s the only way. It’s really your choice, how you’re going to go about it.

If the spirit is Central Park in late winter, how will it look, once you’ve added color to it? Can you find something inside of you to light it up?

 

Sunday, March 27

Reborn in Lent by Jon Deak

Sometimes a Lenten season takes on the character of hiding; of experiencing the darkness before dawn. Sometimes it involves self-reflection, or faith, or service, or gifts or all of the above. This year, my heart seems to be yearning for forgiveness; for seeing others in a new light, and perhaps most difficult of all, the forgiveness of oneself.

A few weeks ago, members of our congregation approached me to ask if I would consider taking a position as lay leader of St Paul’s and St Andrew’s.  ”How?” I objected to Ken Guest, “Why, just recently I could barely drag myself to the service, so deep was I in a personal funk. I could hardly focus on anything, didn’t want to greet anyone. . . I just sat there lost in my depression, only somehow held by the gathering of loving spirits around me. The next thing I remember hearing were the soft arpeggios of the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata played, not as Rubinstein or Horowitz would have played them, but as a child would – in fact, our very own Austin Celestin – and at that moment, far more beautifully than anything imaginable.  Our Church is blessed with some magical people. And that morning I, we all, were blessed with the miracle of rebirth.”

“Well,” said Ken, “There’s your answer.”

 

Saturday, March 26

Breathing Through Lent by Dot Savage

I have given them the glory that You gave me:   that they may be one as we are one

I in them.  You in me-  that they may be perfect.    John 17:22-23

Our culture is so activity-oriented and consumer oriented!  We are very unbalanced!

As we know…Lent is a time for getting balanced…

Perhaps “fasting”  - to bring awareness of a balance in consumption;

“giving up” a favorite food, – or candy (like dessert!) – a long held Lenten practice;

Or “giving up” movies or the our usual time before the TV;

Perhaps making a “Lenten resolution” to add something to our routine during Lent-

like adding a dimension of prayer each day: perhaps…Scripture reading with reflection;

Perhaps a quiet period of meditation each morning…or evening;

Perhaps committing oneself to get a bit more involved in charitable ministries

or justice activities.

Whatever!! It is a time for looking at our routines, and getting more balanced!!

Balance – Like breathing, there must be a proper relationship to the “in” and the “out”.

Lent is a time for getting balance…It involves some sacrificing of the usual way of being.

In ancient Aramaic, (Jesus’ language) the word for breath  is “ruah”

Just saying the word “ruah” in fact, involves breath.

But interestingly – that very word for “breath” is also the word for Spirit

So, we breathe in “Spirit” (God) – RUAH – and

we breathe out “Spirit” (RUAH) into the world…

And that mindfulness of our breathing…a so-balanced and constantly present activity -

in-spires us (in-spirits us) to bring-in RUAH and to breathe out God’s Spirit RUAH  into the world, in greater balance! This can be a Lenten AWARENESS!!

 

Friday, March 25

Growing Out Of Lent by Nancy Meyers

I don’t possess great intellect. I am not a natural athlete. I have no particular artistic gifts. My brother cracked the books 2 nights before the exam and got an A-. I had to study for a week for that same grade. I played softball and JV volleyball, but had to drill and drill just to end up on the bench watching my best friend captain the team. I have some talent for drawing and painting, but realized after years of lessons and classes, not enough to earn a living.  I don’t get things on the first try. But what I do ‘get’ is how to study. I know that practice, discipline, curiosity, and perseverance, both physical and mental, move me closer to that place I want to be. Like a running partner once said about my form “it’s not pretty but it gets you there.”

The growth of my faith has followed this same pattern. Even though I was raised in the church there were many of its teachings and practices that I didn’t ‘get’. I neither understood them intuitively nor felt them emotionally. Such was the case with Lent. I didn’t comprehend it so I mangled it up as merely a time of denial, suffered through it unsuccessfully and focused on Easter. I didn’t apply the process that had worked for me in the past. But my curiosity of Lent persisted and my willingness to practice and remain open to the possibilities of Lent, Lent (as it were) began to unfold. In the course of all of this I made daily choices to pray, to reflect on my faith, to take on positive actions and attitudes, and to wait and listen for God’s voice. Now, these have grown beyond Lenten exercises and become part of my daily routine.  Some days they all gel and some days they fall flat but each day they move me forward closer to God and closer to myself.

 

Thursday, March 24

Alone in the Desert by Steve Banks
I spent a good chunk of last year in the desert.  I was with a civilian team trying, with mixed success, to reconstitute local government and improve quality of life in post-war Iraq.  Our base camp was in a remote corner of a sprawling old Iraqi desert air base.
Have you ever spent time out in the desert at night, far from city lights? It’s kind of amazing.
I was struck by how very much more aware I was of the changing night sky, which just seemed so much more present out there. When present, the pale-bright moonlight lit up the desert with ghostly magnificence. On moonless nights, the tapestry of bright star-specks across the inky black was even more stunning. Walking alone at night was solitude that involved all the senses. Aloneness to savor. The coldly brilliant nighttime landscape turned thoughts inward and upward. My heart reached for God far more often out there at night than in other times and places. It felt, after all, that God and I were the only ones out there. I guess we both wanted to talk.
Back home, it’s easy to fill alone time with diversions:  TV, internet, iPod, radio.
Thinking back on it, I realize I should make a point of re-introducing some “desert”
moments
in my life
here too

Wednesday, March 23

Picture Your Heart by Mary Evans
Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
If someone were to show you a picture of what is in your heart right now, do you think the picture would be what you would hope it to be? Or if you are honest with yourself, would it be terribly different from what you would wish to be pictured there? If the picture you find isn’t quite in the colors and composition that you would most wish to share with the world, perhaps this Lenten season is a time that could be set aside to focus your heart. You could dedicate your talents to that which would make your treasured wish shine forth into reality. What would that look like for you? It could be as simple as getting up a few minutes earlier to read a verse of scripture every morning for forty days. Or it could be to pause before responding to someone, so instead of reacting, you can offer the presence of your whole self. Or if it is an improvement in health that would make the treasure in your heart shine forth, how about the positive dedication to making healthy choices?
Where is your treasure? If the answer doesn’t come quickly to mind, perhaps these forty days are the time to find out. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
 

Tuesday, March 22

Centering Down by Julia Kristeller
Lent is a gift. It is a gift that allows us to enter the wilderness of our own soul. It is a time to step out of the chaos of living and seek ways for accessing our core, our essential selves and our deeper spirits in these “waiting moments.”  It is a time to “center down.”
Theologian Howard Thurman says it better than I could in his poem, “How Good to Center Down” from Meditations of the Heart.  I invite you to use this as a meditation for your heart during Lent, to help you access your heart and the heart of God as we learn to walk “with the peace of the Eternal” in our step.
How good it is to center down!
To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!
The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;
Our spirits resound with clashing, with noisy silences,
While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment and the resting lull.
With full intensity we seek, ere the quiet passes, a fresh sense of order in our living; a direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion and bring meaning in our chaos.
We look at ourselves in this waiting moment — the kinds of people we are.
The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives?
What are the motives that order our days?
What is the end of our doings? Where are we trying to go?
Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused?
For what end do we make sacrifices? Where is my treasure; and what do I love most in life?
What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?
Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment.
As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind –A deeper not which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.
It moves directly to the core of our being. Our questions are answered,
With the peace of the Eternal in our step; how good it is to center down!
-Howard Thurman
 

Sunday, March 20

Good News for the Poor   by Jim Melchiorre
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.”     Luke 4: 18 (NRSV)
On January 21, I attended a Bible Study in New York that was webcast around the world, organized by Professor Gerald West of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. West has dedicated his life to contextual Bible study for poor and marginalized people, and he cited the scripture verse listed above several times during his session.
Three days later, I stepped off a plane for a six-day assignment in Haiti. Even the third time around, Haiti is intense.
Every day in Haiti the words of Luke 4:18 kept invading my thoughts.
What does that verse imply for our lives?  Do we believe it?  And, if the Bible really is good news to the poor, does that mean it’s bad news, or at least sobering news, for everybody else?
I can offer no definitive resolution — only a prediction that I will be pondering these things for awhile.
Perhaps it’s a task, maybe it’s the task, for this “later-than-usual” season of Lent.
Saturday, March 19
PSALM 23  by June Quarfordt
This psalm is the “every season” psalm.  No matter where we are in the church calendar it always has meaning.
Recently I stopped into a local church to pray.  The red doors were open and welcoming.  I have been here before.  It is always quiet and I am always alone.  This time I was
surprised to see a pair of shoes jutting out from the end of a pew.  How wonderful…..I was not alone.  This place was a sanctuary for a tired person too.
Sanctuary………what a wonderful word.    Safety, refuge, security, soul-searching, reflection.   Lent is like that.  It calls us into quiet places.  Gods’ arms are held open….. waiting for us to get closer, to take a good look at our lives, to be grateful for life and a parent who always loves us and forgives us.
From “The Message” we read Psalm 23 verses 1-4:
God, my shepherd!  I don’t need a thing.  You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from.  True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.  Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side.  Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure.
Loving God, You are our Sanctuary.  In this time of Lent, pour your Holy Spirit on us as we seek to know and understand you better.   Amen
 

Friday, March 18

Midwinter Hope

by Julia Tulloch

Read Romans 8: 18-25.

“…For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who waits for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”  Romans 8: 24-25

It has been a long winter. I began to think that “In the Bleak Midwinter” would be the song of Lent.  It surely has been the song of the in-between time from Christmas to Lent:

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan.  Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long, long ago*

* delete “long, long, ago” and substitute your own phrase about the current winter. Despite “snow on snow” we hope for the spring ahead, even if we don’t see it through the layers.

I used to think that months like March, the “in-between” months, were gray and weary lacking the luster of new snow and the gentleness of spring. But it is like the season before Easter, Lent, in which our waiting takes root and is strengthened in the dark earth, branch and bulb. As we wait observe the gradually changing season in the days of Lent, the waiting and patience of winter days gives over to the gradually revealed earth, light and bloom.

The patient waiting is a discipline of Lent – waiting in hope, waiting for the risen Christ, our Hope.

Thursday, March 17

What Troubles You? By Rosangela Oliveira

This past Sunday I went to a Brazilian UMC  in New Jersey, because a friend of mine was doing the Bible study on women in the Bible. She was here participating at the UMW delegation to the CSW at UN. Her name is Margarida Ribeiro, and she is a Brazilian Methodist pastor.

She had a powerful list of women, but the story that caught me was of Hagar. How many Hagars Margarida and I heard this week at CCUN? Women in the desert, with their child, vulnerable, looking for alternatives that make sense to their lives. Globally, up to six out of every ten women experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.

What troubles you, Hagar?  (Genesis 21:17) Asked God to Hagar.  There is a child crying. God hears him. Compassion opens a new future for her and her child.

What troubles you? Do not be afraid. God is asking. And the question intends to bring peace and justice. Similar question is throughout the Bible. At the tomb, Women, why are you weeping (John 20:13)?

Both questions take us to a place, which during the Lenten season can be an open door for us to find out what troubles us and let it go at the cross. Don’t be afraid.

Wednesday, March 16

Living in the Wilderness by Bridget Cabrera

Matthew 4:1-11

The wilderness can be represented in our lives in numerous ways.  Sometimes it is represented in the form of a question that is life shaping in some way.  For example where am I to go from here?  What is God calling me to in this time of my life?  Oftentimes these are questions we need to wrestle with for some time to find answers.  At times the wilderness is imposed upon us in ways that are out of our control and often undesirable.  This can take the form of unemployment, the loss of a loved one, or the onset of depression.  Sometimes the wilderness is a place we choose to go. A place we run to to find perspective, guidance, and connection with God.

Whenever I  reflect upon the wilderness and what that represents in my life I always try to remember the eleventh verse of this passage of scripture “Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him”.  Sometimes I wonder if the angels were with Jesus the whole time.  Perhaps in the midst of temptation and fasting Jesus seemed to overlook them somehow.  Whatever type of wilderness you are going through, watch out for the angels in your life.  While sometimes it takes awhile to notice them while we wander, they often point us in the right direction.

 

Tuesday, March 15

Flowing Spring by Adria Allison

A small flowing spring at the top of the mountain

shaped the landscape over the years,

growing bigger with winding twists and turns longing to meet the ocean.

Other water merged, crashed into the banks, forces with speed and fury,

life’s disappointments, hurts and tragedies.

Abandoned, the stream raged and left a path of destruction.

Time,

Slowing down and flowing through the deep canyons

rocks embraced the river changing the direction molding it as it molded them.

Now the stream runs into the ocean of joyful people,

Happiness  is shared and floods out over the waters mixing salt with fresh love.

I enjoy smelling the fresh air.

I welcome the gentle rain, hear the birds whistling in the trees, take in a chai latte, and watch the fireflies light up the midnight sky.

The ocean is in the distance, yet now I focus my eyes on following the Holy Spirit and where she leads me.

Become that gentle flowing stream, if you can just for a minute during this Lenten season, and let the Holy Spirit lead your winding ways towards the ocean of love that is always before you and watch your blessings over flow the outer banks of your life.

Peace be with you. And within you.

 

Monday, March 14

Sowing Love in Cairo by John Forde
K’s sermon a few Sundays ago dealt with the Sermon on the Mount. We, Rosanne and I,  were watching the turmoil in Cairo a few weeks ago, and were very impressed by a young man, who is an executive at Google. He is an Egyptian and a Muslim.  While in jail, he was beaten and tortured by his captors. During an interview, a reporter asked him if he wanted vengeance against his tormentors.  He said, “they are not as enlightened nor as educated as I am.  I forgive them.”  He went on to say the regime would have to suffer the consequences of their actions, but that was not up to him.
Jesus said, ‘turn the other cheek.”  this young Muslim man is a powerful example of exactly what Jesus was trying to get those disciples to understand.  Where there was hatred this man sought love. He is a light for me this Lenten season to remember to seek love in the moments that I don’t always want to, and more importantly in the moments where I can’t.
Because with God all things are possible and with God out of torture and tragedy we can hear words like “I forgive them.”

 

Sunday, March 13

Crutches and a “Lent Frame of Mind” by Linda Barrington

In the fall, Columbus Day to be exact, I broke the 5th metatarsal bone in my foot. I was (yes, stupidly) running, and (yes, even more stupidly) running in high heels, to a catch a subway train. As I took off to sprint through the turnstile, I twisted my ankle with such force that the tendon pulled the bone apart creating two small fractures.

Lent came early (and long) for me this year. My fractured foot forced me to do a lot of reflection and a lot of behavior modification. I couldn’t rush to the office every morning. I couldn’t rush anywhere. I had to rely on the generosity of strangers for a seat on the bus or to hold a door open for me. For more than 40 days I lived in a quasi “Lent State of Mind.”

The weeks of “self-denial” of full mobility have made me think consciously about every single activity in my day. I was given the opportunity to make thoughtful use of long city bus rides; to rediscover reading while others went skiing; to appreciate that I was never without the generosity of strangers; to choose very purposely how I spent my free-time and every errand I ran; to reflect on the blessings in my life. I am thankful that, ultimately, I am able to choose freely what I permanently retain from this period of reflection and of living more simply, slowly, and thoughtfully.

 

 

Saturday, March 12

Practicing Inclusion by Barbara Wheeler

1 Samuel 6:1-13

One of the scriptures from this year’s Lenten lectionary is the story of Samuel anointing David as king. In his search for the new king, Samuel expects to find the strongest, kingly looking fellow. But God has another idea of who will be king, saying in 1 Samuel 6:7: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the God looks on the heart.”

God knows what’s on the inside of us. God knows the character, the heart of who we are. God recognizes the gifts and abilities of the youngest of Jesse’s sons – a lesson for us today about the importance of empowering young people in the church. God sees people’s potential.

And God is inclusive. Samuel asks a question we in the progressive church (should) ask often: “Is everyone here?” Jesse’s answer to Samuel is no. His youngest son, the one who will be king, is out tending the sheep.

As our congregation journeys through Lent together, we might on these questions:

· What is inside your heart during this season of Lent?

· When we look around SPSA, who isn’t here?

· Who doesn’t feel welcome and what might we do to change that?

 

Friday, March 11

Give it Up! by Cary Miller
Matthew 6:27 “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
For Lent last year, I decided to give up worrying. That’s right…worrying. I wanted to really challenge myself.  When I tell people that I gave up worrying, the first question usually is, “How did that work for you?” And I always say, “It was amazing!!!”  I don’t think we usually think to give something up that isn’t materialistic. But, worrying is something that does creep into our everyday lives to the point it becomes habitual and time consuming. That is why I decided to give it up. Of course I was challenged right away….but I was happy to have the opportunity to put to work…or that is, not put to work what I decided to give up. So instead of worrying I did all that I physically could to do rectify the problem and then I let it go.  It was so wonderful.  I found that I had more energy to put towards positive things in my life than waste that energy worrying…and for what?  Worrying doesn’t change anything anyway.  I also just felt better not having the burden of worry on my shoulders.  So, I encourage you, no matter what time of year it is, to think about those thoughts that are dragging you down and choose to give them up.

 

Thursday, March 10

Do-A-Deed-A-Day by Don Struchen

“DO unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
A verse known by most of us.          A statement found in some form in many of the world’s religions.  For our purposes in this Lenten season let’s concentrate on the first word — DO.  A long,  long time ago, back in the dark ages when I was a boy and the Lenten season came around the question always was, “What am I going to give up this year?”  The answer was usually candy or maybe movies.  We didn’t have a lot so didn’t have a lot to choose from for our “great sacrifice”. As if our sacrifice for a few weeks of going without candy could compare with the sacrifice of Jesus.
So, rather than,  what should we give up maybe we should ask, “What can we DO during Lent that would be more in keeping with the life and teachings of Jesus.”  If each one of us during this Lenten season DID just one thing each day for “others” it might  make Jesus much happier than seeing us deprive ourselves of a Hershey bar or handful of M and M’s.   I’d like to suggest  that each day we do one good deed for someone and mark it down on a calendar.  Then on Easter Day look at your calendar and be astonished at all the good you have done to make life better for others.  Let your motto for Lent be “Do-A-Deed-A-Day”  And here are some thoughts to get you started…….
Make a phone call to someone you haven’t been in contact with in years.  Perhaps an old neighbor or distant relative or college classmate.
You are in a restaurant and see a person who looks lonely or needy.  Ask the waitress to bring you his or her check.
With an old fashioned pen or pencil write a note on a card or notepaper to someone who is sick, lonely, alone and would love to get mail that is not asking for a donation.
WSCAH needs volunteers — especially on Tuesday mornings when the trucks come to be unloaded with food for the week.  Give a couple hours of your time.
Make a visit to someone in the hospital, nursing home or retirement facility.
You will find many additional ways to Do-A-Deed-A-Day because God will guide you.
Prayer: We want to do your will, O God so during this Lent we ask that you open our eyes, hearts and minds to see those in need around us.  Then give us the guidance to DO unto others as we would have them do unto us.  In the name of Jesus who sacrificed His life for others.  Amen


Ash Wednesday, March 9th:

Ash Wednesday by Marie Moser
Joel 2: 13.
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful.
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
I wake up to journey to
another moment in time.
I wander through daylight
oppressive and sharp.
The glare of sunshine obscures
an animated vision
of nomads
traveling the roads.
Bleak and leafless branches
outline winter’s stress.
No hint of springtime blossom
suggests their home to come.
I breathe in the chill,
inhale the fear,
proclaim my guilt.
This ritual carries me
where icons dwell
in barely lighted sanctuary .
The ointment of ash is not a balm,
instead proclaims the first foot fall
of dialogue and confession.
This is who I am:
betrayer, denier, false witness.
No apostle, no disciple, no saint.
Guarding neither man nor God.
Alone upon the journey
nothing saves me,
when sudden kindness
revives my yearly penance.
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