March 7

55, 138, 139:1-17(18-23)
Deut. 11:18-28
Heb. 5:1-10
John 4:1-26

Psalm 138
1I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;
2I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything.
3On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.
4All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth.
5They shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.
6For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.
7Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me.
8The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

This psalm is a wonderful prayer of praise. It can be easy during Lent to think only in terms of confession and denial. We are fasting and taking on extra study disciplines, but today we are blessed by this jubilant song of praise and the dramatic reminder that “the Lord will fulfill his purpose for me”.

What do you think of when you read those words? Have you stopped to consider that God has a purpose for you? You are part of God’s plan for the Kingdom. That’s a pretty amazing statement. The psalmist reviews ways in which God has helped him (or her). It is quite a litany of strengthening faith, lifting up the lowly, saving of life and deliverance.
I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul
…though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies
…you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me

God has a plan for each of us and will not “forsake the work of [God’s] hands.” When we turn to the Lord and think about all God does for us, then with the psalmist we can “sing of the ways of the Lord.” With such a God, why would we fear? In our Lenten journey, as we seek to form a closer relationship to God and God’s purpose, it is appropriate that we stop and give thanks for the times when the Lord sustained, strengthened, and protected us.

That doesn't meant there won't be challenges. We can feel like Don Quixote jousting at windmills and being thrown to the ground. Ultimately, with God’s help, like Don Quixote we triumph. Difficulties can draw us close to God if we let them. God doesn’t cause problems and pain and sorrow, but God walks with us through any crisis and uses it to empower us for the purpose we were created to fulfill.

As Quixote sings in Man of La Mancha, we can:

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go


To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star


This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far


To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause


And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest


And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star


For your journal: Write about a time when you felt God’s presence strengthening or protecting you. Do you think that this experience and God’s “steadfast love” has developed your purpose in life?

March 6

95, 40, 54, 51
Deut. 10:12-22
Heb. 4:11-16
John 3:22-36

Deut. 10:12-22
12So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. 14Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth with all that is in it 15yet the LORD set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. 17For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, 18who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. 19You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20You shall fear the LORD your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. 21He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. 22Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.

Doesn’t today’s reading sound similar to Jesus’ response to the Pharisees who asked him “what is the greatest commandment?” He says,“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(Mark 12:28-31)

On the surface it sounds simple: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Yet how many of us are really, fully that dedicated? For me, at least, the reality is that ‘life’ gets in the way of remembering to Fear, Love, and Serve God all the time.

Fearing God doesn’t mean you are terrified (although we should be a bit afraid of the Creator of all things), instead it means that you are in Awe of God and his might, power, and esp. of God’s Love. The fact that the Creator of all things desires intimate relationship, really is a bit frightening when you take it seriously!

How do we respond to God’s love? What we return I make? I read a book by M. Scott Peck years ago by that title and recall that he argued that our response is in giving of self because there is no way to earn the Love that is already so freely given. Self-giving in turn leads to service.

R.L. Sharpe wrote:
Each of us is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mass, a book of rules;
And each must make ere life has flown
A stumbling block or a stepping stone.

There are of course as many ways to serve God. Each of us is called to our own response to this commandment. Some are teachers, others will serve in the mission field at home or far away, still others will visit the sick or those in prison. We don’t have to do grand and noteworthy things, either. A smile or cup of soup is as much a ministry and service to God as building a hospital. All that is important is the giving of your heart, soul, mind, and strength as you serve.

For your journal: Write down the verse from Deuteronomy or the one from Mark. Read it through a couple of times. Then list the ways in which your life fulfills each part of the commandment:
How do you Love the Lord your God with your Heart?
…with your Mind?
…with your Soul?
…with your Strength?

March 5

50, 19, 46
Deut. 9:23--10:5
Heb. 4:1-10
John 3:16-21

Psalm 50
1The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5“Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge.
7“Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19“You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother’s child.
21These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22“Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.”

How often do we forget in the midst of our busy lives to give thanks to God? Ps. 50 is written as a challenge from God to the people—to us. It is a reminder of how easy it is to do the ‘right’ and rote worship. We go to church to sing and pray, but how often are our minds far from the One we seek?

I know that too often my mind is ranging far from the church service and the great mystery of the Holy Communion. I show up in body, but my mind and heart are worried about how to get everything done after church or what the next week will bring or distracted by the whispers of those nearby.

The psalmist graphically reminds us that what God really desires is a thankful heart. All the sacrifices and other offerings in the world are really nothing, when done without a conscious thankfulness to God. How often are you consciously thankful for what God does for you? When something big and great happens, it's easy to say 'thanks', but the little daily blessings are easier to take for granted.

Thankfulness and response to God are what bring us into closer relationship. The one who does approach God with thanksgiving, however, will see the salvation of God and “I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” says the Lord.

For your journal: Make a list of things you are thankful for. This is an especially good exercise if you are feeling down. It will remind you of all the good things you do have. Don't forget to list the little blessings like being able to see and smell and love.

March 4

119:49-72, 49
Deut. 9:13-21
Heb. 3:12-19
John 2:23--3:15

Heb. 3:12-19
12Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. 15As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? 17But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? 19So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

We have been together on this Lenten journey for a week now. Paul reminds the Hebrews to “exhort one another”. The word ‘exhort’ is interesting. It is from the Latin word exhortārī meaning to encourage greatly or to urge . So we are to encourage each other and urge them to remain faithful.

That seems like quite an assignment, until we realize that we aren’t alone, but we are “partners of Christ.” In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says “I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” We too have that same strength, so we need not be afraid of speaking up. Even though one of my gifts is not 'exhortation', I do enjoy sharing the story of God's loving interaction with all people, both in my books and when I am speaking to a group. This is something we can all do--share the story of what God has done for us.

Do you know someone who has the gift of exhortation, who can encourage you just by talking to you? Have you heard an inspirational sermon or read a book that urged you to try a new spiritual discipline or enlightened you about some portion of scripture? How do you feel after being with these friends?

One poem that has always inspired me is IF by Rudyard Kipling.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
IF you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowances for their doubting too;
IF you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

IF you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
IF you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
IF you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
IF you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools;

IF you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
IF you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them "Hold on!"

IF you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
IF neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
IF all men count with you, but none too much;
IF you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth - of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

For your journal: See if you can remember the last time you heard or read or saw something that inspired you. Write down all the details you can remember.
Think about how you can share the inspiration you got from this book, movie, or friend. Remember you don’t have to have special words, just tell your own story.

Was there a time when you felt God was really close? Write it down and think about how you could share this with your friends.

March 3

45, 47, 48
Deut. 9:4-12
Heb. 3:1-11
John 2:13-22

John 2:13-22
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

This scene is one that used to bother me. I am more comfortable with Jesus as Good Shepherd gathering the sheep together or as a Healer or Teacher. Here, though, we find the fulfillment of Malachi 3 “the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”

The Temple in Jesus’ time was the center of religious life for devout Jews. There were many rules and regulations, including the demand that all sacrifices had to be perfect and flawless. This created a profitable business in the Temple courts for those who exchanged Roman money for Jewish coin and sold spotless birds and lambs. Real worship of God became obscured by the rules.

That can happen to us as well. Have you ever felt that you can’t pray because you don’t know the ‘right words’? Do you hesitate to participate in a worship service that’s a little different than you are used to because you might do the ‘wrong thing’? I think God cares more for our hearts and intentions than the words or the posture.

In the El Greco painting here, the vendors are appalled by Jesus' actions. Within the temple of our lives, many things can come between us and worship. Those things need to be cleansed so we can draw near to God. We need to explore what comes first in our lives in order to regain intimacy we may have lost through following the rules and forgetting the love.

There’s a little poem called Priorities that I clipped out of a catalog once upon a time:
When I reach the end of my days,
a moment or two from now,
I must look back on something more meaningful
than the pursuit of houses and land and machines and stocks and bonds.
Nor is fame of any lasting benefit.
I will consider my earthly existence
to have been wasted unless I can recall…
…a loving family
…a consistent investment in the lives of people
…and an earnest attempt to serve the God who made me.
And there’s no better time than now
to access the values which are worthy of my time and effort.

Are there places, in your life, that you feel God calling you to look at? Jesus comes indeed to heal and to teach, but sometimes healing involves cleansing and changing our lives. Rarely do we like it when it happens, but our souls are healthier for the experience.

For your journal: Write a prayer that invites God to show you what needs to be cleansed in your heart and life. Be ready to have God act. Sit quietly with the prayer and if things come to you, jot them down in your journal for meditating on.

March 2

41, 52, 44
Deut. 8:11-20
Heb. 2:11-18
John 2:1-12

Heb. 2:11-18
11For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”13And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”14Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. 16For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. 17Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people 18Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

The reading from Deut. today picks up on yesterday’s theme by reminding us in vs. 18 “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who give you power to get wealth; that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers…” However, it is the Hebrew’s reading that caught my attention.

Starting out with the proclamation that “the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father.” Paul goes on to explain how humanity and Jesus are brothers and sisters and descendents of Abraham. Ultimately, Paul says, it is because Christ was human and tempted, he is “able to help those are being tested.”

My Bible annotations say that because Jesus was tempted to escape the cross, he can help us all when we are tempted to fall away when we are afraid. Isn't that a sure sign of being in close relationship with someone-they are there to help you when times get hard.

Like a parent, God walks with us, and picks us up when we fall. This photo reminds me of the tender love God has for each one of us. We have a God who cares for us in the same way this baby is adored by his mother.

Isn’t that a wonderful reassurance to those of us struggling with the day-to-day business of living? Jesus Christ knows what we are going through and can walk with us through the pitfalls and challenges that come.

I am reminded that it is often the events we call 'bad' or challenging that turn out to be the greatest of blessings! This poem by an Unknown Civil War Veteran is displayed in the lobby of the Shreveport, LA Veterans Hospital

Most Richly Blessed
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might become wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given Life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for,
but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself,
my unspoken prayers and true needs were fulfilled.
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

For your journal: Draw 3 columns. In one make a list of some of the things you are struggling with or tempted by. In the other, find a promise from the Hebrew’s reading or elsewhere in the Bible that reminds you of Jesus’ triumph over all things. In the last column make a note of why this promise means something to you.

For instance:

My finances......................“I will put my trust in him”....................God provides all I need
Finding a publisher..........“he did not come to help angels”...........God wants best for me

March 1--First Sunday in Lent

Ps. 91

Deuteronomy 26:(1-4)5-11

Romans 10:(5-8a)8b-13

Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” 5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” 9Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 12Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

This is the first Sunday of Lent. The Gospel reading today tells of Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness after his baptism. This picture by Ary Scheffer shows a traditional representation of that temptation with Christ pointing to God in repudiation of Satan's offer(s).

Many of us fast in some form during Lent—at least giving up something like chocolate or dessert. Nearly every religion now in the world (and most ancient ones) encourages fasting for certain periods of time as a discipline. While it is understood that the act of fasting doesn’t gain any special “brownie points” (if you’ll pardon the expression) with God, it is a means of emptying yourself in order to be more open to hearing God’s voice

I have to smile at the seemingly unnecessary comment “when [the 40 days of fasting] were over, he was famished”. However, it is an important reminder that Satan temptations are aimed at our weaknesses. Jesus responds that “One does not live by bread alone.” In the Temptation narrative from Matthew (4:1-11), Jesus adds “…but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Although Satan tries to trick Jesus with food, power, and signs, Jesus responds with scripture each time. Isn’t this the response we should strive for? To be so attuned to God that our response to temptation is to turn immediately to the Word of God?

Reading the Bible regularly is one way to get back into relationship with God. Even just a few minutes dedicated to taking time to ‘read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest’ the scriptures can be a benefit. A prayer by Thomas Aquinas captures the heart we will have when grounded in God’s love and word.

Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy though can drag down, an unconquered heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon us understanding to know Thee, diligence to seek Thee, wisdom to find Thee and a faithfulness that may finally embrace Thee. Amen.

Perhaps the next time Satan shows up with what seems to be an ‘innocent’ temptation—like making bread because you are hungry, you can turn it aside with the voice of God by quoting scripture.

For your journal: Read through the lesson today a couple of times (you may want to find a second translation to read it in as well. I’ve been using the NRSV version). Satan tempted Jesus to satisfy his physical needs, to gain worldly power, and to become famous.

Are there ways you are tempted to think you can take care of your needs, become important, rich, famous, etc. without God?