Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 69 • Jeremiah 22:13-23 • Romans 8:12-27 • John 6:41-51

Save me, O God . . . I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. . . . More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; many are those who would destroy me, my enemies who accuse me falsely. . .

Psalm 69

I have always feared drowning more than almost any other mortal danger. I was born, raised and lived most of my life on or near the ocean. I have trained and learned everything I could about surviving in the water, but for me, drowning is the stuff of nightmares. I am sure that my fear is exaggerated, but for me it is very real.

Being accused and punished when innocent must feel like drowning. There is no escape; the misery presses from every side and feels worse than being alone in a crowd. It’s like being crushed in a stampeding mob.

Such is the despair of the Old Testament, which leaves us calling to God for relief, but does not provide us with the denouement -- the story of our redemption. In the New Testament, Jesus offers a breathing tube, a way out of the despair of our undeserved affliction. He tells us that we are baruch -- blessed/lucky/fortunate -- to suffer for righteousness’ sake.

Peter puts it this way: to be punished for our sins is no big deal, but to suffer when innocent and bear it with love and grace_this is truly great and pleasing in God’s sight. And Jesus’ passion and crucifixion is the ultimate example of this.

Thanks be to God for Jesus, who has shown us how to drown without fear.

Jonathan Hine

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 101 • Jeremiah 18:1-11 • Romans 8:1-11 • John 6:27-40

There was clay,

and the Potter shaped it,

turning it upon the wheel.

Too fast the wheel spun,

and the clay trembled,

stretched out too thin.

Then the Potter's hands reached out,

reshaped the clay,

made it stronger.

Off center, the clay wobbled,

lopsided and confused.

Again the Potter’s hand came,

lifted and straightened the vessel.

When it was finished,

fired and final,

the Potter sent it to the world,

filled with Spirit,

made with love.

Megan Brett

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 97 • Jeremiah 17:19-27 • Romans 7:13-25 • John 6:16-27

The story of Jesus walking on water (John 6:18-21) provokes many responses. Thomas Jefferson left the story out of his Bible entirely. One scientist posits (do an Internet search for “Jesus walked on water”) that Jesus might really have been walking on a sheet of ice that could have formed in a cove on that cold morning. Some see the story as a parable_not factually true, but showing Jesus as the fully realized spiritual self, untouched by the material realm. Fundamentalists believe that Jesus really performed the supernatural act of walking on the surface of the lake, proving that Jesus had command over all things on heaven and earth.

Certainly, if Jesus had actually defied physical laws, that would be news. But it would not be the Good News of the Gospel. Jesus came to us as Messiah, not as Magician. It seems unlikely that the authors of the Gospels were presenting eyewitness accounts of all that Jesus and the disciples said and did. The Gospels are efforts to illustrate the spiritual experience and understanding of the writers through stories with Jesus as the main figure. The authors sought words to describe the indescribable. As Bishop Spong describes the Gospels, “Above all it was language that could not be literalized being employed to process an experience that could not be denied.”

Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Einstein believed in “miracles,” but he did not intend “miracle” to mean “supernatural.” In this 21st Century it is tempting to explain away_to deny_the Biblical miracle stories. It is so much more uplifting to read them to understand how the Apostles experienced the miracle of Jesus.

Lloyd Snook

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Psalm 89:1-18 • Jeremiah 16:10-21 • Romans 7:1-12 • John 6:1-15.

The Daily Office gospel for today is the familiar description of Jesus feeding the 5000. The only miracle story besides the Resurrection to appear in all four Gospels, it is well-known even to Church School students. My son Jeremy, age five, commented that “Jesus fed 5000 people with only one lunch pail.” Well, not quite. But while this account is thrilling, and has theological connections to manna in the desert and the Eucharist, I don’t believe it is sacrilegious to wonder what it was like to be there that day. Did food suddenly appear? Or is a naturalistic explanation possible, that due to the presence and message of Jesus, people spontaneously shared what they had. We will never know. Some commentators seem to dance around the question of what happened, and given human nature there were no doubt differing reactions to the day. We do know with certainty, from this passage and many other sources and experiences, that God always desires to provide his people with what they require.

There is another factor which seems important to me. The final verse of the passage, John 6:15 (RSV) reads: “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the hills by himself.” Surely the miraculous signs of his authority are important, but they are not the essence of the gospel story. We are in the season which recalls the journey Jesus took to Jerusalem, without guile or overt displays of power, to fulfill the mission his Father had given him. He did not want to be a king. Rather, He carried the astounding message of saving love to the point of overcoming the powers of sin and death. Thanks be to God.

John Zuck

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Psalm 23 • 1 Samuel 16:1-13 • Ephesians 5:8-14 • John 9:1-41

In darkness I
come
seeking a
shepherd
you, Lord,
reach out your hand
open my
eyes
teach me to live as a child of the
light
lead me
safely
home

Anna Askounis

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Psalm 87 • Jeremiah 13:1-11 • Romans 6:12-23 • John 8:47-59

Paul struggles as he admonishes the Romans to understand how powerful faith can be. Christ’s message has set aside the slavish following of the Law as a way to God and has instead told us that we must believe to let God into our hearts and our lives. It is a free gift and brings through Jesus Christ the promise of eternal life.

FAITH

Rattling oak leaves
Battered by wind
The mystery of sound
Scratches my soul.

What do I know
Of God the invisible?
The ground of our being
Is founded on faith.

The believer, the cynic,
Proclaiming their certainty,
Their absolute surety,
Are they both the same?

So why do we place
Him in boxes?
Tie him with ribbon
Or just empty the box?

Your surety frightens
The fearful away
But questions are left
On the wind, in the night.

The whisper, the stillness
The emptiness calls me.
God is as vast
As the star strewn sky.

God is as close
As the kiss of my breath
My heart is made whole
By the storm of his love.

Alice Turner

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

Psalm 88 • Jeremiah 11:1-8, 14-20 • Romans 6:1-11 • John 8:33-47

I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, 

because there is no place in you for my word.

John 8:36 (NRSV)

Jesus, master of paradox, teaches that complacent dependence upon even the most indisputable benchmarks of identity, e.g., claiming Abraham as patriarch and God as Father can obscure the deep, abiding reality.

A relationship with Jesus involves holding fast to what is true and life-giving, and letting go of what is not. It may necessitate getting out of one’s very own way, surrendering all that serves neither oneself nor others, so that Christ may dwell most truly, vibrantly, and peacefully within.

Like many others, I came to yoga for its myriad physical benefits but, as Jesus would have it, it has transformed my life more than I ever imagined. The practice helps me become aware of my own obstacles and then get out of the way. The postures, meditation, ethics, and attention to breath help me clear more space for God in and with my whole being physically, intellectually, and spiritually.

This Lent, may we prepare a loving place for God’s Word to dwell, recognizing truth with delight and joy.

Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.

My shoulder is against yours.

You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:

not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own

neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables.

When you really look for me, you will see me instantly –

you will find me in the tiniest house of time.

Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?

He is the breath inside the breath.

Kabir, trans. Robert Bly

Emily Williams Guffey