Lent2018
Sabbath: March 11, 2018
What feels like home to you?
For some of us, home is a place. For some of us, home is people. For some of us, home is music, prayer, conversation, expression. There doesn’t have to be just one answer. Just ask the question. Give yourself time to listen to your life’s answer.
One of my favorite Randy Newman songs is “Feels Like Home.” He sings, “If you knew how lonely my life has been / and how low I’ve felt for so long / If you knew how I wanted someone to come along / and change my world the way you’ve done / Feels like home to me / Feels like I’m all the way back where I come from.”
What do you think of where Jesus came from? As Jesus’ Lenten journey continues toward the cross, I wonder if he ever drew strength from thinking about home. He had a troubled history of home: Luke tells that he was born in Bethlehem under less-than-stellar circumstances. For Matthew, a star is involved, but so too is a dangerous king who’s out to kill this newborn. Mark and John tell us that he came from Galilee, but when Jesus returned they wanted to run him out of town.
I think a lot of us have mixed memories of home. Maybe there are some precious things, but there are complicated things, too, and we’ve been dealing with them on the road from home ever since. What we seek now is Jesus’ gift of making a home out of this road we travel today. The hymnwriter Sylvia Dunstan wrote, “Divine eternal lover, you meet us on the road / We want for lands of promise where milk and honey flow / but waiting not for places, you meet us all around / Our covenant is written on roads, as faith is found.” Through this Lenten journey, may God meet us with the wisdom of home right here on this road to Jerusalem. Amen.
Drew Willson
Lent2018
Proverbs 12:3: “No one finds security by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.”
Wonder if your safety, your security, your survival depended upon this recycling dumpster.
These four metal walls and these two flip top metal lids were your daily safety and security.
This dumpster was your only source of protection from the evil and wicked intrusions found in the wilderness of your environment.
None of us is immune from a breach in our safety and security.
But how would we feel, if every minute of every day we were on edge because we had no reliable access for safety and security.
Consider these words from Proverbs 12:3: “No one finds security by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.”
Sadly, no matter where we look in our wilderness, there are plenty of people who do find security in their wickedness.
These ruthless intruders have no concept of “the root of the righteous.”
And maybe I don’t either.
If my brother or sister only finds safety and security in a recycling dumpster, then truly I too have no concept of “the root of the righteous.”
Bill Pike
Lent2018
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
I had (and still do have) a real hard time when our local Food Lion went under a huge renovation early last fall. I loved my Food Lion – I knew where everything – I mean everything – was. If I had to run in quick to get something, I went right to it. But then the remodel came – and nothing is where it used to be. I must admit it’s now a bigger store, the lighting is better, the aisles are wider, there is an expanded health and beauty department, and there’s even a produce cooler. When I voiced my angst to my husband Eric that I can’t find anything (Eric was in charge of the Food Lion remodels in Central Virginia by the way), he said “I’m sorry we have upset you at the cost of improving the overall store.” Everything that was familiar is no longer.
Familiarity – there is profound meaning there. Familiarity helps us feel safe and secure; it helps us focus on other things. When we come to worship on Sunday morning we are comforted with the liturgy we say, the hymns we sing, the prayers that are read – and yes, the pew we sit in. We had someone visit Trinity from Texas a few weeks ago and she found great comfort in our liturgy as it was similar to the liturgy in her United Methodist Church back in Texas.
Where will you find familiarity this Lenten season? Through the reading of the sacred scriptures? Through the special services that mark Holy Week? Through the singing of Lenten hymns? Perhaps you will find familiarity by continuing to extend ministry to the places you serve – Oak Grove, Tuckahoe Middle School, Sherbourne Food Pantry, CrossOver Clinic.
The familiar brings comfort – brings validation – reminds us who and Whose we are.
Thanks be to God for the familiar rhythms of life – for the constancy of our God.
Judy Oguich
Lent2018
Where do you go to get comfy?
For me it is to my bed. I just bought a new bed frame and mattress last week! Adding my four-inch memory foam topper to the new mattress makes me feel like I am laying in the clouds. Wrapped up in my sheets and blankets, there is nothing more comfortable in the world! However, I only get to spend around 5-8 hours in my bed per day. So where do I find comfort in the times when I am not lying in bed? The prophet Isaiah conveys the words of God in chapter 66, verse 13 “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” In the chaos of our everyday lives, we can find comfort through our relationship with God. In everything we do God is providing an opportunity for us feel that holy peace that only God offers.
What do you do to find comfort when anxiety hits you?
Bryce Miller
Lent2018
There is nothing better than feeling welcome. A warm and friendly welcome can help us to feel that we belong.
There are people all around us that hunger for that welcome feeling.
I do not know about you, but sometimes I am so busy running around trying to take care of things, that I may not help others feel like they belong. I try to greet everyone I see, but I am sure there are times that I am so focused on something, that I do not even notice that someone may need that extra moment to feel welcome.
Jesus shows us so many ways of welcoming people. Jesus always had time to help others feel like they belonged, regardless of how different they were from him. Jesus should be our example, whether it is receiving family, neighbors or friends into our home, greeting visitors at church or welcoming people, we do not know, in our everyday travels. Jesus wants us to welcome all people; no matter their nationality, gender, profession, age, or beliefs.
Jesus even wants us to go beyond just welcoming. He challenges us to find ways to bless others with kindness and share God’s great love with all his children. By doing this we can reflect Jesus and bring praise to God.
Romans 15:7 says: Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Let us pray.
Jesus, Thank you for making the ultimate sacrifice so we could be welcomed into God’s kingdom. We know that we should welcome all God’s children, but it is not always easy. Help us to get past our busyness, reluctance, focus on our world & friends, fear, or whatever holds us back from welcoming others. Amen
As we focus on Jesus this Lent, let us try to do all we can to follow Jesus’ example and welcome all God’s children.
Leila Denton
Lent2018
About 15 years ago, I completed my Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. When I first began to attend classes, I did it more out of curiosity than anything else, but as I proceeded through the various belts, I began to realize that a black belt was indeed an attainable goal. One of its philosophies is that “True strength is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles.”
Gandhi said that “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
Isaiah tells us that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength,” and St. Paul says that “we can do anything through Christ, who strengthens us.”
When St. Paul spoke of the “thorn in his flesh,” he reported that Christ told him “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” He went on to say that “for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
We hear so much about the importance of strength as it relates to finance, to politics, to our personal life. We want a strong economy, government, marriage. Every January, we hear the phrase: “The state of the union is strong!” Indeed we would be worried if our president stood before congress and the nation and said “The state of our union is weak, and when it is weak, it is strong!”
In these final days of Lent, perhaps we must re-examine our own views of strength and weakness, “For [it is] the meek [who] shall inherit the earth.”
Charles Staples
