Lent

 We are already at the end of the first full week of Lent for those of us who practice the western church calendar.  It's interesting that the season of Lent can be such a stumbling block for some. Is it something we as Christians should be practicing?  That's a question many Christians ask, and it depends on what denomination you worship with. Those who do practice it can sometimes feel superior to those who don't, or feel that those who don't are "missing out".  I have also noticed that many evangelicals know very little about it, or if they have heard of it. they feel it is too "Catholic", unnecessary and legalistic, an outward show of works rather than inward grace.

I grew up celebrating Lent.  Truthfully, as a child I didn't really understand the reasons why.  It was just something we did.  My knowledge of it only went as far as knowing I was supposed to give up something during the season. Usually as a child that meant candy.  Since, we didn't eat all that much candy anyway, it wasn't much of a sacrifice.  I liked Ash Wednesday though.  We would go early in the morning before school and I would wear my ashes all day, checking every mirror throughout the day to see if I could still spot them on my forehead.  I remember eating fish sticks on Fridays and doing the Stations of the Cross with the youth group. I remember liking all these traditions,and the memory of practicing them still warms my heart.  However again, I have to admit that I didn't really understand why I was doing them. So perhaps it's true that at that time in my life, I was participating in an outward spiritual show of works.  All I know is that I loved the season and as a child I embraced it.

As adults my husband and I moved away from our Anglican Episcopal church and ended up attending a number of different denominational and non denominational churches over a period of years.  Most of them had no traditions at all.  While they were all wonderful faith filled places of worship, as the years went by I began  feeling that something was missing.  Finally, one Easter Sunday as I was worshiping I found myself questioning, "How did I get to this day?  Last week was just an ordinary Sunday and now it's Easter." There had been no Lent, no Palm Sunday, no Holy Week, no Good Friday and yet suddenly it was Resurrection Day!  That's when I realized that for me being Evangelical was not enough.   I wanted the church calendar and the walk through the Gospels and many of the liturgical rituals that breathed life into my worship time.

Our Free Lutheran Church is a good combination of evangelical and traditional and for me,embracing once again many of the traditional rituals of the church has enhanced my walk with Christ.

  For us Lent begins when I make a traditional pancake dinner on Shrove Tuesday. My husband doesn't really like breakfast for dinner but he is a good sport about it.  Traditionally, Christians would give up meat, eggs, dairy, butter and oil for the 40 days of Lent.  They didn't want these foods to spoil so they would use them up in a celebrations of yummy foods that use those ingredients the day before Ash Wednesday, hence the name "Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras". Pancakes were an easy simple way to do that. 

 I help prepare the alter for the Lenten Season. Purple is the liturgical color for Lent. There will be no flowers on the alter as this is a simple time of repentance and reflection.

I choose a book of daily essays from my Lenten collection to read each morning and a devotional to read at worship time in the evening.  

 Some years I choose to fast from something, and some years I don't, but I do set up my own special place for worship during my journey and as the rocks pile up, so do the prayers The Lord places on my heart each day for the needs of others.

 Taking the Lenten journey is a personal choice. For me it is important to remember that while these traditions and rituals are meaningful, they  are meant to enhance my worship, and they do not replace grace or a relationship with Christ.   Whether it is something you practice or not my prayer is that as Easter draws near you too will find yourselves drawing near to The Savior.  All blessings to you and may your lives be filled with grace as you come near to the cross.

Adieu!

Palm Sunday

 Yesterday was Palm Sunday.

 All glory, laud, and honor,
to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.. Thou art the King of Israel,
thou David’s royal Son,
who in the Lord’s name comest,
the King and Blessed One.

Baking

 My mother has always been the family baker.  I have many memories of coming home after school to the smells of fresh baked bread, apple pie or some kind of tasty cookie.  Her favorite of course, was toll house chocolate chip.  On the other hand, my dad's favorite cookie was oatmeal raisin.  For better or worse, chocolate chip tended to appear on the plate several times more often than oatmeal. Fortunately, Dad did enjoy both!  In our house my hubby is the one who really enjoys chocolate chip while I prefer other flavors.  The other day I was thinking about my dad and I was suddenly hungry for an old fashioned oatmeal cookie. I didn't fast during Lent this year,  so I whipped up a batch.  I split the batter up and made some with coconut, some with craisins, and some with chocolate chips for my sweetheart.  Yum!  There are few things more enjoyable than a freshly baked cookie still warm from the oven.

 

 In this sad and crazy world we live in right now, it is the simple  pleasures of hearth and home that help me through the days, calm in the knowledge that God is still here, he still loves us and he is still with us. May we all rest in that knowledge as we head towards Holy Week.

Adieu!

 

Bridal Devotion

I was recently honored to be asked to give a devotion for a bridal shower given at our church.  Normally a request like that would be pretty far outside of my comfort zone. I much prefer writing to presenting.   However, this was for a dear friend who was widowed a number of years ago and never thought she would find someone she cared about again.  Instead she is now looking forward to being the wife to a long time pastor at a sister church in our denomination.  I will miss her but I know that God has some great things planned for the two of them as they answer their first call together with a new congregation.  As it turns out, quite a number of people stopped to tell me they were touched by the devotion, and so I decided to print it here.  It is my earnest desire that you will find blessing in it.

 

When I was asked a few days ago if I would prepare a devotional for your shower, my first thought was, what in the world could I share that might be meaningful and useful to you?  What do I share with a room full of women of such mature faith that you haven’t already heard before?  So after much prayer,  I decided to spend some time looking at a number of married couples in the Bible for inspiration, and even though we all pretty much know their stories it doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves of some of the lessons that are there. 

I found so many wonderful examples of love and faith throughout the Bible that it was hard to choose which ones I wanted to share.  There was Ruth, the Moabite widow who had lost everything but chose to follow her beloved mother-in-law into a new faith in a strange land, and in so doing,  found a new love, a new home and a place in the lineage of the Savior of the World.  There was Jacob who was willing to work 14 years for his father-in-law in order to marry his beloved Rachel.  And there was Joseph who even before he was visited by the Angel of God wanted to protect from public disgrace and dishonor his sweet Mary.   But I want to go back farther to the beginning  when God created them male and female he created them.

 

 

We all know that when God created Adam and Eve that marriage between a man and a woman was one of the first institutions that God put into place.  Elizabeth Elliot said it this way,

“God might have given Adam another man to be his friend, to walk and talk and argue with if that was His pleasure. But Adam needed more than the companionship of the animals or the friendship of a man. He needed a helper, specially designed and prepared to fit that role. It was a woman God gave him, a woman, “meet,” fit, suitable, entirely appropriate for him, made of his very bones and flesh.”

Adam called Eve, “ bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”  It’s our skeleton that is the physical structure that keeps our bodies upright.  As we are a helpmeet to one another we help to keep each other upright and strong.  That is what you and Craig will be doing for each other as you live and grow together as husband and wife.

 

We read later in Genesis 24, that it talks of how Abraham sent his servant back to his homeland to find a wife for his son Isaac.  That servant was led by God to Rebekah.  It was not a random act but rather it was the result of faithful and purposeful prayer on the part of the servant.  I know that both you and Craig have prayed faithfully for direction in every step of your relationship and that you both know that it is God who has led you to each other.  Just as Rebekah was a kinswoman from Abraham’s extended family so you and Craig both understand the importance of being equally yoked as part of God’s family.  I would also point out that even though Rebekah and Isaac had never met they chose to be together showing that love is a much an action as it is an emotion.  They chose to trust that God would to be with them as they learned to be man and wife.  In fact, in a time and a culture where it was not uncommon for a man to have more than one wife, Isaac chose to be faithful to only Rebekah for their entire lives. 

 

In the life of Abraham, God asked him to leave his homeland with his flocks and his wife Sarah and to travel to a new land where God promised him great blessings.  It must have been very hard for Sarah to leave behind her family and her life to follow Abraham into a new place just as I know it has been difficult for you to think about leaving your Elim family and friends and heading to a new church home and a new ministry. 

I remember Aquila and Priscilla from the book of Acts.  You remember we studied about them together last year?   They were early missionaries in the church, working with Paul as tent makers and providing him a home and a refuge as he preached the gospel in Corinth.  They opened their home as a meeting place for early Christians and shared their hospitality and their faith with others.  That’s what you and Craig will be doing in your new church and your new home.  You have always had an enormous gift for hospitality Cathe that I know will be a true blessing in your new ministry.  Priscilla and Aquila personify the knowledge that two are stronger than one and the wonderful difference a couple can make when they are like minded in service to the Lord.

 

 

As I looked at just these few couples, I can see how God has been working in you and Craig’s lives.  He has known and planned for the two of you to be together from the time he created you.  It has been a joy for all of us here, as we have watched you experience a romantic new love.   I think he still has many new and wonderful experiences and good surprises ahead for the two of you.   And He will be with you and in you as the two of you begin this new life together.

I leave you with this last verse from Ecclesiastes 4:12 which is one that you both know and are already living.

"Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  But a cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

 

Let Us Pray: