The Beauty of Scripture

  O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good: For his mercy endures forever ~ Psalm 107:1 We are beginning to see there may be a light at the end of the tunnel of Covid-19 as more are being vaccinated, and the numbers of those infected inch down bit by bit. When the day comes that we can meet together again there will be great rejoicing. We will celebrate! But, why wait? Our God is a faithful God, merciful in so many ways that we cannot count them all. I know we are living with tough restrictions right now. It is hard to wear a mask and cover our smiles. People struggle with loneliness, with depression, with physical distancing. We are a people meant to touch, to speak face to face rather than virtually. So what is there to celebrate about all we are going through right now? First, our Saviour suffered much on behalf of us. He suffered hatred, rejection, the whip, and the cross for us. He suffered a great deal. They say it is not until we suffer that we can understand and have emp...

PASSION SUNDAY/PALM SUNDAY God’s Glory Revealed Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7 Precisely when Jesus is being handed over into his passion, he manifests his glory. “Whom do you seek?...I am he” are words that echo all the way back to Moses and the burning bush: “I am who I am. I am the one” (see Exodus 3:1-6. 14). These words are the glory of God manifesting itself, and those present fell flat on the ground. Then Jesus was handed over. But already in the handing over we see the glory of God handing himself over to us. God’s glory revealed in Jesus embraces passion as well as resurrection. “The Son of Man,” Jesus says, “must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:14, 15). He is...

SATURDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Praying With Open Hands My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 37:27 Above all, praying means to be accepting toward God who is always new, always different. For God is a deeply moved God whose heart is greater than mine. The open acceptance of Prayer in the face of an ever-new God makes me free. In prayer, I am constantly on the way, on pilgrimage. On my way, I meet more and more people who show me something about him whom I seek. I’ll never know if I’ve reached him. But I do know that he will always be new and there is no reason for fear. Lord, I believe that in every prayer you are calling me to a new life. Take away my fears so I can respond to your call in service to others. Henri J. M. Nouwen

FRIDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Praying With Hope Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers. Jeremiah 20:13 The children of God need to support, protect, and hold one another to God’s heart. You belong to a minority in a large, hostile world. As you become more aware of your true identity as a child of God, you will also see more clearly the many forces that try to convince you that all things spiritual are false substitutes for the real things of life. When you are temporarily pulled out of your true self, you can have the sudden feeling that God is just a word, prayer is a fantasy, sanctity is a dream, and eternal life is an escape from true living. Jesus was tempted in this way, and so are we. Do not trust your thoughts and feelings when you are pulled out of yourself. Return quickly to your true place, and pay no attention to what tricked you. Gradually you will come to be more prepared for these temptations, and they...

THURSDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Prayer is Childlike, not Childish Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually. Psalm 105:4 The prayer of little faith is where you hold fast to the concrete or the present situation in order to win a certain security. In prayer of little faith, you aim at getting what you ask for, any way you can, instead of being directed toward the person who might or might not be able to make that wish come true. The man or woman of little faith prays like a child who wants a present from Santa Claus, but who becomes frightened and runs away as soon as he gets his hands on the package. He would rather have nothing more to do with the old bearded gentleman. All the attention is on the gift and none on the one who gives it. It’s as though you were putting on blinders and your spiritual life is reduced to a beeline toward what you want. Lord, most of my life prayer has meant begging for gifts I want. Teach me to focus on you, the giver of gifts. He...

WEDNESDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Recognizing Prayer as Essential If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. Daniel 3:17 The crucial question is whether you should pray always and whether your prayer is necessary. In one’s spiritual life, the stakes are all or nothing! If someone says that it’s good to turn to God in prayer for a spare minute, or if he grants that a person with a problem does well to take refuge in prayer, he has as much as admitted that praying is on the margin of life and that it doesn’t really matter. Whenever you feel that a little prayer can’t do any harm, you will find that it can’t do much good either. Prayer is prayer only when we can say that without it, a man or woman could not live. Today, I will examine my conscience to see where prayer ranks in my life, and I will pray for the grace to make it more important – perhaps the most important thing in my life. Henri J. M. ...

TUESDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Prayer Means Offering All to God Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you. Psalm 102:1 To pray does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts into thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him in a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. Prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts – beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful – can be thought in the presence of God. The main question is not so much what we think, but to whom we present our thoughts. Lord, help me to dwell in your presence today and in moments of prayer, give thanks for the faith you have given me. Henri J. M. Nouwen

MONDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Deep Words of Deep Trust You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5 For a long time, I prayed the words, “The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit.” I prayed these words in the morning for half an hour sitting quietly on my chair trying only to keep my mind focused on what I was saying. I prayed them during the many moments of the day when I was going here and there, and I even prayed them during my routine activities…it is good to know that millions of people have prayed these same words over the centuries and found comfort and consolation in them. I am not alone when I pray these words. I am surrounded by countless women and men, those who are close by and those who are far away, those who are presently living and those who have died recently o...

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT Source of Our Joy Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12 Joy does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world. It does not depend on the ups and downs of the circumstances of our lives. Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world. Jesus says it loudly and clearly: “In the world you will have troubles, but rejoice, I have overcome the world.” The surprise is not that, unexpectedly, things turn out better than expected. No, the real surprise is that God’s light is more real than all the darkness, that God’s truth is more powerful than all human lies, that God’s love is stronger than death. Lord, help me to see that I don’t have to overcome the troubles of the world by myself. Help me trust in what Jesus has already done. Henri J. M. Nouwen

  SATURDAY, FOUrTH WEEK OF LENT Presence in Prayer O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish righteous, you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God. Psalm 7:9 God is beyond, beyond our heart and mind, beyond our feelings and thoughts, beyond our expectations and desires, and beyond all the events and experiences that make up our life. Still, he is in the center of all of it. Here we would touch the heart of prayer since here it becomes manifest that in prayer the distinction between God’s presence is never separated from his absence and God’s absence is never separated from his presence. His presence is so much beyond the human experience of being together that quite easily is perceived as absence. His absence, on the other hand is often so deeply felt that it leads to a new sense of his presence. Lord, I believe you are never absent – help my unbelief! Henri J. M. Nouwen