Ash Wednesday: Lent Devotion 2014

Lenten Devotional

Matthew 1-4

I am challenging the congregation I serve to read through all four gospels in preparation for Easter this year. The challenge is based on the fact that I am the interim at this time.  We are going through a process of discernment for the future mission of the church centered around a process that calls for people to move from being members to disciples.  I prefer to think in terms of attenders or audience to followers and participants.  Who better to learn about following Jesus than Jesus and the disciples themselves?

I am challenging my self to write a devotional for each reading in the form of a blog for everyday of reading. So, this is for Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.

Chapter 1 of the gospel is one of the more tedious parts of gospel reading and the next couple of chapters (at least 2 and part of 3) are familiar to even the most casual of Bible readers.  The birth of Jesus, visit of the Magi, and Baptism of Jesus.  I hope you did not just skip over these four chapters without looking at a few of the very strange realities in these passages.  If you did, take a moment to read them with intensity and I will point out a few details that I find interesting.

The part of this reading most people will look past is the genealogy of Jesus.  But there is some very important facts in Jesus' history.  There are four women mentioned in the genealogy with three by direct name.  The three named were not Jewish.  All three were part of other clans.  This was not expected in the days of Jesus.  As a matter of fact, one had a terrible reputation in her city, Rahab.  She was a prostitute in Jericho just prior to the invasion by the Israel. The one unnamed women is Bathsheba.  She is the women David had an affair with and then had her husband killed in battle.  We would not celebrate these moments in our history, but yet Matthew is making a large deal over these truths.   Not a good picture for the Son of God to be born into.  

Nothing is these early pages of Jesus' history seem to be normal till the preaching in Nazareth.  His family is visited by wise men from the east, they all travel in strange directions and Jesus winds up being baptized by some crazy prophet in the desert.  All a little strange. 

I take away some good news from all of this for my life and others.  It does not matter where you come from or where you have been, God can and will use you for His glory if you will let Him.  The people in Jesus' life were not upright.  John the Baptist was strange.  All of these events demonstrate the reality of Paul's statement to the the Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:28)  

I hope you will see through the pages of Matthew's opening of the gospel, that God will and wants to use your for His glory and mission in the world.

Slave No More

Today as I started my day with prayers and readings, I was reading through the Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinay Radicals and the thoughts were focused on Harriet Tubman.  She was a slave who fled north to escape the bonds of slavery prior to the Civil War on the rumor she was about to be sold to a different owner.  In her life, she made over 900 journeys into the south to gather other slaves and lead them through the Underground Railroad to Canada.  For those people she lead, she was a tangible witness of what Christ has done for us.  Christ came to the realm of slavery to show people a way to freedom.  The journey of Christ was hard and dangerous.  The difference between His journey and Mrs. Tubman's was that in the end Christ died.  No, Christ had to die to pay for our freedom.  But the life example lived by Mrs. Tubman made me think about what we as followers of Christ need and should be doing today.  

There are many people who are still enslaved.  Some of these people are true slaves (owned and sold as commodities to others).  Other people are enslaved to addictions and powers.  There are still people who need to be freed.  Yes, many are right here in the United States.  We have slaves of all types here.  So, what are we doing to show people that there is freedom in Christ?

I am sure we all can start thinking of different things people are slaves to?  For many the first might be drugs or money.  But there are some more dangerous slavery in the lives of people.  There is a slavery of self doubt.  People have such a low self esteem them a enslaved by others' onion of them.  Others have a slavery to high personal standards.  They expect so much from themselves they never see anything good they have produced or are looking at ways to produce more or better material or ideas.  All of these keep people in a situation where they are owned by some thing or someone else.  What are we doing as followers of Christ to show the freedom that comes from His sacrifice and resurrection? 

On a more personal note, what are you being owned by in your life?  What is controlling you?  If you are not being guided and led by the Holy Spirit, you are owned by something or one else.  At the root of this is the need to be ground in Christ (prayer, Bible reading, and worship).  We need the community to help us.  We need the faithful to hold us accountable.  Who is in charge and owns you?  If you cannot without a doubt say God, I hope you will find the peace that comes through learning to trust in Him with your life.