Running in Faith 2000 March

"Running in Faith" is an electronic devotional guide written by members of Abiding Presence Lutheran Church. Each week, writers use their personal interpretation of scripture to write an inspirational message they hope will help readers take their Sunday faith into weekday lives. Your comments are appreciated and, when related to a particular devotion, passed to the writer. We hope you will share these devotions with friends and coworkers. We are always happy to add new names to our e-mail list. Please contact us if you wish your name to be added.
Devotion for the week of March 5, 2000 Submitted by Pastor Tracie B. As we approach the beginning of Lent with the observance of Ash Wednesday this week, it seems fitting to reflect on one of the traditional readings for the day. This one comes from Psalm 51: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin..." "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit." These verses from the psalm are somewhat familiar to us. They are part of our liturgy. We sing the second group of verses when we have given our offerings and bring the gifts to the table before the worship continues with communion. It seems significant that these are the same words read on Ash Wednesday as we think on our mortality and sinfulness at the start of the Lenten season. For in both cases, during the weekly liturgy and on Ash Wednesday, we are coming before God acknowledging our sinfulness and daring to ask for forgiveness. On Wednesday we will do that as we enter into the journey toward the cross that Jesus walked. And for the remaining days of Lent we will contemplate the lengths that Jesus went to secure our salvation. In our weekly worship, and especially before we share in Christ's supper, we gather with one another to hear and taste and receive the very forgiveness that Jesus' death secured. And so as we offer our gifts we also pray that God would cleanse us and set us right once again. We pray in the words of this psalm set to music that we would experience again the joy of being part of God's holy people. As we prepare our hearts for the Lenten journey, may we each pray the words of this psalm with confidence, knowing that our God is indeed a God of steadfast love and abundant mercy. Amen.
Devotion for the week of March 13, 2000 Submitted by Wesley S. "And the Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him." Mark 1: 12-13 God hurls Jesus, in Mark's Gospel, into the wilderness just as soon as he is baptized. Jesus spends a period of forty days in the wilderness without food, totally alone, and vulnerable to Satan's attacks. Only Jesus' reliance on God's Word and his determination to go to the cross end Satan's harassment. The wilderness is not only a significant theme in Mark's Gospel, but a theme with close connections to Lent. Obvious parallels include the forty days, a time of introspection before God, and a time of having to choose God's ways over temptations to do otherwise. Ultimately, however, both Jesus' period in the wilderness and our forty days lead to the cross. Mark's verb choice for Jesus being driven into the wilderness indicates a strong, if not a violent propulsion. Finding himself in the wilderness Jesus is left apparently to fend for himself amid wild animals and the wiles of the Tempter. For forty days every year we in the church are reminded that the road to the cross can be one of loneliness and apparent dejection and abandonment. But we are not dejected; tested, yes, but not abandoned. Each of the temptations Jesus faced was an effort to get him to choose the easy, glitzy path of glory and to abandon the cross. Jesus fought back those temptations using God's Word and chose to embrace the cross. And as the writer of Hebrews says, it is because Jesus withstood Satan's temptations that he can help us through those periods when we feel hurled into a wilderness inhabited only by wild beasts and the Tempter. But, no, Jesus is there because of the Cross. Lord, thank you for being faithful on the road to the cross. Thank you, also, that you are there for us when we face wild beasts and the Tempter in our lives. And bring us with you to the cross. Amen.
Devotion for the week of March 20, 2000 Submitted by Rolf J. "Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected...." Matthew 16: 21 When Jesus taught that for him to be the Son of God meant that he would suffer and die, Peter, we are told, rebuked him. Why? Because for Peter, as for many of us, the idea that Jesus is God and that Jesus must suffer were contradictory. But the cross of Christ is not just a mechanism by means of which we are saved; it is not just a transaction between the Father and the Son. The cross is the best clue to what God is like and where God is present in the world. That is, precisely because Jesus is the Son of God he HAD to suffer and die. Because that is where God is... in suffering, in rejection, in death. God does not reveal the divine presence through wealth or power or worldly honor, but in the humbleness of everyday pain. Martin Luther understand that when he wrote: "True Christian religion begins, not at the top, as other religions do, but at the bottom. Therefore, whenever you are concerned to consider your salvation, you must put away all speculations about the majesty of God, and put away all thoughts of works, traditions, and philosophy. You must run directly to the manger and the virgin's womb, embrace this infant and look at him -- born, nursing, growing up, going about human society, teaching, dying, rising again...." Luther, 'The Commentary on Galatians', 1:4 Lord, teach us to see your death as our life, your suffering as our hope, and your pain as our healing. In your name we pray. Amen.
Devotion for the week of March 26, 2000 Submitted by Lynn W. "My son, the father answered, you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost but now he has been found." Luke 15: 31-32 The prodigal son is one of my favorite parables. Jesus gives us a picture of a loving, forgiving father, who gives us freedom in the world to make choices. God allows us to make choices, good or bad. But when we choose the world's demands, like the prodigal's son, what we have left is nothing. As we come back home to God, we humbly ask for forgiveness. God in return stretches out his arms and forgives us. As a sibling, a parent, or wherever we are in our life, I have reflected on this passage different ways. Many years ago, my brother packed up everything he had in his small car and drove off to Las Vegas. My parents wanted him to move out eventually, but not when Mom announced she had cancer. Such news is heartbreaking and my brother handled the news by going far away. Some of us stayed close and visited Mom each day. My brother came back home a week before Mom died. The family was finally together and Mom made us all celebrate because my brother was lost and now he had been found. A protective parent wants the best for her children in school, work or at play. It is tough to make those parental decisions when you give your children choices and give them freedom when they become a young adult. It is hard and painful to see a child struggle through what seems to be crucial and life threatening at the time. I realized the painful sacrifice God made by choosing to send His son to die on the cross for me. God taught us how to grieve. The statistics of the amount of people who do not choose to worship God is high. A lifestyle of the worldly treasures are tempting and the spiritual life is starved for nourishment. When a person comes back in the fellowship community, we should rejoice because our brother was dead, but now is alive; lost but now he is found. Heavenly Father, we are your children in a sinful world and we ask you to forgive us. Thank you for giving us eternal life through your son Jesus and opening your arms so wide for us to rest in. In Jesus name. Amen.
Year 2000 Index

"Running in Faith" is an electronic devotional guide written by members of Abiding Presence Lutheran Church. Each week, writers use their personal interpretation of scripture to write an inspirational message they hope will help readers take their Sunday faith into weekday lives. Your comments are appreciated and, when related to a particular devotion, passed to the writer. We hope you will share these devotions with friends and coworkers. We are always happy to add new names to our e-mail list. Please contact us if you wish your name to be added.

Devotion for the week of March 5, 2000
Submitted by Pastor Tracie B.

As we approach the beginning of Lent with the observance of Ash Wednesday this week, it seems fitting to reflect on one of the traditional readings for the day. This one comes from Psalm 51:

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin..."

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit."

These verses from the psalm are somewhat familiar to us. They are part of our liturgy. We sing the second group of verses when we have given our offerings and bring the gifts to the table before the worship continues with communion. It seems significant that these are the same words read on Ash Wednesday as we think on our mortality and sinfulness at the start of the Lenten season.

For in both cases, during the weekly liturgy and on Ash Wednesday, we are coming before God acknowledging our sinfulness and daring to ask for forgiveness. On Wednesday we will do that as we enter into the journey toward the cross that Jesus walked. And for the remaining days of Lent we will contemplate the lengths that Jesus went to secure our salvation.

In our weekly worship, and especially before we share in Christ's supper, we gather with one another to hear and taste and receive the very forgiveness that Jesus' death secured. And so as we offer our gifts we also pray that God would cleanse us and set us right once again. We pray in the words of this psalm set to music that we would experience again the joy of being part of God's holy people.

As we prepare our hearts for the Lenten journey, may we each pray the words of this psalm with confidence, knowing that our God is indeed a God of steadfast love and abundant mercy. Amen.

Devotion for the week of March 13, 2000
Submitted by Wesley S.

"And the Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him."
Mark 1: 12-13

God hurls Jesus, in Mark's Gospel, into the wilderness just as soon as he is baptized. Jesus spends a period of forty days in the wilderness without food, totally alone, and vulnerable to Satan's attacks. Only Jesus' reliance on God's Word and his determination to go to the cross end Satan's harassment.

The wilderness is not only a significant theme in Mark's Gospel, but a theme with close connections to Lent. Obvious parallels include the forty days, a time of introspection before God, and a time of having to choose God's ways over temptations to do otherwise. Ultimately, however, both Jesus' period in the wilderness and our forty days lead to the cross.

Mark's verb choice for Jesus being driven into the wilderness indicates a strong, if not a violent propulsion. Finding himself in the wilderness Jesus is left apparently to fend for himself amid wild animals and the wiles of the Tempter. For forty days every year we in the church are reminded that the road to the cross can be one of loneliness and apparent dejection and abandonment. But we are not dejected; tested, yes, but not abandoned. Each of the temptations Jesus faced was an effort to get him to choose the easy, glitzy path of glory and to abandon the cross. Jesus fought back those temptations using God's Word and chose to embrace the cross. And as the writer of Hebrews says, it is because Jesus withstood Satan's temptations that he can help us through those periods when we feel hurled into a wilderness inhabited only by wild beasts and the Tempter. But, no, Jesus is there because of the Cross.

Lord, thank you for being faithful on the road to the cross. Thank you, also, that you are there for us when we face wild beasts and the Tempter in our lives. And bring us with you to the cross. Amen.

Devotion for the week of March 20, 2000
Submitted by Rolf J.

"Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected...."
Matthew 16: 21

When Jesus taught that for him to be the Son of God meant that he would suffer and die, Peter, we are told, rebuked him. Why? Because for Peter, as for many of us, the idea that Jesus is God and that Jesus must suffer were contradictory. But the cross of Christ is not just a mechanism by means of which we are saved; it is not just a transaction between the Father and the Son. The cross is the best clue to what God is like and where God is present in the world. That is, precisely because Jesus is the Son of God he HAD to suffer and die. Because that is where God is... in suffering, in rejection, in death. God does not reveal the divine presence through wealth or power or worldly honor, but in the humbleness of everyday pain. Martin Luther understand that when he wrote:

"True Christian religion begins, not at the top, as other religions do, but at the bottom. Therefore, whenever you are concerned to consider your salvation, you must put away all speculations about the majesty of God, and put away all thoughts of works, traditions, and philosophy. You must run directly to the manger and the virgin's womb, embrace this infant and look at him -- born, nursing, growing up, going about human society, teaching, dying, rising again...." Luther, 'The Commentary on Galatians', 1:4

Lord, teach us to see your death as our life, your suffering as our hope, and your pain as our healing. In your name we pray. Amen.

Devotion for the week of March 26, 2000
Submitted by Lynn W.

"My son, the father answered, you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost but now he has been found."
Luke 15: 31-32

The prodigal son is one of my favorite parables. Jesus gives us a picture of a loving, forgiving father, who gives us freedom in the world to make choices. God allows us to make choices, good or bad. But when we choose the world's demands, like the prodigal's son, what we have left is nothing. As we come back home to God, we humbly ask for forgiveness. God in return stretches out his arms and forgives us. As a sibling, a parent, or wherever we are in our life, I have reflected on this passage different ways.

Many years ago, my brother packed up everything he had in his small car and drove off to Las Vegas. My parents wanted him to move out eventually, but not when Mom announced she had cancer. Such news is heartbreaking and my brother handled the news by going far away. Some of us stayed close and visited Mom each day. My brother came back home a week before Mom died. The family was finally together and Mom made us all celebrate because my brother was lost and now he had been found.

A protective parent wants the best for her children in school, work or at play. It is tough to make those parental decisions when you give your children choices and give them freedom when they become a young adult. It is hard and painful to see a child struggle through what seems to be crucial and life threatening at the time. I realized the painful sacrifice God made by choosing to send His son to die on the cross for me. God taught us how to grieve.

The statistics of the amount of people who do not choose to worship God is high. A lifestyle of the worldly treasures are tempting and the spiritual life is starved for nourishment. When a person comes back in the fellowship community, we should rejoice because our brother was dead, but now is alive; lost but now he is found.

Heavenly Father, we are your children in a sinful world and we ask you to forgive us. Thank you for giving us eternal life through your son Jesus and opening your arms so wide for us to rest in. In Jesus name. Amen.

Year 2000 Index