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| Image by Loren Chipman |
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A GREETING
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
(Psalm 51:6)
A READING
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
(Mark 1:12-13)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10)
A POEM
This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside the soil of
this sacred earth.
So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are
but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made
and the stars that blaze
in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.
- from "Blessing the Dust," by Jan Richardson,
found in Circle of Grace
VERSE OF THE DAY
Restore to us the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in us a willing spirit.
(Psalm 51:12 var.)
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| Image by Leo |
Today, we begin the journey with Jesus that starts in the desert, moves out into the Galilee, and eventually comes to an end in Jerusalem. As we do so, we embark on our own journeys of faith, in which we examine our hearts and minds and renew our commitment to discipleship. It can be a time of peaceful introspection and it can also be a challenging time, in which we wake up to uncomfortable truths in ourselves and our communities. To enter into a reckoning of our own inner strugges, is an act of courage.
Jesus goes into the desert immediately after his own baptism and the blessing of him by God. The text tells us that he is confronted by a figure who wants to tempt his human self, and that the Spirit put him in this place! The ancestors of Jesus were nomadic: time in the desert was not unusual. But who is this tempter figure? Over these first four days we will explore this time that Jesus spends in isolation. Is he retreating, as he so often does in his ministry, to get away from the crowds and be in Creation? How does fasting allow cleansing of heart and mind? What are the human emotions that arise when he is in this solitary space? And how are the wind, the sand, the rocks and the sky -- accompanying him?
In today’s music, sung in English and Swahili, we hear what it means to reconcile ourselves to the world, to commit ourselves to right relationships, to change the habits that prevent us from hearing God’s will for us. In the days to come, we will be invited to turn inward and challenge ourselves, to see what is waiting to be awakened in us, so that we might be better able to build the realm of God.
On Ash Wednesday, how can we hand our deepest anxieties up to Jesus to hold with us in his embracing love? How can we lean into our own doubts and fears, so that we may better understand what in us can be transformed?
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A STORY OF ENDURANCE
Throughout Lent at the bottom of each day, we will offer a 'Story of Endurance,' to help encourage us in our own journey of faith. Today, we begin with the bar-tailed godwit! Every March, the godwit migrates more than seven thousand miles from New Zealand to Alaska, to breed. The flight takes eight to ten days, with one stop on a sandbar in China; on the return trip, there are no stops. Incapable of ‘dynamic soaring,’ which allows other birds to rest while in long-distance flight, godwits flap their wings the entire time. In the month before migration, their internal organs shrink to give them more speed, and their fat deposits grow to sustain temperature changes. In September, they return to New Zealand where they are welcomed in some communities with the ringing of bells. Researchers are trying to understand why ninety percent of godwits successfully survive these long journeys. In doing so they may be poised to change some fundamental assumptions within ornithology. This video shows them on the verge of departure, circling in waves.
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LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!