Holy Communion--A New Covenant

Lent Day 36: Tuesday in Holy Week, March 30

Theme for the Week: Holy Communion—Bread for the Journey

Passage for the Day: Luke 22:14-20

¹⁴ When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. ¹⁵ He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; ¹⁶ for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; ¹⁸ for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Reflection:

On this Tuesday in Holy Week, I think and feel what it means for Jesus’ hour to come. Jesus eats this last Passover meal with his disciples before he suffers. As he sits at the Table, Jesus knows that he is going to suffer. In his humanness, his death on a cross will hurt more than words can describe. Jesus’ body and blood are given for you and for me.

The cup is the new covenant in Jesus’ blood. This is covenant is the fulfillment of the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34). “The days are surely coming when I will make new covenant with the house of Israel…I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people…I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more.”

God has sent Jesus, who suffered and died for you and for me. In Jesus, God will forgive our iniquity and remember our sins no more. Thank you, Jesus!! Thank you, God!!

Prayer Themes:

Thank God for the new covenant. Thank God for remembering my sins no more! Pray that I might understand and feel the magnitude of the gift that God gave for me in Jesus’ death. Pray for those who still live under the burden of sin.

Praying for One Another--Lent Day 5

Reflection for Lent Day 5 (Monday February 22)

(If you are counting you may have noticed that Saturday was Day 4 of Lent and Monday is Day 5 of Lent. In counting the 40 days of Lent, the Christian Church does not count Sundays as a day in Lent because each Sunday is a “mini-resurrection,” a day in which we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead!)

Theme for the Week: Confession, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Passage for the Day: James 5:15-16

¹⁵ The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

Reflection:

In James’ letter, he writes about confessing sins to another person and then praying for each other. Sometimes when we have done something wrong, we just want to keep it to ourselves. This wrong-doing then seems to grow larger and larger within our minds and souls. We think about it; we worry about it, and often it will keep us awake at night. Taken to extremes, this act of wrong doing can take control of our lives. Have you ever had a situation where you have done something you have regretted and then that wrong-doing seems to take over your life?

James says that we are to confess our wrong doing to another person and then we are to pray for each other. To whom might you confess a wrong doing? Is there someone you are close to and in whom you trust? Is there a close friend, spouse, or pastor with whom you could share your distress and with whom you could pray? The praying part is important because you are asking for God to intervene, heal the emotional wounds caused by the wrong doing and give forgiveness.

The person with whom you are sharing your problem or distress is not the one who can provide healing or forgiveness. However, he or she can pray to God on your behalf. Hearing someone pray for you can give a great sense of relief, particularly at a time when we feel so out of control that we do not know how to pray for ourselves. Can you think of a time when you knew someone else was praying for you? Is there something going on in your life now, that you would want to talk to someone about and ask for their prayers?

Prayer Themes for the Day:

Pray for someone whom you know is in trouble or who is suffering. Pray that God would guide you to a prayer buddy or someone to whom you could confess your wrong doing and who would pray for you. Pray for all those who are so isolated that they have no one to pray for them.

Christ releases you from burdens--Lent Day 4

Reflection for Lent Day 4 (Saturday February 20)

Theme for the Week: Confession, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Passage for the Day:

1 John 1:8-10

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Reflection:

If you worship in a church with a liturgical tradition, you may recognize these words, or words similar to these as being used in worship during the “Confession of Sins.” We use these words to admit to God that there are so many ways we have not done what God would want us to do. And we also admit that, by ourselves, we are simply unable to stop doing stuff that is wrong.

The writer of John’s first letter says that if we claim that we aren’t sinning, we just aren’t facing reality. Each and every day, somehow we manage to do something which either alienates us from God, from someone we love, or from someone who plays a role in our lives. Can you think of some way in which you have done something wrong in the past day?

The Good News for us is that God has promised us that if we believe in Jesus, Jesus’ death releases us from sin. Wrong doing no longer controls our lives. Instead, if we believe that Jesus saves us, each morning as we wake up God frees us from our past sins and gives us a new start. If we know that God gives us new starts, our wrong doings and mistakes cannot take control of our lives. Is there something in your life from which you want God to free you and grant you a fresh start?

If, on the other hand, we assume that it is all up to us and that we can manage to do everything right and never sin, then the entire burden is on us. As humans, we are simply unable to do everything right, and we drive ourselves crazy trying to do so. When we try to be perfect by ourselves, we set ourselves up to become ever more disenchanted with ourselves and our failures. Do you ever get angry at yourself because you can’t do everything right? Do you feel the burden of trying to be perfect?

Think about it, if we think we can achieve perfection by ourselves, why did Jesus have to die?

Prayer Themes for the Day:

Pray for faith to believe that Jesus frees you from sin. Pray for forgiveness for the things you have done wrong and the things you have neglected to do. Pray for release from the tyranny of perfectionism. Thank God for the gift of Jesus.

Lent Begins!

Introduction:

Today is the first day of the forty day period we know as Lent. This day is known as Ash Wednesday. For the next 40 days (Sundays are not included), I will be posting a meditation. For the first week, the theme will be Confession, Forgiveness and Reconciliation. We will think and pray about what confession means to us, why it is a spiritual discipline and why confession is good for us. I look forward to sharing this Lenten time with you. I pray that these meditations may be a aid to your spiritual discipline during Lent.

Reflection for Lent Day 1: Ash Wednesday (February 17)

Theme for the Week: Confession, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

Passage for the Day: Daniel 9:3-4

³Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. ⁴ I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession.

Reflection:

Today, we enter Lent with Ash Wednesday. In my faith tradition, when we come to worship on Ash Wednesday, we are offered the opportunity to confess our sins and have ashes placed on our forehead. Among the various interpretations, ashes can be a sign of repentance, purification, mourning or even an acknowledgement of our mortality. In Old Testament times, people placed ashes on their foreheads as a sign of mourning and also as a sign of repentance. In the Scriptural passage which is the basis of this reflection, Daniel seeks God’s help by engaging in prayer and confession. As signs of his humble approach to God, he wears sackcloth, a dark, uncomfortable fabric made of goat hair, and he puts ashes on his body. When you have ashes placed on your forehead, what do they mean to you? For you, are the ashes a sign that you have been marked with the cross of Christ, the sign first placed on your forehead in baptism? Or are they a sign of your mortality, or a sign of your repentance?

Why do some faith traditions, such as the Lutheran Church, in which I serve, encourage worshippers to confess their sins, either with a group confession, personal reflection, or individual confession? In a confession of sins, we acknowledge before God that we have done things which have hurt ourselves or other people, or that we have failed to do things which would have helped someone else. We admit that we have not been able to live up to God’s full expectation for us. We don’t confess the things we have done wrong in order to make ourselves feel bad or to beat ourselves up. We confess so that God can restore us. God releases us from the torment of the things we have done wrong or neglected to do. God frees us from the power of wrong doing so that our lives can be turned around.

I like to think of the ashes on my forehead as a sign that God has purified and cleansed me. The words to a hymn that our choir is singing in worship tonight sum things up for me. (This song was written by Tony Alonso and produced by GIA Publications.) When I hear the choir sing “Sign us with ashes, merciful God. Sign us and make us your own,” I feel the ashes on my forehead and remember that that God loves me and forgives me. I remember that God has made me God's own in baptism. I look forward to the Lenten time as a way of reclaiming my identity as a baptized child of God.

Think about the ashes you might receive on your forehead and pray about what they could mean to you and what God’s action in your life means.

Prayer Themes for the Day

Pray for yourself that the Lenten season which begins today might be a time of reflection, repentance and reconciliation. Pray that you will be able to allow God to work in your life, releasing you from anything that is troubling or imprisoning you. Pray that in your confession and repentance, God will turn your life around.