[re]imagine Lent: 4/10/2023 Holy Monday
We encourage you to sign up for the 40-40-40 Lenten Challenge, a challenge with our partner Southeastern Iowa Synod to participate in Lenten practices, including these daily devotions. Just signing up counts as participation! More info here.
On this Holy Monday, I offer the words of Rob Bell, from his book titled, Love Wins.
“Do we get what we want?”
..the answer to that is a resounding, affirming, sure, and positive yes.
Yes, we get what we want.
God is that loving.
If we want isolation, despair, and the right to be our own god, God graciously grants us that option. If we insist on using our God-given power and strength to make the world in our own image, God allows us that freedom; we have the kind of license to that. If we want nothing to do with light, hope, love, grace, and peace, God respects that desire on our part, and we are given a life free from any of those realities. The more we want nothing to do with all God is, the more distance and space are created. If we want nothing to do with love, we are given a reality free from love.
If, however, we crave light,
we’re drawn to truth,
we’re desperate for grace,
we’ve come to the end of our plots and schemes
and we want someone else’s path, God gives us what we want.
If we have this sense that we’ve wandered far from home,
and we want to return,
God is there,
standing in the driveway
arms open,
ready to invite us in.
If we thirst for shalom,
And we long for the peace that transcends
all understanding,
God doesn’t just give,
They’re poured out on us,
Lavished,
Heaped,
Until we’re overwhelmed.
It’s like a feast where the food and wine do not run out.
These desires can start with the planting of an infinitesimally small seed deep in our heart, or a gnawing sense that we’re missing out, or an awareness that beyond the routine and grind of life there’s something more, or the quiet hunch that this isn’t all there is. It often has its birth in the most unexpected ways, arising out of our need for something we know we do not have, for someone we know we are not.
And to that,
that impulse, craving, yearning, longing, desire –
God says yes.
yes, there is water for that thirst,
food for that hunger,
light for that darkness,
relief for that burden.
if we want hell,
if we want heaven,
they are ours.
that’s how love works. It can’t be forced, manipulated, or coerced.
it always leaves room for the other to decide.
God says yes,
we can have what we want,
because love wins.
Prayer
Living God, I praise you for the resurrection dawn which brings light and life to all. Help me see the risen Lord Jesus this day. Open my spirit to the life and grace you offer, and grant me courage to go and tell of the peace you so freely give. Amen.
Journal Prompt
This first week in Easter, spend some time reflecting on how Jesus' life, death, and resurrection has impacted you. How have you met Jesus on the road? How have you shared this good news with others? How might God be inviting you, like the angels invited the women, to share about God's love in Jesus?
Devotions by Rev. Erika Uthe, uthe@seiasynod.orgShe reminds me so much of God on this Maundy Thursday – God did not turn away from creation or humanity. God did not send an envoy, or a letter, or a thought and prayer. God showed up – not just to offer a different viewpoint, but to live, embody, and experience the visceral, gut-wrenching reality of humanity.
Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed knelt on the floor – from the viewpoint of the servant. Jesus has washed you. Given his life for you. Welcomed you into the body of Christ and a life of forgiveness, love, and peace. Jesus shows up for you. Imagine, having met God along your way, how God is calling you to show up for others. As you show up, and as our church learns what it means to fully show up, maybe we’ll all find just what it means to love as God loves us.
This Maundy Thursday, I invite you to reflect on how God has shown up in your own life. Who are the people who loved you into healing and wholeness? Who are those who welcomed you or showed you unconditional love? And who is God calling you to show up for?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you have called me to come and die, that joined to you in the waters of baptism, God might raise me to new life. Help me to believe in the power of your life-giving cross and strengthen me with hope that no matter what I face, you are with me and will bring everything to newness of life. Amen.
Week Five Devotions by Rev. Erika Uthe, uthe@seiasynod.org