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"When the Going Gets Tough
Scripture
Nehemiah 4:1-10
Matthew 5:11-12
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February 16, 2018
Dear MLEPC Members and Friends,
This week begins the annual 40 day journey of Lent, a reflective time for Christians as we consider our mortality, spend time in confession and prayer, focus on how we can reach out to others and, above all, show the amazing grace and love of God to others, even as He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, into the world. After our Family Fusion dinner on Ash Wednesday, we had a "family-friendly" worship service with the imposition of ashes and a time of communion. We then invited people to go into Fellowship Hall and take something tangible home that represented each of the above five themes of Lent. It did my heart good to see our church family and many guests, young and old, eating dinner, worshiping and then being together again in Fellowship Hall at our five stations.
A journey is simply the act of going from one place to another. Sometimes we go to places we have never been before, but the Lenten journey is one that many of us have taken before. It's a familiar journey as each year we take the journey with five spiritual disciplines. If you were unable to join us on Wednesday evening, consider how you might make them part of your devotion time throughout the season of Lent.
- Mortality - "Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return." These are words that are often said during the imposition of ashes. Ashes are used as signs of humility and mortality, of sorrow and repentance for sin. On our journey to Easter, we anticipate a pause on Good Friday, the day when Jesus humbled himself and died on the cross for our sins. As part of our journey of Lent, we are humbled as we are very much aware of what Jesus did for us, saving us from our mortality, from death, by dying in our place for our sinfulness.
- Confession - As we have been studying the book of Nehemiah, in 1:6 he prays this prayer of confession to God: "Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you." Confession is one of the more challenging places we go through during this season of Lent. It's not easy to look inside ourselves and see the things we have done wrong to hurt one another, things we do that are not pleasing to God and things we don't do that would make God happy. Nehemiah's prayer offers us six simple thoughts to guide our daily confession: (1) Thank you, Lord, for hearing all my prayers; (2)Thank you, Lord, for hearing my daytime prayers; (3) Thank you, Lord, for hearing my nighttime prayers; (4) Thank you, Lord, for your eyes that see me; (5) Forgive me, Lord, for the things I've done wrong today; and (6) Forgive our nation, Lord, for sinning against you.
- Prayer - Keep a prayer calendar with things or people to pray about each day. The Apostle Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
- Giving - Instead of giving something up for Lent, consider a reverse challenge, take something on! In Matthew 10:42, Jesus said, "And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward."(Matthew 10:42) Those who came to Fellowship Hall last evening picked up a cup to encourage them to give a cup of cold water this Lenten season, perhaps by putting some change in the cup then bringing it back at the end of Lent and donating it to our brothers and sisters in Christ in Kenya. A cup of cold water is something we take for granted but not so in many places. In Kenya, our team provided a well in the village of East Kano a few years ago, and now that well needs a filtration system. We'll be working to provide that when a team goes back this summer.
- Love - There's a great memory verse with just seven words that I encourage you to commit to memory this Lenten season, 1 John 4:19, "We loved because He (God) first loved us." How can you show God's love to someone each and every day during your Lenten journey? Perhaps there's someone at school that you can show love to by speaking a kind word. Or maybe a friend or relative, coworker or neighbor needs some love and attention.
Lent begins in darkness, in ashes, but it ends in a bright place, at the empty tomb on Easter Sunday, when we celebrate Jesus risen from the dead. May you travel well in this season of Lent, drawing ever closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Love, in Christ,
Linda Pokrajac
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