March 13, 2022 (Lent Week 2)

 

 

Psalms: 8, 24, 29 and 84

 

Psalm 29:1-2 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name, worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

 

Especially on Sundays during Lent, I think it’s important and somewhat of a relief from repentance, to just celebrate the glory of God and all he has done in and for us.  As I was reading these 4 psalms, thinking about how they reflect on Lent, I was reminded that Lent is a season of personal assessment, both what is lacking or needing repentance in our lives, as well as what is glorious and to be celebrated.  Have you ever noticed that when we take time to look inwardly, our thoughts often first gravitate to where we feel we are lacking?  It’s easier to point out our faults than our virtues. How would learning to first see and appreciate our gifts and talents change our outlook on ourselves and the world?

 

Lent is a generally a time where this focus on a need for repentance and change is highlighted.  While this is a worthy pursuit, we need to balance those thoughts with the good that we see in ourselves; to give thanks for these qualities and to share them with others.   If we are completely caught up in what is lacking in our lives, it will bring us down and cripple us from doing God’s work out of a sense of unworthiness. Let’s face it, we are all unworthy, but through God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice, we have been redeemed.  God has given each of us gifts to assist in spreading His word and His love. Let’s take this day to celebrate the glory of God and all He has done in our world and in us and will continue to do as we walk our Christian journey.

 

Today, I hope you enjoy reading the 4 psalms and let your heart soar at the beauty and glory of God. He is doing marvelous things in you and in our world!  My photo of the pansies shows God’s beauty in a small, but gloriously hopeful manner.  I hope this musical selection, “Sing” by the Collingsworth family will lift your spirit as you celebrate God’s glory. Happy Sunday! 

 

- Carol Young

 

 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

March 8, 2022 (Lent Week 1)

Image
  He is holy. He is King.  I can’t read things like these (Psalm 45, 47, 48, Mark 1) and not have that truth jump out all over the place. The one who brings the kingdom of God with him everywhere he walks, into every encounter he has, every person he talks to - Jew, Samaritan or Gentile, it doesn’t matter. It says that in the end, EVERY knee will bow, EVERY tongue confess that he is Lord; he is holy and he is King. Because of his humility and his obedience, he is exalted to the highest place above every other name. That’s the kind of king we serve. That’s the kind of king we love. And wow, how worthy he is! I guess when we look towards Lent, our focus is often on the cross, and as important as that is, I can’t help but keep my gaze beyond. Eyes set on the resurrection, on the one with conquered death for the joy set before him, on the one who brings life and life in abundance.  He is holy. He is King.  It always makes me laugh reading about the disciple...
Read more

Reflections coming soon

Join us each day of Lent for our pilgrimage together through Lent to Holy Week, to the cross, and to the resurrection. Members of our church community will be offering daily reflections in word, image, and music.
Read more

March 30, 2022 (Lent Week 4)

Image
  Mark 8: 11-26   In some passages in the gospels, the humanity of Jesus is never more striking than in the display of emotion that can accompany his words. Jesus’s tears at the grave of Lazarus are a particularly unforgettable example, but other emotions well up within him: anger in the Temple at the sight of money-changers desecrating its sanctity, sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane, and here a more subtle emotion: exasperation. It first comes out when the Pharisees ask him to come up with a better sign from heaven than all the miracles of feeding and healing that they had previously witnessed. Jesus’s response to the request is to “sigh deeply,” to lament: “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign?” and to walk away. The event weighs on his mind and he tells the disciples: “Be careful, watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” An attitude of unbelief can spread like a virus, or in Jesus’s terms, infuse and corrupt a whol...
Read more