Ideas for Lent 2024

But God is holy Feb 16, 2024

Psalm 103:1-2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

I didn’t manage to write a post yesterday, so I’m a day late with my ideas for this year’s Lenten season. Here they are:

Key off Psalm 103, one or two verses at a time, so we keep in mind God’s character.
Use the Litany of Penitence, one strophe at a time so we can think carefully about each one and make whatever confession we need to make, based on the Spirit’s conviction. The Litany has twelve stanzas, so using two per week will bring us to Holy Week.
Keep track of our progress using a Lenten calendar. The one I’ve chosen (thanks, Suzanne Werder) is a journey with Jesus to the cross. I suggest you download and print this and use color and symbols of your choice to represent your experience day by day. Of course, you can use other Scriptures to enrich this plan.

It would be great for us to use half an hour each day for prayer during Lent, but anything we manage to do is better than nothing, right? Decide for yourself how much you want to invest in this spiritual heartcleaning.

Today, and the next couple of days, as we think with King David about God’s holiness in the context of how praiseworthy he is, let’s start with a general confession. “We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength” fits with the first two verses of Psalm 103. Try to write down at least a paragraph of response to the psalm and the confession (below). What does God’s holiness mean to you?

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength.

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.

We have not been true to the mind of Christ.

We have grieved your Holy Spirit.

Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have sinned against you.

Holy Forever, Chris Tomlin

Advent ABC: Our God

Isaiah 25:9 (Isaiah 46:3-4, Malachi 4:2, Romans 5:10-11, Hebrews 4:15, 16, 2 Peter 1:1) In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings.”

Trust isn’t easy, especially when we’ve been betrayed. When someone we have trusted has not just disappointed us, but has deliberately hurt us for their own ends. Because the Three-in-One God understands this, Jesus came, to experience in a body what betrayal is. That’s why we can go to him to find mercy and grace in our time of need. This is our God, not a being far off, but one who draws near, in compassion and full understanding. With healing in his wings.

This is Our God, Phil Wickham

Healing at the lake, Part 3

But Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid”

Luke 5:4-10 Jesus said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” “Master,” Simon replied, we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” This time the nets were so full of fish they began to tear! … When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” … Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid.”

Romans 8:1-2 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. … The life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin. … Letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

The sun grew warm as I built a sandcastle with my brother and sisters. I took off my sweater and laid it on a rock. After a while, we ran to the lake to splash in the waves lapping the shore. When I returned, my sweater was gone.

My seven-year-old heart was terrified to tell my mother I had lost my sweater. I delayed returning to our vacation house for as long as I could. Thus I was doubly in trouble, not only for my carelessness but for not showing up in time to help with lunch. I was denied lunch and grounded for the remaining day and a half of our vacation. But what hurt most were the words my mother poured out on me, and the tone of those words. I’m not sure I learned to be more responsible. I do know my fear of her dug even deeper roots into my soul.

It’s natural for a child to project that experience of fear onto God, to assume God is like our parents or other authority figures who haven’t known how to support and encourage us. The breakthrough, healing moments (I’ll tell about one of them in the next post) come from discovery that Jesus isn’t like them. That’s what Simon learned.

“The Chosen” depicts Simon in BIG trouble over his debt to the Roman government. The miraculous catch of fish more than paid Simon’s taxes. It freed him to give up fishing and follow Jesus.

But Simon had an even bigger debt, the debt of his sin, which made him ashamed to come close to the Holy One. Dane Ortlund in his precious book Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, points out in almost every chapter that the only safe thing to do with ourselves when we recognize our sin is to go straight to Jesus. Remember the story in John 8 of the woman caught in adultery? (No mention is made of the man … apparently, she was committing adultery by herself.) Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

Compassion. That’s what we’ll find when we go to Jesus in our sin. He weeps over the wounding that takes place within us and in others when we sin. He wants to free us from sin’s devastating impact.

Ortlund says (page 174), “His love is great because it surges forward all the more when the beloved is threatened, even if threatened as a result of its own folly.” I wish for courage this Lent, for you and for me, to trust Jesus’s heart of love, his compassion, his gentleness, his longing to connect with us, to free and heal us. Hear him say to you as he did to Simon, “Don’t be afraid.”

Who bore the blame?

But God is merciful

Psalm 86: 15-16 But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. Look down and have mercy on me. Give your strength to your servant.

Psalm 56:1-3 O God, have mercy on me … When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, mercy is “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.” The best description of mercy I know is Psalm 103:8-11:

The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

Yesterday God’s mercy was the theme of our entire service. Pastor Kevin’s sermon was wonderful, but the music was extraordinary, and I want to share it with you. You can turn them into a playlist or click on any of the links below. Or listen to or watch part or all of the service. “O Gracious Light” begins at 57 seconds. The sermon is 25 minutes-42:30. The second period of worship begins at 56:30.

“O Gracious Light” by Andy Clark and Elise Massa: Show me this darkness is not too dark for you.

Each song title is a link:

“Lord, Lord, Lord” by Ryan Flanigan: Please restore our trust.

“What the Lord has Done in Me” by Hillsong Music: From the heavens mercy streams of the Savior’s love for me

“O Come to the Altar” by Elevation Worship: Are you hurting and broken within?

“He Will Hold Me Fast” by Keith and Kristen Getty: I could never keep my hold through life’s fearful path … He must hold me fast

“We Will Feast in the House of Zion” by Sandra McCracken: Every vow we’ve broken and betrayed. You are the faithful one.

Love (III) by George Herbert (published 1633)

Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

If I lacked anything.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:

Love said, You shall be he.

I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

My dear, then I will serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat;

So I did sit and eat.

But the Holy Spirit lays on us no greater burden

Acts 15:8-11, 28 [After a dispute over keeping Jewish laws, Peter said] God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus. … For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you.

Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

Galatians 6:2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

So, Dave and I sat with Rachel, Brian, and Liliana at one of the family tables (with a box of activities for kids of all ages) set up on the periphery of the tent where our church is meeting for one of its Sunday services. My 16-month-old granddaughter kept wandering to a blanket on the grass next to our table, where a family with a baby played with him while they listened to the sermon. At one point Lili grabbed the baby’s ball and took off with it down the sidewalk.

At the end of the service I commented to Brian, “Lili doesn’t quite have down yet the concepts of ‘mine’ and ‘yours.’”

Brian replied, “Oh no, she understands perfectly. What’s yours is mine.”

Dave said, “And God says, ‘All that is mine is yours.’”

Wow. Think about that. All that is mine is yours. Do you remember which parable that quote is from? The Father in the Prodigal Son story didn’t say this to the prodigal, but to the older brother. Think about that. In the face of such abundance, could he not have found it in his heart to show some mercy to his brother, who by his own fault is now destitute?

When I realize how much I have received, it is a small thing to extend mercy to others. Love mercy, Hosea tells us. Freely you have received. Freely give (Matthew 10:8).

I told this story the next evening to begin a brief presentation on the theme of mercy at the second of three Arts Festival evenings held in the same tent where we had met for worship the day before. This was the second of three summer Arts evenings focusing on justice, mercy, and humility, from Hosea 6:8.

The next Arts evening is August 30, on the topic of humility. Pittsburghers, you are welcome! If you’re an artist and wish to sell your loveliness, contact Elise Massa, elise.massa@gmail.com. And if you’d like a copy by email of my booklet with three reflections on mercy, let me know.