A 7 Central Things Lenten Devotional

                God who so loves the world that you sent your own Son, let us follow him. Let us be present with and for the world in ways that echo and point to Jesus. Deliver us from prejudice and a lack of love, help us to love our neighbor and share your love with them. In the name by which we are sent to baptize, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

  Sarang, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons It is not good to attempt to spread the Gospel in ways that are manipulative or insincere, incurious, or closed off from those with whom you seek to share the Good News. A spirit of judgment is surely asking for failure and is unfaithful to the whole venture. It is not good to travel thousands of miles away to share the Gospel, without considering your own context. Separating the good news of Jesus Christ from your roles, relationships, and responsibilities is irresponsible.   It is good to be sent out to serve our neighbors near and far—siblings and strangers, and witness to what God is up to in the world. We are called to accompany, be with, people on their journey with Jesus. This ministry of presence will draw us deeper into the world around us, its joys and flaws, where the Spirit is at work and where folk are in bondage to Sin. We ought to be curious enough about ...

  Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons               As I did in the Thanksgiving section, I’ll be pulling some questions from my handy chart of 21 questions in this reflection. Decentralization—Where and how are we sent when we are already dispersed?               This is a vocation question. We have all kinds of roles, relationships, and responsibilities that we are already present in. Ask yourself, how can I be present in them in ways that point to the Good News? It can really be that simple, ongoing intentional reflection on those three Rs.   Demographic Shift— How are we sent differently to the changing demographics in which we live? After all, we’ve been called to all nations since the start, how might we do so effectively? Communicating ...

              “Open yourself to all that is human and you will find that every vain desire to escape from the world disappears. Be present to your age; adapt yourself to the conditions of the moment. Father, I pray you not to take them out of the world, but to keep them from evil.”—Father Roger               It may seem a little funny that I quote the head of a monastery as an example of sending, but the attitude expressed in the above quote exemplifies a faithful way to exist for our neighbors, whoever they are. Be present with them, in the time and place that we find ourselves in. Learn to understand and even love the world, not to rescue it and drag it away to some far-off place where a pure, unsoiled life can be lived, but to be salt and light—to preserve what is good, season it to be what it is, and to heal what needs the disinfecting that sunlight b...

                The Hymn “The Canticle of the Turning” is a favorite among a whole generation of Lutherans, probably all for vaguely the same reason, it was sung at an especially powerful moment in their life. For me it was sung before my cohort of Young Adults in Global Mission left the Lutheran Center in Chicago to our particular destinations around the world. A one-man band sent us off; if I remember correctly, he was simultaneously playing bagpipes, a harmonica, and drums. He played as all of us excited and anxious young people sang Mary’s song about the transformation of the whole world on account of her son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. It was the song that sent us out into the world to join in that mission. In my case that song sent me to an 850-year-old English abbey converted into a retreat centre where I cleaned rooms, taught kids archery, and served booze to Anglican Bishops.      ...

Bavarian State Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons               The above pieces of scripture are two charges to the church, that almost form a call and response, with each other. Matthew: Go to all nations! Make them disciples! Acts: Begin here in Jerusalem, but know that this new thing the Spirit is doing ripples out, to Judea where you’re from, but then Samaria, where you insist very heavily that you are not from. Point to what God has done in Jesus Christ among your people, and among those who you consider “those people.” In embracing the familiar and the other, the ripple in the pond will become a tsunami, splashing upon all the earth. Matthew: That is your calling. Baptizing them, teaching them everything about Jesus’ way of life. Jesus who is so very present with us, even as we leave Galilee. He will be with us, always! Acts: Truly, he is present! The Spirit, his Spirit, attests to who he...