3-6-2014

 Good Morning to All,

     Micah 6:8; “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

     Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent.  Many in Christendom attended a worship service where ashes were imposed on their forehead as recognition that they are sinful creatures.  Many others took the opportunity to give something up for Lent.  This too is an old tradition which is a sign of penitence.  People give up many different things for Lent.

      Some of the most popular things to give up are: chocolate, alcohol, sweets, meat, chips, coffee, bread, cookies, donuts, fried food, and social networking.  So the whole idea is to give something up in order that you are showing God and your neighbor and yourself that you are really trying to remember all that Christ did for you during this Lenten season.  Yet too often we turn this into a competition of “who is holier” by what we give up and for how long we give it up.  We make a show of what we “give up”; yet if we look at this list, most of what we give up we shouldn’t have taken up or at least not over indulged in to start with.

     The problem with giving something up for Lent is that it never impresses anyone.  God isn’t impressed, your friends and neighbors rarely are and deep down you are impressed either.  It just seems like a shell game we play.  We give something up for Lent, probably fail in a couple of weeks anyway and just slump back.  It really never enhances our Lenten season experience.  So this Lenten season let’s try something different.

    Don’t give anything up rather add something to your life.  Try going out and each day do one thing that engages some of Scriptures “action verses” like our verse for today or some of Matthew 25: 35-40, James 1: 27, Matthew 5:44, or Leviticus 19: 9-18 are just a few.  Rather than give something up try adding something that is of service to God and his people.  Visit the sick and the shut-ins.  Help feed the hungry.  Console the suffering, encourage the downtrodden.  Be active in God’s kingdom.  For the next forty days or so, try and “step up” your witness activity.  Be a living, breathing active part of the body of Christ. 

    Rather than try to give something up and share in Jesus’ suffering; go out and give to those in need an extra dose of God’s mercy.  Christ suffering shouldn’t make you feel guilty so you give something up.  It should make you see how valuable you are to God and how special those people around you are to God as well.  So don’t give up; take up an extra attempt to glorify God by your actions; do a work of the Spirit for those you meet today.

Father of all grace, move us by your Spirit to be about your business.  Give us the courage to love those whom are unloved; give us the strength to lift up the broken down.  Break our hearts at the pain of the widows and the orphans and all those who suffer in this world.  Shake us up that we might bring change to your world.  Lead us to those who are in most need of your loving-kindness.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret