Fourteenth Day of Lent - Isaiah

The very tame lamb by William Nicolson
Credit: Meisterdrucke.ie

 

Who has believed our message     and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,     and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,     nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,     a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces     he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.   4 Surely he took up our pain     and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,     stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,     he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,     and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,     each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him     the iniquity of us all.   7 He was oppressed and afflicted,     yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,     and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,     so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.     Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living;     for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,     and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence,     nor was any deceit in his mouth.   10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,     and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days,     and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered,     he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,     and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,     and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death,     and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many,     and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53

My mediations this lent are on Jesus - Lamb of God.  I think of Jesus' cousin John, when he was locked in Herod's dungeon, thinking, surely Jesus can get me out of this fix.  He sends his friends to check out if Jesus was the promised Messiah.  Yes indeed, but sadly no 'get out of Gaol free' card.

The Creator's approach is so different to the human instinct.  Are we made of the same stuff?  Well yes we are, because John, Jesus' cousin  responded with grace.  He was murdered, but we will never forget what he did.  All lives are short in the scheme of things.  John's short life was profound. 

PRAYER: You come to us as a lamb.  We receive you on our knees.

Thirteen Day of Lent - Elisha

 

Credit: Marko Prezelj Photo

10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. 2 Kings 5

This reaction brings to mind Simon Yate's prayer as recounted in the bio-pic called 'Touching the Void'.

Yates, and his climbing partner Joe Simpson, found themselves with a terrible dilemma with Yates hanging by a rope over the edge of a precipice attached to Simpson.  Simpson realised that he would have to cut the rope to save his own life.    Yates reports that he cried out to God for a miracle.  He promised to dedicate himself to God if he survived.  Yates then said that he then felt nothing.  Nothing happened.   Absolutely nothing, and he realised that 'there is no God'.  Simpson cut the rope.  Yates fell down into an ice crevasse.  His legs were broken and his knee smashed.  But he was alive.  He saw light at the end of an ice tunnel, and painfully crawled down the tunnel, out into the light.  He then crawled across the base of the mountain for about a mile to the base camp, where he was greeted by astonished  climbers, and was taken to hospital. He was able to make a full recovery. 

PRAYER: I was created in Your image, not the other way round.

Twelfth Day of lent - Elijah

 

Credit:Daricemachel.com

9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” 1 Kings 17

This is an interesting story of  dependence, faith and fortitude.  Previously Elijah had resisted starvation by living off food brought to him by ravens.  Trust his luck to request hospitality from someone who was also 'just' surviving, with her young son too.  But we believe that we do not live with a dispassionate Creator.  Sometimes the light of life is just kept alite, but it never goes out.  Like CS Lewis, who when asked about his faith after his newly wed wife called Joy died of cancer, said "it is hard not to say "God forgive God" (A Grief Observed.)" CS Lewis went on to describe the realisation that if God is dispassionate and inconsistent, then He is not 'Good', or there is no God.  His conclusion was to realise the happiness he had received 'gratefully', and to be at peace. 

For Elijah, we read that a miracle occurred (by definition, a very rare and notable occurrence) and all three lives were preserved.

PRAYER: Thank you for keeping the fame burning in me, and those around me.

Eleventh Day of Lent - Love Songs

Song of Songs IV by Marc Chagall,
Musée national Marc Chagall in Nice, France

Falling in love is the most wonderful thing, especially when it is magically reciprocated.  The two lovers feed each other, and keep the flame alive.  How long can this fire burn?  Like the fire in an open hearth, it starts with light, sparks, flashes and risky clashes and explosions.  It settles down into a constant warmth, of mutually sustained energy.  The coal removed from the fire soon cools, but in the fire, the ardour is maintained.  When the source of the fuel is spiritual, it has that life that Jesus describes, as the 'bread of life', or the eternal spring of life giving water.  This satisfies for an eternity.

Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. Song of Songs 2.8

PRAYER: My love for you is eternal, and grows just as  living things do.

Second Sunday in the Feast of Lent - Thinking in the Wilderness

 

The Wilderness in Israel

Time to think.  From Buber to Maslow, the highest western experience is 'self-actualisation'.  In eastern philosophy, this might be called 'attaining nirvana'.

From our account of Jesus in the Wilderness I read 'surviving victoriously'.  This is not easy.  It is hard work.  It involves endurance, but it also reinforces a sure foundation.  This includes a foundation of knowledge and certainty.  It involves building on what is already known and established.  It reminds me of the longer term hope and vision, that over rides present discomfort.  

PRAYER:  Thank you for what you have given me, which can never be taken away. 

Tenth Day of Lent - Solomon

King Solomon by Gustave Doré
Credit: fineartamerica.com

 King Solomon followed his father King David with the family's mix of 'Inspiration' and 'Perspiration'.  He was a wise ruler, but he was also flawed.  Decadent, and hedonistic, he was not a great role model for Christian virtue.  He demonstrated what unchecked power can lead to.  But we see the Creator using this king, and their creativity to bless the world.  Even today David and Solomon's words are chosen to celebrate the Lord in every church, every Sunday, and every day in between.

Bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

3 Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

4 Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103

PRAYER: In the morning we praise and honour you.  At midday we lift your name high. As the sun sets we glorify your name and through the night we meditate on your Word. 

Ninth Day of Lent - King David

Le Roi David with the Artist, by Mark Chagall

King David was exceptional.  He had been trained in the desert with his sheep and his relationship with his Creator.  He learned to cope under pressure.  Sometimes we experience this strange form of training, preparing us for some other grander role.

We all know that David was not perfect.  The temptations for those with royal power are seen in failed celebrities everywhere.  We read that David knew that his Lord was with him, and above him.  Israel flourished under a just king, just as all countries do.  That's what you need, but the two rarely sit together.  

21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ Acts 13

PRAYER:  Under stress, I turn to you immediately.  Better to be with you before things get tough.