Lenten Devotion for March 20

“People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, ‘If you keep a lot of rules, I’ll reward you, and if you don’t I’ll do the other thing.’ I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. 

“And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature; either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. 

“To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 92. 

Lenten Devotion for March 19

Indifference
by Studdart Kennedy

When Jesus came to Birmingham 
they simply passed him by.
They never hurt a hair of him 
they simply let him die.
For men had grown more tender
and they would not give him pain.
They only just passed down the street 
and left him in the rain.

Still Jesus cried, ‘Forgive them, for they 
know not what they do.’
And still it rained the wintry rain 
that drenched him through and through. 
The crowds went home and left the streets
without a soul to see.
And Jesus crouched against a wall 
and cried for Calvary.

Lenten Devotion for March 18

Night Thoughts
by William F. Bell

It is our emptiness and lowliness that God needs, and not our plenitude. — Mother Teresa

Somehow by day, no matter what,
I patch myself together whole,
But all my effort can’t offset
The nightly nakedness of soul
When angels in a dark descent
Strip off my integument.

I am a cornered rebel pinched
Between night’s armies and my lack,
And when inside the bedclothes hunched
I feel the force of their attack,
I hardly know what I can do,
Exposed to God at half-past two.

I once believed my being full,
But night thoughts prove that it is not.
Waking scared and miserable,
I scrape the bottom of the pot
And then must bow down and confess
Totality of emptiness.

Kings once ventured, it is said,
To offer gold and frankincense,
But I send nothing from my bed
Except a tattered penitence,
So very little has accrued
From years of doubtful plenitude.

God who tear away my cover,
Oh, pour your Spirit into me
Until my emptiness runs over
With golden superfluity,
And I bow down and offer up
Yourself within my earthen cup.

Lenten Devotion for March 17

Lachrimae Amantis   

by Geoffrey Hill

What is there in my heart that you should sue

so fiercely for its love? What kind of care

brings you as though a stranger to my door

through the long night and in the icy dew

seeking the heart that will not harbor you,

that keeps itself religiously secure?

At this dark solstice filled with frost and fire

your passion’s ancient wounds must bleed anew.

So many nights the angel of my house

has fed such urgent comfort through a dream,

whispered “your lord is coming, he is close”

that I have drowsed half-faithful for a time

bathed in pure tones of promise and remorse:

“tomorrow I shall wake to welcome him.”

“lachrimae amantis” – tears of the lover (Latin)

Lenten Devotion for March 16

Wake Me
by Susan Daron

Wake me up God, from the dreamless sleep of complacency.
Wake me from the fitful slumber of worry and despair.

Wake me from the sleepwalking of needless gathering and greed.
Wake me from the nightmares of prejudice, hatred and fear.

Wake me to the daybreak of your Resurrection morning.
Wake me to the dawning of new life in You.
Wake me to the sunshine warmth of service and caring.
Wake me to a blessed day of purposeful living.

And after the sunset, let me find at last a peaceful slumber in Your Love.
Amen.

Lenten Devotion for March 15

Feasting and Fasting in Lent 
by William Arthur Ward

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ indwelling them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on divine order.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal Truth.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.

Lenten Devotion for March 14

Destroy Our Wisdom 
by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Holy God, Outrageous Mystery, help us!
You who establish the earth and yet make it tremble,
grant us stability— and shake us up for the sake of love.
You who give your commandments,
make us obey— and replace all obedience with compassion.
You for whom we build our temples—
tear them down until only mercy remains.
We who think we know, who think we have enough to offer,
come before you with nothing,
and you receive us with grace.
O Holy One, foolishly crucified, powerless among us,
destroy our wisdom and knowledge and power,
with all their hidden faults,
that we may die with Christ,
and be raised up to new life
in the grace of your Spirit alone.
Amen.