From the Pastor |
Here in the Christian church, we spend a lot of time talking about God’s love and grace… of how Christ’s life, death and resurrection has opened the door making new life available to us. God’s love… God’s grace… the new life born of the resurrection… these are tremendous gifts… great blessings that are offered to all people.
This is the message that has been preached for the last 2000 years. God loves all of his creation… even ‘disobedient’ us! God wants to make creation right again… including us! God wants to have a good and right relationship with God’s creation… even with us! And God has worked to accomplish all of that… through Jesus, God has offered love, forgiveness and salvation to ALL of God’s creation… ESPECIALLY to us! While this is good news indeed, these gifts, freely given in grace and mercy, do not work without a response from us. This response is what our readings today are about. On the day of Pentecost, Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks to the crowds… offering the first Christian sermon… and when he finishes… the people are moved by his words… they have heard God’s offer of redemption… and they want to know “Brothers, what shall we do?” “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” [Acts 2: 37b, 38a] The gifts of forgiveness and salvation were offered… but they required a response. Think about that… if someone offers you a gift… whether it is a birthday present or just a random gift… the first thing you have to do is accept it. Peter called for the people to accept this freely offered gift from God. He tells them that through Christ’s death and resurrection, God has offered the people the gift of forgiveness… but it is up to them to accept it. The power of Peter’s message was really seen when thousands of them DID respond… DID accept God’s gift that very day. Later… Peter wrote to his fellow Christians to remind them that when we respond to God’s gifts… simply accepting them is not enough. When you are offered a gift, you have to take that gift… but then you need to open it and use it for that gift to be effective. It does no good to put it in the closet and never take it out again. “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” [1 Peter 1:22-23] Peter says that “Now that you have purified yourselves” through your faith… now that you have accepted the gift of grace and forgiveness… you MUST respond to it… you must love one another deeply… from the heart. This call for a response from us is a powerful and hope-filled part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus, Peter and Paul all stressed this fact again and again. God has freely offered the gift of salvation… and it is through our faith alone that we are saved… but even the acceptance of the gifts… our faith… requires a response from us… it requires that we not only accept God’s love, grace and forgiveness… but we need to use those gifts… to respond in kind. How can we live out this new life if we do not respond to the new reality that we experience because of these wondrous gifts? It is the main point of this whole first chapter of 1 Peter: Peter tells us that we are to “believe in [Jesus Christ] and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy [1:8]… be holy yourselves in all your conduct [1:15]… AND love one another deeply from the heart.” [1:22] For as Peter wrote: “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.” Now… having joy… being holy and loving… these we can understand… but living in reverent fear… this is a little harder. I mean… over and over the scriptures tell us NOT to fear… NOT to be afraid… yet we are told many times to fear the Lord… and today Peter calls us to “live in reverent fear!” All these verses about fear are to remind us that there is NOTHING to fear in this world… the only thing we have to fear is God… God is greater than anything this world can throw at us… and it is God who reigns supreme. If we are to fear anything… we need to fear God… to be afraid of the one who is all powerful and in charge of our immortal souls. Scriptures tells us more than once that we ALL will be judged by God for our words and actions… we ALL will stand before the throne of judgement. But living in “Reverent fear” isn’t about living in terror. Peter does not want us cowering in the corner… hiding ourselves away… afraid to do anything because we are afraid of God… we are called to live our lives… to live out our faith in reverent fear… fear combined with reverence, awe and respect… for the power of God. Living out the knowledge that God alone is our salvation. I think that Peter is reminding us NOT to bother calling God “Father” if we are not going to live our lives as though God is our only judge… the only judge who matters. We need to take our faith seriously… take our relationship with God seriously. Our faith needs to be transforming, and encouraging. We need to be aware that our words and actions… our choices… our lives… all have great implications. What we do and say matters a great deal. To be ‘born again’ means you have been…not simply brought back from the dead… but changed… transformed and made new. The very idea that we become participants in the work God has been doing in the world is one of the greatest privileges of our faith. We become partners in the great work that began with Jesus and has continued every day since then through the work of the Holy Spirit… that same Spirit that we receive when we accept God’s gift of redemption. Because when we accept this gift we are called to actively participate with Christ’s ministry to the world. This is how we must respond when we accept the great gifts God has offered to us. Jesus came to reveal to the world the truth, love and grace of God. We love because God first loved us. And because of Jesus, God has freely offered that love to us. Through our faith we have purified by the “precious blood of Christ.” We are made new in the Resurrection and by accepting this gift of love from God, we are now able to love more fully than ever before… to “love one another deeply, from the heart”… for we “have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” The question we need to ask ourselves today is: what will our response be? Will we accept God’s freely offered gifts? And once we accept them… what will we do with them? Will our words and actions every day conform to the call to live lives of holiness and love? Will we allow ourselves to be changed… transformed into a new creation? One that discovers how it is that God wants us to communicate and spread the good news and great love of God to all people? Our job as followers of Christ is to respond to the wondrous gifts of love, grace, forgiveness and salvation that God has given to us… to actively join in the work that God is already doing in this world. The choice is ours. We can choose to reject God’s gifts or accept them… thereby “[Saving ourselves] from this corrupt generation.” We can choose utilize those gifts… loving God, and our neighbors… loving one another deeply… from the heart… and working with the Holy Spirit to bring transformation to the world around us… OR we can place God’s awesome gifts on a shelf and ignore them… choosing instead to do our own thing, or nothing at all. The choice is our own… but if we truly have faith… if we have truly accepted the gift of salvation, purchased with the precious blood of Christ Jesus… If we have truly been born anew, born into a living hope… if we truly are living lives in reverent fear of God… the choice is pretty clear. Amen.
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Our reading this morning continues the resurrection story with the revelation of the Resurrected Jesus to his disciples. This is a very familiar story to Christians and we often refer to it as the story of “Doubting Thomas.”
I have to tell you… I feel bad for Thomas. Poor Thomas is now best known for what? For being a doubter. How’s that for making a mark in history? I mean… 2000 years later and even non-Christians have heard the phrase “Doubting Thomas.” I personally believe that Thomas got a bad rap because of these verses. We associate “betrayal” with Judas… yet as we learned during Holy Week… ALL of the disciples betrayed Jesus. We have come to associate “Doubting” with Thomas… but when we look closely at the gospels, we find that ALL the disciples… ALL of them… doubted the news that Jesus had risen until they encountered the Risen Christ for themselves. In the garden on Easter morning… Mary was confused and distraught… wondering where they had taken Jesus’ body and why? She did not accept the fact that he had risen from the dead until he spoke her name… until she turned and came face to face with Jesus. After seeing Jesus for herself… she went and told the disciples “I have seen the Lord.” Luke tells us that “... these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe…” They seemed to think it was the ramblings of hysterical, grief stricken woman. We know they doubted since it’s not like they went out looking for Jesus after Mary relayed the news. They remained in hiding… afraid of the Jewish authorities. There was no way they were expecting Jesus to show up… the doors were locked and no one knew where to find them. The disciples all doubted the story… every single one of them! They doubted… until Jesus appeared in their midst… showing them his hands and his side… proving he was really alive… not a vision or a ghost… but a real living man… resurrected from the dead. They had doubted until they themselves encountered the Risen Christ. But poor Thomas was not there. He did not see Jesus. So when the others told him what happened… he struggled with that. I mean… first of all the tale sounds pretty unbelievable… Jesus was back from the dead. And second… if Jesus had magically appeared in their midst… why wouldn’t he wait until Thomas had returned. Why not wait until they were ALL together? It was too much… he would not believe until he saw for himself. Well… John tells us that a week goes by… a week of waiting and wondering… a week later before Thomas finally has his doubts laid to rest by encountering Jesus for himself. That had to hurt a bit… don’t you think? Then add insult to injury and Thomas is singled out for doubting. ALL of Jesus’ closest followers and friends did not believe the truth of the resurrection until they saw Jesus with their own eyes… until they personally encountered the Risen Christ. Jesus knew he would only remain with them for a short time… he knew that faith would grow and spread… without him being there. That is why he stressed… “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And John closes this chapter by telling us that this is the purpose of his written account: “…these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” This is what faith is… isn’t it? “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” [Hebrews 11:1] Faith is believing without seeing. It seems strange that Jesus’ closest friends… his closest followers did not believe until they were eye witnesses to the resurrection. Yet, through faith… people throughout history… for 2000 years… have believed. We… all those who claim the name ‘Christian’… all who have come to believe in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus… WE have… through faith… believed without seeing… Right? Yes! And No! It is true that I have never seen Jesus in the flesh. I cannot even tell you remotely what he might look like. I have never seen his pierced hands or the wound in his side… I have never seen Jesus. Have you? No? But have you ever seen evidence of Jesus? Have you ever encountered the Risen Christ? If you believe… I BET YOU HAVE! We may not see Jesus, personally… in the flesh… but we are able to see the evidence of Christ alive and active in the world today. During his time with his disciples and before he ascended to the Father… Jesus promised that no matter what, he would be with us. When we open our hearts and believe we are gifted with the Holy Spirit… Christ’s presence with us. The presence of the Risen Christ… alive and active. Leading, serving, loving and caring… working through those who have faith to bring God’s Kingdom into reality in the world. Even when doubts break in… and they do… we can look around and see the evidence that Christ is alive in our midst. We can encounter the living Christ. We are in the midst of a very difficult time. The whole world has been knocked around… beaten up… and we wonder when life might return to normal. Things are hard… people everywhere are suffering and asking “why?” Why would God do this? I do not believe God has caused this global pandemic… but I do believe that God is with us every day. If we stop focusing on the negative reports… the fear and anxiety that tries to claim our hearts and minds… if we instead look for evidence of Christ alive in the world… we surely see it. Even in our “social distancing” we can encounter the Risen Christ. We can encounter Jesus in the many healthcare workers who are separating themselves from their loved ones and putting themselves at risk in order to help others… We can encounter Jesus in the military personnel and the first responders lending aid and helping whenever and wherever they are called upon… In the essential workers… those in the grocery stores and restaurants… pharmacies and delivery services who are faithfully showing up to work despite being in harm’s way so that we are able to obtain what we need. We encounter Christ every day in the many businesses… organizations… churches… and individual volunteers who are working daily to ensure those who cannot go out… those who are unemployed and cannot make ends meet… are fed and cared… taking every precaution while serving their neighbors. Faith is believing even though we have not seen, and it is through faith that we are saved… But even though we have not seen Jesus… alive and in person… we encounter his spirit of love and compassion… his mercy and service… every day if we simply open our eyes. We have not seen him… but we have seen the evidence of the Risen Christ and even during difficult times such as these… we are able to move past fear and focus on the joy that comes from having a relationship with the living God. For as Peter said: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” So today, I invite you to look around. Stop focusing on the negative… the fear and anxiety… and see the evidence… experience the truth that Christ Jesus is ALIVE and at work in our midst. Then let the joy that knowledge brings fill your heart… driving out the fear and replacing it with love… because the proof is in the love… our love of God and of our neighbors. The tomb is empty… Christ is Risen… He is Risen indeed. Amen. It is Easter Sunday… and although we cannot gather together… Today is STILL a time of celebration. We have joined together online to celebrate that the stone which sealed the life and love of God in a cold, dark tomb has been rolled away…that our hopes are alive in the resurrection of Jesus.
Our story today begins at dawn when it’s still dark… A time much like this… in a 1st century garden where tombs had been cut into the rocks. Second, it was women who first discover the great news… In typical fashion God chooses to focus the greatest events on ordinary, unlikely individuals… and all four Gospels agree that one of those women was Mary Magdalen. Mary was not what you’d call your traditionally religious person… Tradition has always had it that Mary was a sinner, but all we know of her past is that she was said to have been possessed by seven demons. The number seven is often associated with “completeness” which suggests that Mary’s suffering and struggle was complete… pretty severe. She was a woman living a pretty hopeless existence. But that was before the day that a certain man came to town… A man who proved more to be powerful than all the powers that plagued her. Jesus had come to town and saw into her soul. He cast those seven demonic powers out… He had done something for her that no one else could ever do, and she could never forget. He had transformed her hopeless life and filled her with HOPE and she, as a result, became one of the most devoted followers Jesus had. Mary was among the women who traveled across the countryside with Jesus… helping to support and care for the entourage as they moved from place to place. It was Mary who stood at the foot of the cross with Jesus’ mother and the disciple John. It was Mary who watched and waited as they laid Jesus in the tomb… And it was Mary who went to the tomb “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark…” She entered the garden where the tomb was located… she was there out of devotion and love… but she was filled with grief and DARKNESS. It had to seem like all hope was gone… Jesus was gone and the world without him was a seemingly dark place. There was no hope to hold onto. Hopelessness is extremely powerful. It can make you feel like you are in prison with a life sentence and no way out; like the walls of life are closing in around you. Hopelessness is like a tomb… dark, and cold… lonely. But when Mary arrived se found the huge stone that had sealed the tomb had somehow been removed from the entrance... and the body was no longer there… She is distraught. Where had they taken his body… what had they done? So she goes to find Peter and John, and after they come running to see that her words were true… that Jesus was missing… they leave again… Peter and John rush in and then rush out again… but Mary stays behind… She is consumed by grief and confusion. She can’t see clearly through her pain and sorrow. Even when she felt someone standing near her… even when the man she thought was a gardener … Spoke to her…“Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” She could not see past the hopelessness she felt: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” But then Jesus spoke her name. Hope surged forward… Her eyes and heart suddenly recognized the truth… Jesus had broken done it again. He looked into her eyes, confronted the grief that held her captive and set her free once again. What Mary saw that Easter morning would change her life forever… and it can change ours. In the risen Christ Mary discovered the living hope. Mary was only the first to see him risen from the tomb, but she certainly wasn’t the last. For hope was alive; it would now transcend time and space as a living hope for the entire world. What is the living hope that changed Mary’s life? …. That changes our life? Webster’s dictionary defines hope as, “a confident expectation that a desire will be fulfilled; wishful trust; something which one longs to see realized” It is a wish. When we hope for something we are not certain it will happen. But that is NOT the HOPE we are given today through Christ Jesus. The Greek word that we translate to hope is used 80 times in NT; it talks about a rock-solid certainty… not merely wishful thinking. This hope is a strong and confidence expectation… it is trust… a life-shaping certainty of something that hasn’t happened yet, but you know will. Now if hopelessness is powerful, this Christian HOPE is even more powerful! For the Hope we receive from Christ brings joy and comfort even in the face of sorrow and pain… And it is tied directly to faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Just like for Mary… The resurrection we remember and celebrate today is also the one thing that truly gives us hope. When we come face-to-face with the man whom death could not hold, we have a hope. As Peter wrote in his 1st letter: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead . . . Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:3, 8-9). Jesus is our living hope! We now have hope… a strong and confident trust… that death is not the end. That through Christ Jesus we are forgiven and loved… That even in times of grief and pain… in times of trial and isolation… we are not alone… that new life is being offered to each and every one of us… that there WILL BE a better tomorrow. We have the hope that evil does not win… that darkness will not overcome the light… All that is required of us is that we believe… we have faith… that we open our hearts to the Lord. Then, like Mary and all the disciples who have gone before us we can KNOW with certainty that JESUS IS OUR LIVING HOPE. Psalm 118 is a psalm of procession. It was traditionally used during the Sukkot (su KOT)… the festival of the Tabernacle.
Sukkot is considered a season of joy because it is a memorial of how God – the good shepherd of Israel – chose to live among the people… dwelling in the lowly tabernacle – guiding, protecting and providing for the people as they wandered through the wilderness. This psalm reflects the joy and remembrance associated with the festival. Much like the joy and remembrance we feel today… on Palm Sunday. This is the day when, with joy, we remember how Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph just days before his crucifixion. As we look at Psalm 118, we are also reminded that it is not only the prophecies that point us to Jesus, but many of the images and practices from the Hebrew Scriptures actually draw our eyes to Jesus now. While the procession travels to the Temple, the psalm begins with the call for not just the individual… but for all of Israel to give thanks to the Lord whose love and loyalty are never ending. It then moves on to offer the assurance that God’s protection is with them. Then it recalls God’s deliverance with resounding praise. And this is where we pick up the psalm today… with verses 19-29: Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. As the procession would reach the gates of the Temple courts, they would call out for the gates to be opened so that the righteous… the faithful Jews could enter the place where the Lord dwells. This is the same imagery Jesus used when he declared: “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep… I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture” [John 10: 7, 9] But he also warned that “the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” [Matthew 7:14] The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. For Israel, this stone the builders rejected was a reminder of King David. David was the youngest and smallest of Jesse’s Sons… not someone people envisioned becoming King of Israel. I mean… Jesse did not even bring him in when Samuel arrived. David was overlooked by all… except God. He was the one chosen by God to lead Israel and become its greatest king. For Christians, we are reminded of Jesus… who was rejected, not only by those in power, but by the people… rejected and crucified… yet he was the anointed one… sent by God… and he rose to become the very foundation of our faith. Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord… The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. The people cry out… Lord, Save us… Hosanna… then they offer blessing on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. This often referred to the leader of the procession but also included all the righteous who entered. They carried with them clusters of branches, traditionally made up of palm, willow and myrtle and these were then placed on the altar with great thanksgiving and praise… For You are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God, and I will exalt you. We can truly see the parallel of this with the events we celebrate today. As Jesus came near the gates of Jerusalem… crowds of people gathered… they waved their palms in the air, they laid them before Jesus on the road and cried out Hosanna… Save us Lord… “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” This psalm was used as the people processed to the Temple… they would build simple shelters were they would live throughout the sukkot… as a reminder of the tents in the wilderness. Also, during Sukkot there were two other very important ceremonies that took place. Each day, water is drawn from the pool of Siloam with great ceremony and carried to the Temple where it was poured into a basin beside the altar. The priest would then call on the Lord to provide heavenly water. There was also a celebration of Light. Torches and oil lamps would illuminate the candelabrum along the walls of the temple… The light that shone throughout the Temple was a reminder of how God would guide the people as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And since the Temple stood at the highest point in Jerusalem, the light illuminated the city below and could be seen from a great distance… it was a light to the nations. The Temple was destroyed… it is not more… but we have Jesus who is the “living water” and it was on the final day of the Sukkot that Jesus said “cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.” [John 7:37-38] Jesus also said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” [John 8:12] It seems that Palm Sunday has become the Christian “Sukkot”… our time of joyful remembrance of how God chose to dwell among us in the lowly form of a human being… God lived among us in Jesus… the one who has become the living water and the light of the world. The one who is the gate and the stone the builders rejected… OUR cornerstone. Jesus is the one to whom we cry out “Hosanna… Lord, Save us!” as we wave our palms and lay them on the altar with praise and thanksgiving. For blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord… So “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Amen! As we near the end of the Lenten season, we continue our Journey through the Psalms with Psalm 130. This psalm is extremely appropriate as it encompasses what lent is all about. After all, Lent is a time of self-reflection, prayer and repentance as we return to the Lord… our comfort and help… our strength and our shepherd… our hope!
Today the psalmist has accomplished all of those things in one fell swoop. During a time of great trial and recognizing that he has sinned before God… the author cries out in prayer and repentance. “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.” He finds himself in the depths… in deep waters which is an Old Testament image of death or great distress… It is out of this great distress that he cries out to the Lord… asking for the Lord to hear him and forgive him… He knows that it is God alone who can help him… it is God who will show mercy. “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” Who indeed? Who is there that would have no sin in their ledger… not me, that’s for sure… but it is ok… we can be reassured because: “… with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” It is the nature of God to forgive… and it is this forgiving love… even more than God’s power that causes us to be reverent… to be in awe of our God because this is where hope comes from. “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” It is easy to see how this psalm strikes a chord during Lent. Especially this year when it seems the whole world is crying out “of the depths”. Between Covid-19… earthquakes and tsunami warnings… fear is at a very high level. As the psalm reminds us… we need to “put [our] hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with [God] is full redemption.” So… why is this so hard to do? Why is it so difficult to come before the Lord and ask for forgiveness? Why is it so hard to put our trust in God’s unfailing love? Even for those of us who claim the name… Christian? One reason might just be that we are human beings and human beings… typically… DO NOT like to admit we are wrong… we do not like to acknowledge that we have indeed sinned against God and one another. And we sure do not like to take responsibility for when things go wrong in our lives. Besides… unfailing love? That is a hard concept to grasp. It is the love that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13: Love that is patient… and kind… Love that does not envy, or boast, or is proud. Love that does not dishonor others, is not selfish or causes us to be angry… Love that keeps no record of wrongs. Love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love that never fails! Let’s be honest… Human beings… we… fail at love ALL the time. It is hard to imagine a love that NEVER fails. That level and intensity of love is just too hard for us to fathom. So instead of putting our trust in that kind of love… It is much easier to turn away… to find excuses or whitewash our own behavior… and to place the blame on someone else… sometimes even on God. After all… why would a God who is said to be so loving allow us to suffer this way? Doesn’t God care? Of course God cares… God is right here with us… through it all… And God knows that sometimes it is when we cry out of the depths that we are finally able to see clearly what was previously unseen. It is out of the depths that the ordinary is made extraordinary. It is out of the depths that we can find God sitting at the bedside of those who have fallen ill… grieving with those who have lost loved ones… God can be found in the hands of the doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers… God is there… in the feet of the person bringing food to an elderly neighbor or the family whose parents are out of work. God is here… in this place… God is there with you now… It was when the nation of Israel cried out of the depths that Jesus came to reveal the extent of God’s unfailing, and forgiving love… it was evident when he fed the hungry, gave sight to the blind and set the prisoner free. It was out of the depths that God’s love was made evident at the foot of the cross when Christ suffered and died so that our sins could be forgiven… and it is out of the depths that we can loudly proclaim “Alleluia” for Christ is risen so that we can have new life. Today, as we cry out to God… as we repent and ask for forgiveness… as we then wait with our whole being… putting our hope in the Lord… that we can recognize that it is out of the depths that that God’s love can be seen clearly in action as healthcare professionals are working incredible hours to help and heal even though there are not enough supplies to go around. Seen in the first responders and those considered “essential” who work hard to serve our nation in spite of their own fears and concerns… It is seen in the people have opened their hearts to one another… working together to feed the hungry and help those in need. Lent is our reminder that we need to look at our lives and see how it is we have strayed from God’s path. But even though we have strayed and our love has failed… God’ love NEVER FAILS and God is with us… waiting for us to open our eyes and recognize that our hope comes from the Lord… And through love… God is willing to forgive our sins no matter how great or how small. The psalmist’s cry to the Lord for mercy is echoed in countless hearts today. So I urge you to take time… to pray… to seek the face of God and cry out to God for mercy. Mercy for yourself… Mercy for our nation… mercy for the world… Mercy for us all. Amen |
Yeon Shin
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