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A GREETING
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
(Psalm 51:10)
A READING
Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving. The devil said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread.” Next the devil led him to a high place and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world. The devil said, “I will give you this whole domain and the glory of all these kingdoms. It’s been entrusted to me and I can give it to anyone I want. Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” The devil brought him into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here; for it’s written: He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.” Jesus answered, “It’s been said, Don’t test the Lord your God.” After finishing every temptation, the devil departed from him until the next opportunity.
(Luke 4:1-13 CEB)
MUSIC
See bottom of the page for a link to the full lyrics.
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said,
‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’
(Matthew 14:27 CEB)
A REFLECTION
I will testify in ordinary ways. We are not afraid, we were made for these days.
Tyranny and hate and despair never win, not for long and not forever and certainly not now. Love out-prays, out-hustles, out-creates, outlasts. Here in the midst of the dark times of despair, the people of hope and love are so doggedly frustratingly relentlessly bright. I want to stand near that light in hopes my own candle ignites.
- from "So here is my resolution for these very days,"
by Sarah Bessey, found on her blog, Sarah Bessey's Field Notes.
VERSE OF THE DAY
Don't fear, because I am with you;
don’t be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
I will surely help you;
I will hold you
with my righteous strong hand.
(Isaiah 41:10 CEB)
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| Sydkap, Scoresby Sund, East Greenland. Image by Hannes Grobe. |
On Ash Wednesday, we enter the desert with Jesus, and we also realize perhaps that we have already been in a wilderness for some time. We may be feeling challenged in our cherished sense of being able to go about peacefully in our own lives. Headlines are full of omens and some world leaders are forsaking common diplomacy. Our planet becomes more vulnerable every day. As we come into the season of Lent, what can we do to help quiet the turbulence we may feel within? How can we learn from the courage of Jesus?
Today’s reading is a story of hubris and resistance. Hubris is the excessive swelling of pride and confidence in oneself. We can see it in the figure of the tempter, who believes that the sheer force of his desire to have power over Jesus will ultimately prevail. The human Jesus is being taunted while he is in solitude, fasting in the desert -- but nonetheless he resists.
On Ash Wednesday, we look the world in the face. In doing so, we also dream again of what God wants for each of us, so that we can help make a world that offers abundance for all. With its penitence and deep self-reckoning, Ash Wednesday is a day of hope and resistance. Lent gives us a framework for remembering what we are capable of when we come together and work hard, when we start rebuilding the world we want to live in. We see how we have fallen short, but we also recommit ourselves to our purpose. How might we believe, as Sarah Bessey writes, that we are "made for these days?"
“Soon we will be done,” sung in today's video by the Wartburg choir, is Kyle Pederson’s adaptation of the African American spiritual, that offered a longing and hope in a time of oppression among African American peoples. (To compare, you might want to listen to Mahalia Jackson's version, in an excerpt from the 1959 film Imitation of Life.) In the spoken word introduction to today's recording, we hear the singers speak their own extension of the song’s central message: “Done with hatred. Done with war. Done with anything that prevents us from seeing the hurt and heart of another.”
It can be hard for us to believe in a world free of the abuses of power. But in his own time, Jesus stared down these formidable forces. During his forty days in the desert, and in his life of ministry, Jesus committed to a life of resistance, restoration and renewal.
How will we be shaped by Lent? How much will we be transformed, in prayer and conversation with God and with each other, as we journey into the coming days?
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Resources in today's devotion:
Scripture passages are taken from the Common English Bible version.
Full lyrics for "Soon We Will Be Done" (by Kyle Pederson) can be found here.
Sarah Bessey is a Canadian author of many books on faith,
and a co-founder of the Evolving Faith conference and its podcasts.
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LC† Streams of Living Justice is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!