2012 Archives » Page 3 of 4 | Devotions | Goshen College
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Several Sundays ago, the church I attend in Goshen talked about the power of healing prayer. We recognized the importance of sharing stories of crying out and healing. After the sermon there was a time to go forward to be anointed with water and receive a prayer for healing.
The materials that I was asked to work with were all dead! In 1972, my college adviser asked if I’d be willing to assist him on a project. The focus was on organic gardening and a main task was to make compost. While this job may not appeal to many, I was eager to sign on to the undertaking.
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Just after the pilot informed us that we had reached cruising altitude and that we could move about the cabin freely, I got to a page in my book that I had read hundreds of times before. (more…)
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During my elementary and middle school years it was not uncommon for my classmates and me to have to sell wrapping paper, cookies, books or other things to raise money for school. I would often bring the sign-up sheet to church and try to persuade people to buy or donate towards my school, which to me was a good cause.
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Life is crazy, and I’m told that it only gets crazier. Running from class to class and prioritizing group meetings, assignments and projects are only part of a student’s busy life – let alone socializing and fulfilling the promise that “tomorrow, I will go to the gym.” Knowing that work life and family life will be just as demanding is almost as overwhelming as it is exciting. At times, I feel trapped under the busyness of the everyday. It is enough to make me wonder if I’m missing something.
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In 2007-08, I spent a little over a year journeying the Exodus with my husband Wes and our own adopted hija (daughter). Older than both of us combined, Eliana had spent 40 years and more in her own “Egypts,” and bore the scars (visible and invisible) of a lifetime of slavery, prostitution and addiction. My husband’s and my Egypts were far less literal and far more of our own making, but still … we all needed this Exodus.
THIS WEEK’S THEME: He…overturned the tables
Lent marks a time in our Christian calendar when we wait once again for the unexpected. Yet, Jesus’ death and resurrection should not come as a total surprise, as the Scriptures are littered with hints of what is to come in this awful, yet wonderful, saga that is the life of Jesus Christ.
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Please read the Scripture again before you start reading this devotion. Did you read it? OK, I trust you. Notice the depth of Jesus’ statement, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” The Message translates it this way; “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how” (emphasis mine).
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I love the rules. I love knowing what I can and cannot do, what will get me into trouble and for what I cannot receive punishment. I revel in order, like going in the “Enter” door at the grocery store and going out the “Exit” side. I like to sign contracts saying I will not break the rules and feeling confident I won’t.
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“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” That’s the opening cry of the Psalm from which our text is taken. A classic lament, and our text a familiar vow of praise of the sort found not infrequently in lamentation literature. It is the hymn that Jesus begins to recite from the cross, branding that anguished cry onto our collective consciousness. Perhaps he would have continued reciting through the praise portion – had he lived.
Why praise in the midst of scripted complaint, choreographed despair, ritualized hopelessness? For the ancient worshipper a “sacrifice of praise” was part of the lamenter’s strategy to incline the ear of one’s deity, to call attention to one’s case, to evoke sympathy for one’s suffering. To provoke perchance a positive response, in hopes that the deity might (also) be assuaged by the sweet aroma of adoration. (more…)
