Grove Presbyterian Church 2022 Lenten Devotional

Be quiet!  No I'm not mad at you.  I'm actually looking out for you, trying to help.  Lord knows I need to be quiet more.  This isn't about being more ears than mouth - although that is a good idea too!   It is really hard for us to quiet our minds.  We are so used to the stimulation all around us and nowadays the powerful computers we all carry around, occasionally to make phone calls, makes it even more difficult to stop... and.... just... listen...  I wonder if that moment of silence in church is treasured by some and is torture for others?  I treasure it and wish it was longer.  Probably because I have trouble doing it by myself. I just read an article that a friend of ours wrote about going through radiation treatment.   Her nurse told her to "lay heavy" in the machine that rotated her around and applied the radiation.  Each of the 30 days she did this became special to her in a strange way.  She wa...

        During the last weeks, many spiritual disciplines were discussed and experienced in Sunday School, worship, and the Lenten Blogs. God created us as such unique and complex individuals that there are a multitude of ways God draws near to us and we draw nearer to God -- centering prayer, Labyrinth, journal, retreat, solitude, dance, create/listen to music, meditate, silence, enjoy nature, make/enjoy art, express gratitude, fast, unplug, simple life, worship, read the Bible, advocate, Lectio Divina, prayer beads, chant, garden, sacraments, confession, fellowship, celebrate, exercise, rest, listen to a friend, give, reflect, write a letter, and tell about God.      This last week gives us time to try a new spiritual discipline. For young children many of the disciplines are new, so trying a new one is not challenging. When working with children adults need to keep two approaches in mind:  value the worth of each discipline and remember th...

Every night at the dinner table, our family takes turns telling each other what we’re thankful for from the day. It never fails that one of our kids shares that they’re thankful for a good dinner, even if they struggled to get all of it down. While the practice can seem mundane and routine, our hope is that one day, the practice of gratitude that we’ve engrained in them (and ourselves) will help us on the days where it seems the world has nothing in it for which to be grateful. Maybe we can consider it practice for those coming moments of despair-that there is still some blessing that deserves our gratitude. Isn’t that what Jesus calls us to do? We are called in so many ways to reflect on the abundant blessings of God. Consider this passage from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:     Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,  for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.   This directive is strong-no matter what is happening-be joyful, pray, give ...

Scripture: Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God! I have always been an outgoing person who is not at a loss for words.  Going on spiritual retreats has changed my approach to listening to God and making time for meditation.  Back in my 30s, I went on a four-day Church of the Savior retreat, sponsored by my church when I lived in North Carolina.  After an hour or so of introductions to the weekend, the eighteen participants from a variety of denominations were given instructions on experiencing eighteen hours of silence.     Wow, that was a shock to me!  We were given choices of how to spend our time in the silence, including journaling, walking in nature, praying, etc.  Part of those eighteen hours included sleep.  The silence was not broken until after breakfast the following day.  So we even ate with our fellow Christians in silence.   All of the intrusions of the outside world were stripped away.  My senses were heightene...

    If you grew up on a farm you probably know what a tether is; our kids and grandkids bat the tetherball around the pole at Hunter’s Ice Cream.   Being tethered indicates you’re connected to something that lets you move, but only within a particular radius. That’s why the term is used so often now to describe how we are with our electronic devices – we can move around but we’re connected, and that connection actually restricts and confines us. It keeps us from being able to pay thoughtful attention to people who deserve it, from being able to fully concentrate on a task, and worse…it can keep us from being able to be mindful of the presence of the Lord and tuned in to what he’s trying to say to us.   So this week of “Following Jesus”, we’re encouraged to disconnect…unplug…cut the cord.   But here’s a different spin on being tethered;  there is a beautiful hymn in our purple Glory to God hymnal on page 529; “Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether”; writte...

       Adults talk about unplugging and what comes to mind first is putting down cell phones and walking away from the computer. But when it comes to children, parents already have been alerted to the dangers of too much screen time by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Schools encourage screen-free events. Hopefully, we have already attempted to instill some good habits in our children when it comes to the use of technology, and they do not need to be “unplugged”.   What kind of “unplugging” then can we talk about with children?       As involved in the life of God’s creation as God is, even God “unplugged” on the seventh day of creation and rested. The fifth commandment reminds us to keep the Sabbath holy. Jesus often went off sometimes by himself and sometimes with his disciples to “unplug” from the crowds and pressure of teaching. God ordained that there be a tim...

  “God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising.” (Ecclesiastes 7:30)   The Christian discipline of simplicity begins as an inward process that leads to outward changes in our lives.   Again and again the Bible cautions us against materialism.   “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.   You cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13).   Repeatedly Jesus calls us to seek the kingdom of God, and to be willing to sell everything we have to get it.   In fact, Jesus speaks more to the issue of economics than any other social issue.   If Jesus had to exhort so strongly in a time of relative simplicity, imagine what his preaching would be like today in our society of affluence and technology!   Jesus’ point though was that his followers need to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first, or they will not seek it at all.   ...

  With all that we have faced over the past two years simplicity to me creates a value proposition.   Because of shut downs, supply chain issues and the great resignation era causing the cost of labor to soar we are faced with inflation.   Too much money chasing too few of goods.   And the inevitable outcome means that in the future everything will become more expensive.   It has to.    The result, I believe, will force people to live in a simpler manner, to value their relationships with one another more than their possessions, and to focus on things that are fundamental to life and to the enjoyment of life.   The difficulties we face in the world around us remind us of the importance of simplicity. Simplicity is not merely owning fewer things. It really has to do with how much energy it requires for you to live your life and how many resources it requires for you to maintain where you live, how you live, how you travel about and your other a...

  Adult discussion of this discipline often involves downsizing and cleaning out the junk accumulated in our lives, giving away items, and purchasing less. Our children have something to teach us about this discipline. The simplest of things interest a young child for hours. What parent has not noticed that the box or the bubble wrap which housed a toy is played with more than the toy itself. Tearing a napkin into pieces is more interesting than the placemat and crayon provided by the restaurant. Why do balls, sticks, sand, water, and tent making with blankets over chairs continue to be play staples while He-Man, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Rubik’s cubes, and other fad toys come and go? Children already appreciate simplicity, finding awe in the simplest of things which allows the use of the curiosity God wired into us. As adults we make things complex, wanting the things to do the work for us rather than using the gifts of curiosity and creativity.      I wonder i...

  1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.   Mind Your Own Business Our yard has been the site of some dramatic battles between the birds who call it home. One year we had a mob of crows battling a single stubborn owl over a nest she had stolen from them. Another year a mother robin and I worked together to save her babies from a house wren that kept throwing them out of her nest. Several hawks have considered our bird feeder bait, hiding in the bushes under our window to make easy prey of the songbirds who visit, widowing several mourning doves. And one epic afternoon we had a large tree fill up with crows while the neighboring tree filled with turkey vultures, in what I could only imagine was a Jets and Sharks kind of moment. But this year we have a different kind of bird battle going on. This one is between tw...

  Some say they do not pray because they do not know how.  Others say they feel what they have to say in prayer would not be significant to God.  Some pray, but hesitantly and awkwardly because they feel intimidated.  Whatever your prayer life looks like now, I am asking you to consider a  regular prayer life  as something you  add  to your spiritual life this Lenten season. Prayer is a form of communication.  It is just that this communication is with your Creator.  As with any meaningful relationship we all know how important communication is.  Imagine if you did not speak to those around you who you consider the most important people in your life.  What if they could not tell you what you meant to them or vice versa.  In order to grow close to someone, we need to communicate how we feel and what we need.  Most importantly, know that God wants this communication between t...

The last verse of Psalm 46 reads “ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” So, what does “be still” mean? If you’re a parent, you must have said to your kids (at least once!) “oh my goodness, you need to be quiet, I’ll take care of it!” - in response to them clamoring is it ready, are we there yet, I’m hungry NOW…; t hat’s what this verse means to me. The psalm recites a litany of dire and horrible events: cataclysmic mud slides, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, destruction of empires, then ends with the instruction to “be still”. As children of God, we can stop our clamoring, fussing, worrying, laments, because we’re confident that God knows our issues and struggles and is more than able to “take care of it”. There are many beautiful musical arrangements of Psalm 46: a simple one in our hymnal (#414), the well-known chorus that became well-known in the 1980s, contemporary, and elaborate choral settings. ...

       God speaks to us in many ways – in prayer, through scripture, through prophets, in the words of friends, with the sights of nature, and in quiet silence. But are we listening and how do we discern God’s voice from the other voices of the world?       Very young children may have trouble understanding that God can speak in these many ways. As concrete thinkers, they are listening for an actual voice. In this day, we are not as fortunate as Samuel was to hear a physical voice of God. What we can do is to teach our children to silence themselves so they can listen and to discern what they are hearing. ·          Share the 4 Voices with your children and practice discerning between them. We all have 4 voices: speaking, whispering, shouting, and singing. ·          Take a listening walk: name what you hear but take it a step further by talking about the so...

Proverbs 3:5-7 5  Trust in the  Lord  with all  your  heart      and lean not on your own understanding; 6  in all your ways submit to him,      and he will make your paths straight. The week that I met my husband was a whirlwind experience that swept us up in its intensity. At the end of that week, neither of us was eager to be ejected from the eye of this storm; but I was on Spring break, visiting friends in Indiana, and I had a train to catch back to Pennsylvania; it was time to come back to earth. In trying to delay the inevitable, we were running late for the train that would carry me away. It was on this 45-minute anxious drive to train station that we came upon the dreaded “Road Closed Ahead” sign. I was panicked. The detour was going to keep us on major roads, taking us way out of our way. We’ll never make it in time!! John calmly made a random right-hand turn onto a smaller road. “What are you doing?...

  My Mom and Gram were great lovers of beauty – they taught my sisters and me to appreciate the beauty around us which God created, and they also taught us that being creative honors God’s gifts to us. Their view was that while God could have created everything monotone, no texture, no variety – He didn’t; the world He gives us is filled with color, contrasts, variety. Gram had a flower garden that was famous in our county – people often stopped on the side of the road just to sit and look. She frequently dropped what she was doing to point out something remarkable: “see how these petals change so softly from one color to another, look at this little toad – how rough his back is and how the colors help him hide, see this tiny speckled egg, how perfectly it is formed”, and always followed by “isn’t God’s creation wonderful?”. Mom had a particular talent for seeing beauty hidden beneath the ugly; she could root out a broken piece of furniture at a junk shop and see how it would l...

      Setting aside the same time each day to pray, joining a prayer group at a regular time for prayer, or meeting with a prayer partner weekly are ways adults practice the spiritual discipline of prayer. Adults become very skilled at setting aside time in their busy schedules to pray and then checking it off their daily list of things to do.     Driving with a carload of family, the adults were chatting away oblivious to sounds outside the vehicle when loud and clear my 3-year-old grandson prayed, “Dear God, take care of the people and the firemen. Amen.” At that point the adults’ attention was drawn to the sirens and everyone said, “Yes Lord, be with everyone involved.”      Children are much more spontaneous than adults and they often can lead us in prayer. They are not so concerned about having the right words or timing, the right posture or audience. As nurturers, we need to support that spontaneity, so they maintain it th...

  Lent was designed as spring training to ready rookie Christians for baptism. They had to prove they were disciplined for sacrificial living. Novices would fast, pray, meditate on scripture. This edge of hunger makes you more alert, more productive. I avoided heavy meals before both soccer and worship. If I didn’t, even I nodded off during my sermon.   Lent also served a scarcity purpose. Come spring the winter cupboard was bare, spring hadn’t yet yielded her abundance. Time to tighten belts.   Lenten fasting commends itself in manifold ways. Fasting means we consume less so desperate others might have more for their needs. Fasting reminds us that our bodies are not our own. These bodies do not belong to us. They belong to God, to each other. We have a responsibility to treat them kindly. Fasting reminds us that we never will get everything we want. Fasting reminds us what we really need and what we don’t.   Besides, if we can't control our appetites how...

 This week on Wednesday Nights, we talked about the life and ministry of Henri Nouwen.  We will be reading his book on "The Prodigal Son" during Lent this year.  In light of that, and in light of the fact that we've been talking about "putting on" things for Lent, I thought this video echoed the concept of "putting on love."

  Born into very wealthy and socially prominent circumstances, Charles Borromeo (1538-1584 ) felt called to the priesthood – he chose to have his head tonsured (shaved in a particular pattern) when he was just 12 years old.  He voluntarily became poor and lived an austere life because of his deep, deep love for Jesus, and his desire to serve the Lord. He saw Jesus in everyone he met, especially the poor and marginalized. He rose in the Catholic Church, and eventually was appointed Archbishop of Milan by his uncle, the Pope. Convicted that there was great corruption in all aspects of Roman Catholicism, both clergy and laity, he became a leading figure, along with Ignatius of Loyola and St. Philip, of the Counter-Reformation which took place in the Catholic Church alongside the Protestant Reformation. He believed that abuses in the Church stemmed from ignorant clergy; one of his most important reforms was the establishment of seminaries, colleges and communities for the educatio...

Associated with LENT but not confined to LENT, fasting is a difficult spiritual discipline to practice with children because it could be criticized as an interruption in nutrition and a possible lead into eating disorders. Children experience eating jags and strong likes/dislikes which frustrate parents. Getting children to eat and eat healthy is a parent’s goal. Older folks remember being told “clean your plate, there are starving children in the world.” Discussion about the practice of “fast” should be entered carefully and age-appropriately.      Young children can relate to the word “breakfast” or “breaking fast”.   Yes, the first meal of the day is “breakfast” because we break the fast from the evening meal the day before. Typical time between daily meals is 4-6 hours. Time between the evening meal and the next morning’s meal is 10-12 hours. Go from supper to breakfast with only water. Forego the “evening-snack” and spend that time reading a Bible story o...