Morning Grace

Create in me a clean heart, O God,  and put a new and right   spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from your presence,   and do not take your holy spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation,  and sustain in me a willing   spirit. ~ Psalm 51:10-12 Who do I need to forgive and how can I begin to show that love?

Create in me a clean heart, O God,   and put a new and right  spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from your presence,  and do not take your holy spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation,  and sustain in me a willing   spirit. ~ Psalm 51:12-12 What helps me  to trust in God's love and forgiveness?

At the beginning of each week of Lent, starting today, the reading from that week's Lenten Devotional will be posted with either questions or quotes to move you into  prayerful deliberation about what it means to "Claim the 'L' Word." Read the passage each day and then some time with the questions and quotes either through prayer, meditation, or journaling. Create in me a clean heart, O God,  and put a new and right   spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from your presence,  and do not take your holy spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation,  and sustain in me a willing   spirit. ~ Psalm 51:10-12 Make confession/repentance part of your daily prayers this week. How does confession open up my heart to God's love?

Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous;  and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward. ~ Matthew 10:40-42 Love is the ethic of Jesus of Nazareth—love of God, neighbor, and self. Jesus, Paul of Tarsus told us, is our peace, the one whose love breaks down walls of hostility that separate people. The church, as the body of Christ, is called and commissioned to break down those walls wherever we encounter them. It is our mission, and we understand that.  Thus, every Sunday morning in American churches, bulletins, greeters, and signs on the door offer messages of welcome. Yet what is often meant by welcome is that strangers can come in

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;  and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." ~ Matthew 10:34-39 We have the choice of two identities: the external mask which seems to be real...and the hidden, inner person who seems to us to be nothing, but who can give himself* eternally to the truth in whom he* subsists.  ~ Thomas Merton (* or herself!) The human ego wants two things: It wants to be separate and it wants to be superior! This is why Jesus says this self mu

- Choose one of this week's readings and related texts to be your prayer focus for today. They are: Matthew 10:5-15 Matthew 10:16-23 Matthew 10:24-25 Matthew 10:26-31 - Read the passage again and identify a word or phrases that jump out at you. - Read the passage again, and if possible read from a different translation ( biblegateway.com  has many translations you can choose from). Identify where this passage might be touching your life today. How is this relevant to your life? - Read the passage a third time, again in a different translation if possible. Ask yourself what God is calling you to do or to be from this passage. What change might God be moving your toward? - Close with a silent prayer, listening to God rather than speaking to God. What actions will you take today based on this prayer? - Recite the Lord's Prayer.

So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.  What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.  Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.   Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  And even the hairs of your head are all counted.  So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.   ~ Matthew 10:26-31 But in the end, truth will out. ~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice . What's at the heart here? Don't worry. Those people who are going to cause you pain since you follow me? They don't get the last word. You are beloved, so when you are afraid, hold on to that. It will get you through. Secrets won't stay hidden.  Truth will out.  There are many peop

A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;  it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! ~ Matthew 10:24-25 With great power comes great responsibility. ~ Uncle Ben, "Spiderman" (Stan Lee) Not only does power bring responsibility, but that responsibility can bring rejection and even suffering. Jesus has already given his followers the power to cast out unclean spirits. It's a heady thing to be given that kind of power. But anyone who's had the power to heal can attest that it also comes with a warning. Think of doctors today and the cost of malpractice insurance they have to maintain. Or a parent who stays up all night with a sick child and ends up getting sick themselves because they are so overtired and neglectful of their own health. So when Jesus gives power to his disciples - p

“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues;  and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.  When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time;  for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;  and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes." ~ Matthew 10:16-23 “We were promised sufferings. They were

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans,  but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’   Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers,  cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.  Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts,  no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.  Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.  As you enter the house, greet it.  If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.  If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.  Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgm

- Choose one of this week's readings and related texts to be your prayer focus for today. They are: Matthew 7:13-14 Matthew 7:15-20 Matthew 7:21-23 Matthew 7:24-28 - Read the passage again and identify a word or phrases that jump out at you. - Read the passage again, and if possible read from a different translation ( biblegateway.com  has many translations you can choose from). Identify where this passage might be touching your life today. How is this relevant to your life? - Read the passage a third time, again in a different translation if possible. Ask yourself what God is calling you to do or to be from this passage. What change might God be moving your toward? - Close with a silent prayer, listening to God rather than speaking to God. What actions will you take today based on this prayer? - Recite the Lord's Prayer. (in whatever version you wish)

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching,  for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. ~ Matthew 7:24-28 Authority and power are two different things: power is the force by means of which you can oblige others to obey you. Authority is the right to direct and command, to be listened to or obeyed by others. Authority requests power. Power without authority is tyranny. ~  Jacques Maritain, "The Democratic Charter&

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’  Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’ ~ Matthew 7:21-23 It (trying to keep the law) grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them. You believe you are living to a higher standard than those you judge. Enforcing rules, especially in its more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainty out of uncertainty. And contrary to what you might think, I have a great fondness for uncertainty. Rules cannot bring freedom; they only have the power to accuse. ~  Wm. Paul Young,  The Shack True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fin