Wednesday, March 05, 2008
From AscensionNYC
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Lent
by Judy Cope
Psalm 145:8-19
Isaiah 49:8-15
John 5:19-29
Why are these scriptures together? Is it a random choosing or is there a bond that puts these three scriptures together? If we, the readers, find a connection, it is filtered through the life experiences we are currently involved with. Quite literally, are we ready to hear the truth?
I see the psalm as a promise that God will listen to those that call. Isaiah tells us that "mountains will turn into roads," suggesting a path will present itself. John's passages tie these three verses together for me with a New Testament instruction. We are instructed to go through Jesus to cross over from death to life.
Once again, I am astonished that I have attracted the readings that I needed. Sometimes it seems like someone actually is listening. Every Easter, since I've been awakened from the dead and I make Easter about Christ instead of Easter bunnies and new clothes, I have asked God to reveal a new layer of understanding. This year my hurdle is clear and I show resistance. It's the theory passed down since I was a little girl in Bible school and resounded in every mention of Christ's name. We go to Him to speak to God. We end every prayer with, "in Jesus' name we pray." I've always had a problem with this. Hasn't he done enough for us already? He died for us, he suffered, he was humiliated, and yet I should go to him and ask him to talk to God for me? I speak to God quite a bit — does Jesus really want to be in on all of my idle chatter? Is this a school girl's riddle or reality?
My truth is that I feel guilty. My guess is that I am not alone. I think that, at the root, most skeptics and nonbelievers can't fathom how guilty and ungrateful they've been, so they say they don't believe at all. One of the advantages of growing older is you have time to work out your stuff.
From today's readings, I think that Gods' gift to us is a human judge. Imagine if we were in a court of law and the person holding the gavel was someone that we knew. Isn't it a comforting thought that when judgment is to be served it will be given from a human that loves us enough to die for us? The Old Testament rules have been updated. We are not given a savior so we can feel guilty about how we pray, but so we can be judged by one who has lived as we have.
The dead are becoming alive — not just people in graves, but people with beating hearts, unfolding the answers.
Psalm 145:8-19
Isaiah 49:8-15
John 5:19-29
Why are these scriptures together? Is it a random choosing or is there a bond that puts these three scriptures together? If we, the readers, find a connection, it is filtered through the life experiences we are currently involved with. Quite literally, are we ready to hear the truth?
I see the psalm as a promise that God will listen to those that call. Isaiah tells us that "mountains will turn into roads," suggesting a path will present itself. John's passages tie these three verses together for me with a New Testament instruction. We are instructed to go through Jesus to cross over from death to life.
Once again, I am astonished that I have attracted the readings that I needed. Sometimes it seems like someone actually is listening. Every Easter, since I've been awakened from the dead and I make Easter about Christ instead of Easter bunnies and new clothes, I have asked God to reveal a new layer of understanding. This year my hurdle is clear and I show resistance. It's the theory passed down since I was a little girl in Bible school and resounded in every mention of Christ's name. We go to Him to speak to God. We end every prayer with, "in Jesus' name we pray." I've always had a problem with this. Hasn't he done enough for us already? He died for us, he suffered, he was humiliated, and yet I should go to him and ask him to talk to God for me? I speak to God quite a bit — does Jesus really want to be in on all of my idle chatter? Is this a school girl's riddle or reality?
My truth is that I feel guilty. My guess is that I am not alone. I think that, at the root, most skeptics and nonbelievers can't fathom how guilty and ungrateful they've been, so they say they don't believe at all. One of the advantages of growing older is you have time to work out your stuff.
From today's readings, I think that Gods' gift to us is a human judge. Imagine if we were in a court of law and the person holding the gavel was someone that we knew. Isn't it a comforting thought that when judgment is to be served it will be given from a human that loves us enough to die for us? The Old Testament rules have been updated. We are not given a savior so we can feel guilty about how we pray, but so we can be judged by one who has lived as we have.
The dead are becoming alive — not just people in graves, but people with beating hearts, unfolding the answers.
