Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark

We have all heard and read the verse that reminds us that trouble and sorrow don’t last always.  

Psalms 30:5

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

But we are not sure how long the night of trouble, grief, sadness, anxiety, and the expectation of a new beginning will last.  We are not sure if this is overnight or a season of nights before the new morning breaks. 

This is the story of Saturday before resurrection Sunday.  We, fortunately, can look back on it and know it was only a short period of time before the new day dawned with resurrection.  But for the disciples they still were not sure when the nightmare of Friday would end. Their Saturday was a long haunting day, that was confusing, and I am sure emotionally numbing. 

Brueggemann reminds us of a few Saturdays in our own time.  “The old Saturday was about abandonment and disappointment at the far edge of the crucifixion.  And then came all the Saturdays of fear and abusiveness, of the Crusades and the ovens and genocides in too many places.  And then came our particular Saturdays of Katrina and 9/11 and economic collapse, Saturdays of overwhelming failure with no adequate resources.”           

On these Saturdays there is a stillness because the one that was supposed to bring a new kingdom was gone. This Saturday in the disciple’s minds was not supposed to occur like this.  He told them he would rise from the dead, but on Saturday it did not look like resurrection or a new morning was on the horizon.   

In these times of grief and loss Dr. Peter Scazerro invites us to consider 3 phases for processing our grief and loss.  We are called to “pay attention to the pain.”  This calls for a commitment to reality.  The reality that grief and loss is real in this world on our Saturdays, we are summoned to feel the loss and allow it to lead us to Jesus and trust him to meet us there.

On these Saturdays Scazzero calls it “waiting in the confusing In-Between.”   It is in this time of waiting that God strips us of our unhealthy ways of looking at the world and ourselves and frees us to be our true selves. It is here that we are emptied of the old and are prepared to receive the new.  This is the third phase, “allow the old to birth the new.”  In this new season we are able to experience depths of life beneath the surface. Like our risen Savior we are able to show our wounds to the world and walk with others through their Saturdays.

Fortunately for us and the disciples, there was a Sunday resurrection, and a new beginning did dawn as a result of the life that Christ now offers to us.  But let us remember as we wait in our Saturdays, as difficult as they be at times, even in those places God is birthing something new.  The weeping may take longer than we expected, but we can rest in the knowledge that the life-giving grace of Sunday will come in the morning.

“You are the God who remains with us during our Saturday of waiting and wondering, marked by the memory of Friday and the hope of Sunday.  Forbid us too-easy exits out of the darkness.  May we wait until we are at last interrupted by your life-giving grace. Amen.” Brueggemann

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Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Discipleship: Moving from Shallow Christianity to Deep Transformation. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2021.

Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. 31 

This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.32 When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.33 For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

This morning I am humbled by the repeated reminder that Jesus, who is all powerful cares about the powerless.  And that he demonstrates his own power by giving his life away rather than taking life to advance his own agenda.  By surrendering his will rather than suppressing the wills of others.  By dying so that others may live rather than taking the life of those who want to take his life. 

I don’t know about you, but I am fearful that the American church has gotten it all wrong. Too often we seek and demand our rights— in the halls of Congress and in the halls of the church.  Jesus is clearly a person that is for the underdog and the oppressed in this world.  

On this Good Friday we are reminded that those who were in power used their power to oppress and Jesus used power in humble obedience to his Father, even death on a cross. 

Philippians 2:6-8

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Brueggemann wants us to see life through the lens of Jesus. “Jesus has become for us the lens through which we reread power, social relations, and formal policies.  Jesus stands alongside all the powerless in his abrasive prayer, demanding justice on earth from God.”

As we celebrate Good Friday during Holy Week let us come alongside the marginalized in the world. Let us stand with the poor and powerless.  Today let us deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him to bring justice and deliverance for all those in bondage. 

“God of the poor and powerless, you have taught us how to speak in the face of inhumanity—you call us to tell the truth and expose the false orderings of power that oppress and kill.  Make us bold to follow the example of Jesus and to speak your word, trusting in your justice and deliverance. Amen” Brueggemann  

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Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.

I can remember when I was a child trying to walk in my father shoes to be like him. And when I became a father my children would try to walk in my shoes. As followers of Jesus, we are called to walk in his footsteps and follow him, to be like him.

On this Maundy Thursday let us consider this command and follow our Lord’s example and walk in his shoes as a servant who serves others.  Brueggemann encourages us to pick up our towels and follow him in the following ways.  “1-Replicate the truth that you have come from God; you are not your own. 2-Replicate the truth that you will go to God; your future has been assured. 3-Replicate that the space between you and others is filled with a towel.  4-Replicate that as you travel with towel and basin, you will be safe in vulnerability, treasured in obedience, and free from anxiety.” 

As we have seen in our journey this Lenten season, the way of Jesus is counter cultural to any other model that the world, including the disciples had ever seen or experienced.  Jesus breaks from the model of control, as was the case with the ruling powers. He broke away from religious groups that restricted access to him or put people in categories of isolation. 

Galatians 3:27-29 

27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Brueggemann calls us to break free from all human models of success and greatness and invites us to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.  “In his great act of humility and washing, he broke with all the models of humanity that are visible in our own time and place: the rat race of productivity, the fear for our survival, the frenzy of accumulation, and the deathly sense of self-sufficiency.” 

He then moves them in that moment, and for us today in the way of servanthood and humility as those who are true followers and disciples. 

John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Today as we look at the world around us seemingly out of control, with everyone and every group vying for power, control and independence.  Jesus is calling us to an alternative way of living.  He is inviting us to be a community that serves and celebrates one another.  A community that surrenders the need to be first. 

Matthew 6:33

33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

A community that does not reach for popularity, success or greatness, as defined by the world.  But a community of towel wearing servants that serve each other and the world as our Lord has done.  

On this Maundy Thursday as children of our heavenly Father lets us put on his shoes and walk in his footsteps—following his example to love and serve one another, free of fear, anxiety and loss, but a life filled with love and hope.    

“In Jesus and his way of life, you have given us an example to replicate—an example that is in sharp contrast to the ways of the world.  In the grace and power of your Spirit, may we be that community that refuses anxiety because of its sure confidence in you and so is empowered to reach out in compassion and love. Amen.”  Brueggemann 

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Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

31 Now is the judgement of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

As a child I remember playing a game called tug of war in gym class with my friends.  Teams were evenly split on either side of the rope, with a red flag in the middle.  The goal was to get the red flag past a certain spot or the other team pulled over to your side by either falling down or letting go of the rope.  It was all about pulling the other team to your side.

In our world today we see the same tug of war when it comes to the values of the world and those of the crucified Savior. We are being pulled, and sometimes pushed into places of compromise. 

Brueggemann offers us three alternatives in the tug of war of the world’s seduction. “1-The new truth of Jesus, honored by God, is that self-giving love is the wave of the future, and we are called to follow. 2- The Lord of the cosmos has signed on to this alternative we see in Jesus, because that is the very character of God. 3- The new way of suffering in the world is a magnet that will draw us to new life.”

In this struggle of left and right, liberal versus conservative, suffering for what is right or being selfish for what is wrong— we are faced with a lot of ambiguity to life.  What is the true plumbline that we are to follow?  Brueggemann suggests a couple options. “1-To Jesus way in the world, to Jesus’ news, to Jesus’ people who practice generosity and forgiveness and hospitality. 2- Away from the ruler of this world, away from greed, away from fear, away from anxiety, away from brutality.” 

This journey of tug of war is one that we are all on together.  The struggle is broken in the resurrection.  The Easter miracle where we all can be pulled to His side.  In Easter we are drawn to Jesus, the self-giving love that is the magnet that draws us to him. 

It is in this love that we are drawn to him— and in turn this love that has been shed abroad in our hearts is shared with all people that we encounter throughout our days on earth. 

Today in this Lenten season let us be open and drawn to His self-giving love that even now is tugging at our hearts and calling us home to his side. 

“Draw us, Lord, toward you, toward your way of self-giving live.  Draw us away from all that is not love—from the forces of greed, fear, anxiety, and brutality.  In this Lenten experience of so being drawn toward you and away from the powers of the world, may we come to find that new life that is the meaning of Easter.”  Brueggemann

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Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

3 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

There is an excitement in the air as we are now turning to Spring, and there is a fresh smell in the air of Spring flowers, along with blue skies and sunshine.  Many people are starting to get the vaccine, myself included, leading to the hope that we’ll soon be able to get back together in our churches, community and family gatherings. As much as we hope for these events to occur, there is always the world around us that seeks to offer us cheap imitations, that have no staying power.

This is how Brueggemann describes our current world.  “The world of despair believes that there are no new gifts, no fresh generosity, no possibility of newness or forgiveness, and so life becomes a zero-sum game to see who can stay the longest on top of the heap, all the while knowing that there will be no good outcome to the futile rat race.” But in this Lenten season, we look to a hope that is more profound, rich and reliable. That hope is “God’s reliable fidelity, a God who makes and keeps his promises.” 

Because of Jesus we have a hope of good news. Good news that looks to help the poor and despised. A hope that looks beyond the wars and road rage of our world to an alternative that is embodied in Jesus.   

In this Easter season we can start again, “grounded in divine forgiveness and sustained by generosity.”    

One scholar notes, “Crucified is a perfect participle: not only was Christ once crucified, but he continues in the character of the crucified one.  The crucifixion is permanent in its efficacy.”  

From beginning to end the blood of the cross still cleanses from all sin.  When we put our faith in the one who died for us. 

Because of the cross there is a welcome invitation offered to us all.   Against the backdrop of barbed wire fences, gates and guards that try to block your way, Jesus offers access to a world of welcome that was paid for with his broken body and shed blood, that makes entrance for everyone possible.

As we draw closer to Easter let us not be deterred by a world of roadblocks but open our hearts to the hope filled life that is filled with the fragrance of His love, as the “Son” that shines down upon us. 

“God of all hope, we know all too well a world of betrayal, despair, exclusion, and conflict.  May we live into your alternative world of truth, hope, welcome and harmony as we trust and follow you. Amen.” Brueggemann   

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Morris, Leon. 1 Corinthians: Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Volume 7. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1985. 

Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

During our journey together we have referenced or talked about the upside-down kingdom and how it is counter cultural to the world’s way of living and being.  Our text today exemplifies that truth so well. While the world calls us to only look out for ourselves, as Christ’s followers we are called to look out for the interests of others. This requires that we are vulnerable and not rigid to the world around us. 

Like Jesus we are called to empty ourselves, to take on the cares and concerns of others.  To walk in the shoes and stories of someone else.  Steven Covey encourages us to “seek to understand before seeking to be understood.” 

As I walk this journey with you it has been an emptying of all that I have held on to for leadership and church direction.  It has caused me to return to the simplicity of the gospel and wait for his leading.  It is a painful process, but also a freeing process.  It is all a true faith walk that is risky because I don’t know what is next. That is why it is a vulnerable walk, because we are trusting Jesus to lead us, just as Jesus trusted his Father to lead him against the forces of the world in a way of humble submission. Just as Jesus was crucified, so to we are called to the same crucifixion of ourselves to him. 

Galatians 2:20 

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Here is Brueggemann's encouragement to us as we walk this walk during Holy Week.  “As we walk the walk from Palm Sunday to Easter through the Thursday arrest and the Friday execution and the long Saturday wait in the void, imagine all of us, in the wake of Jesus, changing our minds, renewing our minds, altering our opinions concerning self and neighbor and world.” He goes on to state, “The clue to the new mind of Christ is emptying of our need to control and our anxious passion for security.” This emptying of ourselves will open us to a new simple freedom only found in Jesus during this Easter season.  
This Easter season you and I are being extended an open invitation to experience a new freedom to replicate the life that Christ lived, first humbled then exalted by the Father.  This new liberty allows us to be our true self as he was true to himself.        
This is a challenging transition for us all because of our need for comfort and security. But if we are ever going to experience the life he really called us to, we have to offer ourselves in self-emptying obedience, and then life with a new mind and heart begins.  
“We are eager for Easter joy and new life, and yet we are haunted by the space between where we are and where you are. Grant us a new mind, a new readiness, a new heart, that we might stand with you in self-emptying obedience. Amen.” Brueggemann     

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Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

Many years ago, I took a trip to see my son in Columbus, Ohio.  On the way home I missed my exit and did not realize it for some time, until I saw a sign that said Dayton, which is south. I was going North towards Akron, Ohio.  When I look back on it, I understand how I missed it.  He had just moved to a new neighborhood, it was dark, and I was not accustomed to the signs that had only one exit ramp.  Nonetheless I was going in the wrong direction for a long time.  It was an innocent mistake, and we did make it home, but I was focused on the wrong thing.  

In our text, the leaders in Jesus’ day were focused on the wrong thing, and they missed, not only their exit, but entrance into the eternal kingdom with the Son of God.  These leaders were focused on the physical temple. That was the center of religious life for them, which they held in high esteem, and made them feel special to themselves and they believed to God.  But as we have observed, when Jesus entered the temple on the way to Calvary, he was not pleased with what was taking place in the temple. Because the leaders excluded those in need of spiritual healing by their economic exploitative practices, the very people they were called to help. Jesus reminds them of his displeasure as he turns over the tables.

Isaiah 56:7

“These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

His house was to be a place of prayer and participation for all people.

Brueggemann encourages us to see the temple as symbolic in nature.  “So think of temple as the symbolic center of your life, as the place where you are met by the goodness and holiness of God, where you draw fresh on the core purposes of your life, where you get some clarity about who you are and what your life amounts to and how you will be remembered.”

Just like my driving excursion in the wrong direction, and these leaders in the wrong place relationally, both of us going in the wrong direction— and yet believing we were doing the right thing, going in the right direction.

What if this is what we are doing in the temple/church today. We are still operating as if the temple or church is the only place we worship and the only place we meet and encounter God and one another. And the temple/church is ours to determine who gets in and is acceptable.          

Consider this as another option for our spiritual direction finder. Maybe during this season of COVID the Lord is using it to reveal to us that He is the true temple in our hearts where worship should begin. Whether we are in the building or abroad.  We may find that Jesus is the true temple, a building not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. Brueggemann states it this way. “The news is that this temple called Jesus is our true habitat. That is where we are bound in faith to live our life and put our buckets down and dream our dreams and claim our identities.”  Let us also remember that we have now become the place of God’s dwelling place where the Lord resides by his Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Once I realized I was going the wrong way on the wrong road, by virtue of the signs in front of me, I turned around and got back on the right highway to make my way home.  A little later than I planned, but I made it home. Like me, many of you may have taken a wrong road in life, but today Jesus is giving us the sign of his love and he is inviting you and me to turn around and come home.  It is never too late to come home. And what better time to get on the road that leads to eternal life than during this season of lent. 

“Divine center of our lives, direct us toward the true temple that is our brightest joy and deepest purpose—Jesus Christ.  In this Lenten journey, may we ever more fully live in him and for him. Amen.” Brueggemann  
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Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

This text is hard to image when you consider that the God of Israel was always with them. Whether in a pillar of cloud by day or pillar of fire by night. He was always with them.  They were so soon to forget this was the same God that delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians and allowed them to cross the Red Sea.  But we should not be too hard on them, because we are also prone to forget the Lord who has delivered us from perilous times in our lives—and yet he continues to say yes to us when we call.  

We have all been in a wilderness place in our lives. Where resources are scarce, and trouble and tragedy seem to be closer than the Lord. Brueggemann calls them thin places.  “The theme of wilderness is an appropriate one for Lent, for Lent is being in thin places without resources and being driven back to the elemental reality of God, the reliability of God, and our capacity to trust God in the thin places where there are no other resources.”  

In this moment God seems far away, even though his word reminds us that he is near, as he leads us beside the still waters.  We still, when under pressure, ask if he is still present in our pain.  But even in our faithless question he responds to our questions with the living water of not only his presence but the provision of water for our physical thirst.  “And when God gives water for life, Israel’s deep question is answered; Yes; the Lord is among us!”  

He takes our wasted places, wilderness places and our wondering places and makes them a river of living water, even from the most unlikely places.  From the rough places in our lives comes living water from a rock.  Jesus is that rock, the water that springs up giving life to our souls, and sustenance for our survival.  Jesus’ answer is always yes, even when we don’t understand what that yes means. This is the story of Easter, when death on Friday seemed like the ultimate no to his future and ours, God said yes on Sunday morning.

Brueggemann shares his confidence in the ‘yes’ of Jesus. “The story is about God’s inexplicable capacity to do well-being in a world that has been shut down. Yes, even in wilderness, Yes in Lent. Yes from rock, yes to thirst. Yes to us, yes to the world, the story is about being dazzled beyond every explanation, Yes, Yes, Yes!” 

Because in Jesus God's answer is yes to us, let our answer of obedience be yes to him today!                          

“God of yes, you continually show yourself faithful. In the face of scarcity, in the barrenness of our wilderness places, you know our needs, and you meet them.  All along our path, open our minds and hearts to trust you fully. Amen.”

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Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

As dark as the days in our world may seem sometimes when we turn on the news and hear of another mass shooting or a tornado that has taken many lives. It can cause us to be discouraged about the current state of our world. But our hope is not in this world. Our hope is the world to come because of the cross that opens the door to live beyond the grave an abundant life in time.  

The text above reminds us of this promise.  Brueggemann states, “that is what this enigmatic statement of Jesus finally leads to, that everything true and powerful and transformative about Jesus comes into play in the cross.”     

This is what the world at the time, and even now, saw as foolish and lacking real wisdom and power.  And yet, it is in the cross that the true wisdom and power of God is displayed. While the powerful, through capital punishment thought they were removing an inconvenience from the world. They in fact opened the world to the greatest gift of grace and a future of freedom, that was previously a good mystery now given by God. 

Luke 10:22

22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

As we confess that Jesus is God we are able to experience the power that only comes in weakness ands vulnerability. It is in this power of vulnerability, and not in kings or queens, or captains of industry that brings real change.  It is the hidden power of Christ that really moves mountains in our lives.  

Brueggemann reminds us, “More than that, we have learned—and keep needing to relearn—that the cross is not simply a one-time deal in the life of Jesus or of God. Rather the cross is the clue about how we live an alternative life in the world, an alternative life that is marked by risky innocence that has the power to heal, to create caring neighborhoods in the face of rapacious (greedy) markets, to evoke new possibilities in the face of despair, to enact new forms of liberation in the face of endless locks of oppression.”      

This blessed experience only comes when we take a risk where we empty ourselves out for those in need as Christ did on the cross.  This will not come by the power of kings, wise men, captains of industry or intellectual elites of our day.  This is for those who are true disciples, where this secret world comes only through costly grace that does make all things new.  

In this season of Lent let us move over to the world of vulnerability, that what is hidden to the world, but is able to make all things new.  To those of us whose eyes are blessed to see what you see!

“God of the cross, your power is hidden in a weakness that quietly overcomes the world. Open our eyes to see the power at work.  May we walk in it as we live out your alternative vision for the world. Amen.” Brueggemann   

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Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.

And among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore, they stood before the king. 20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.

During the holidays and sometimes during the year I like to bake for the family. But when I do bake, I only want to use “real” ingredients.  I am not in favor of generic brands for baking.  The quality, texture and taste are not the same.  For those who bake you can relate.  For us cheap imitations won’t do when it comes to serving family and friends.  

This is also the story of Daniel as he encounters the Babylonian governmental system.  They want him and his friends to compromise their identity and values for cheap imitations.  The system wants to socialize them in their value system through education, diet and complete assimilation away from their Jewish heritage and biblical values.  But Daniel was not willing to “defile” himself with the king’s food and offered the chief of the eunuchs an alternative.  It was an alternative of real ingredients for a healthy spiritual diet, the food of faith.

Rather than the rich food of the world, Daniel ate vegetables and water. And lo and behold when the review for inspection before King Nebuchadnezzar took place, their appearance was better  and they were healthier in the flesh than anyone else.

The alternative that Daniel chose was better than anything the world had to offer. Even the pagan leader had to take notice of the distinct difference of these young men’s countenance from the rest of the group.  

Brueggemann sites, “Daniel and his friends, under discipline, were the best recruits for high imperial service.  They were able to accomplish that precisely because they did not compromise their faith.  All the rest that follows of Daniel’s service and influence in the empire is history—and no Jew who reads the story is at all surprised. Everyone in faith knows that the water and vegetables of faith produce well-being in the world of raw power.”

The world may cook up their own way to operate in the world, but there is no substitute for the real ingredients of faith in Jesus Christ.  Today let us not settle for imitation faith because it is cheaper. But let us choose the discipline of true life— that as we appear before the world our appearance is healthier and more appetizing, for service to the king and to our King.                 

“Empower us Lord, to resist the poor substitutes for true life on offer in our culture.  May we not compromise with that which would weaken our faith.  As we persevere on the journey, feed us with the bread of heaven that we may grow strong in you.  Amen.” Brueggemann  

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Brueggemann, Walter. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent. Kentucky: Westminster John Know Press, 2017.