"God Is Faithful to take What We Offer."

Dear Friends,

My three-year-old grandson is competing with his older five-year-old sister to see who can learn the Baltimore Catechism.   His mom asks the question: Who made the world?  Older sister answers: “God” and Walter echoes: “God.”  Who is God? Sister responds: “God is the creator of heaven and earth and all things.”  Little Walter repeats: “earth and all things.”  What is man? Sister says: “Man is composed of body and soul and made in God’s image.”  Walter manages: “body and soul.”  Finally: Why did God make you?  Sister parrots: “God made me to know Him, to serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.”  Walter thinks hard, stares at Mom, she prompts him: Why did God make you, Walter?  More silence. Finally, Walter says, “uhmmmmmmmm  fun.”    

Created in God’s image, claimed and marked as God’s child.  Jesus chooses us to be his disciples and believes in us. Calls us friends, claims, and forgives us.  He promises us he will never leave us orphaned.  We have trouble trusting God because we measure God’s love by human comparison.  Life beats us up, and we forget.  Lent is a season when we learn again that, because Jesus loves us, when we stray, fall away, or lose our path, we can start over.

Lent is over half over now, and we’re fast approaching Holy Week.  What have you taken on or given up?  Is your Lenten discipline giving you new energy or just new insight about how much we need God’s help?   As I watch the world around us, I am often reduced to prayer.

Prayers are offered daily for our service members serving in the war in the Holy Land.  Prayers are needed for all those touched by the violence and conflict there, in Ukraine, Congo, and right here in Alabama.  Prayers are offered for those who are sick, in trouble, in need of comfort, nourishment, or guidance.  While I often fall short in my own discipleship, I believe God is faithful to take what I offer and make it more. 

Lent is a gift, a chance to spend some time giving ourselves, our souls, and bodies to the One who has all power.  A chance to surrender our sins, our burdens, our worries, and to trust that God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit will guard our bodies, save our souls, and lead us into all truth, just as Jesus promised.   A chance to let the redeeming work of our Savior make this season of devotion visible, touchable, real, and holy.  

May God continue to bless all we offer, and I hope I see you at church!