Lent Devotional 2021 - Pittsburg - Flipbook - Page 15
even when those orders may result in the death of an
innocent person. Later tests by other experimenters found
that when a participant was instructed to tell someone else
to administer the shock, compliance rose to 92.5 percent. But
when participants were placed in the presence of others who
refused to obey, compliance fell to just 10 percent. In other
words, the less impact a person feels personally, the more
likely they are willingly to follow orders that harm someone
else—but this willingness can be disrupted by just one or two
others who refuse to comply.
to others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out
my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD.
13 For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is
greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone
deals falsely. 14 They have treated the wound of my people
carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
15 They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet
they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time
that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the LORD.
For Christians—especially those in positions of authority—
Milgram’s experiment demonstrates the necessity of modeling
noncompliance with systems we know are harmful. We must
stand against discrimination, economic deprivation, abuse of
power, corruption, and immorality as the shore resists the sea
or people will be led astray. Right behavior issues from peers
and authorities who actively resist wrong in word and deed.
It only takes one or two objectors to turn aside others who
might otherwise comply with wrong. Injustice in the world
today is not inflicted upon us—it is allowed by us when we
choose not to stand against it. As Christians we are all called
to take that stand.
DEVOTIONAL
PRAYER
I also hear God convicting us all that we often treat the
wounds of Jesus carelessly—we throw them about as though
the cross were a weapon instead of representing Jesus
present with the least of these. Yet, as we move closer to
the cross this Lenten season, we discover anew that every
wound of our own that was treated carelessly, as well as
every wound of others whom we ourselves have treated
carelessly, is borne in the wounds of Christ. So let us lay both
our wounds and our carelessness once more at the foot of
the cross, be assured of God’s justice and mercy, and then
follow in the way of Jesus by doing justice, loving kindness,
and walking humbly with God.
Lord God, from whom all blessings flow, you have taught us
by the words of the prophets and the example of Christ how
we are to behave. We acknowledge that we live in a world
with corrupt authorities who seek to ensnare us and lead
us astray. You who control the seas, we ask that you would
grant us the courage to resist oppression, injustice, and evil
with our voices, hands, and feet in whatever forms they
present themselves, so that we may not be false prophets but
instead a people, called by your name, rightly proclaiming the
Word of Truth and thus enabling others to resist with us. In
Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
“They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” I am struck
by these words as I write in the midst of widespread social
unrest, and I wonder where the battle specifically for racial
equity will be by the time this devotional is read. I hear God
shouting these words from Jeremiah 6 about our own society,
in which deep wounds and ongoing intergenerational trauma
have too often been treated carelessly. Too long the refrain,
“Peace, peace,” has been proclaimed when there really was
no peace for the wounded.
PRAYER
SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2021
The Rev. Rebecca Reeder ’19
SCRIPTURE
Loving and gracious God, as we journey through this Lenten
season, give us ears to hear your word and eyes to see where
injustice continues to be rampant. Give us a holy unrest to
continue caring for the wounds of your people until Christ’s
peace reigns supreme. In name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Jeremiah 6:9-15
9 Thus says the LORD of hosts: Glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel; like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand
again over its branches. 10 To whom shall I speak and give
warning, that they may hear? See, their ears are closed, they
cannot listen. The word of the LORD is to them an object
of scorn; they take no pleasure in it. 11 But I am full of the
wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out
on the children in the street, and on the gatherings of young
men as well; both husband and wife shall be taken, the old
folk and the very aged. 12 Their houses shall be turned over
MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2021
The Rev. Bernard Nti ’17
SCRIPTURE
Jeremiah 7:1-15
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 Stand in
the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word,
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