Lent Devotional 2021 - Pittsburg - Flipbook - Page 24
have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them,
“Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come
to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will
raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the
prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone
who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who
is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you,
whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they
died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so
that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread
that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will
live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the
world is my flesh.”
DEVOTIONAL
For the first two years we lived in our home we had a light
above our kitchen sink that didn’t work. Every day, we would
wash dishes and I would think to myself how it would be nice
to have this light working. But it never seemed so dark that I
couldn’t see well enough to get the dishes washed.
One day, something compelled me to finally put in a new
light. Having a new light in this space made all the difference.
Now I can easily see where I miss spots on dirty dishes and
what places need scrubbed a little harder. I realized, now that
there is a new light, I can’t wash dishes without the light on.
When the light is off it’s too dark for me to wash dishes. Until
the light was on I didn’t know how dark things really were.
In his Gospel, John reminds us that Jesus is the light that
shines in the dark places for eternity. The people “ate manna
in the wilderness and they died,” and they drank from a well
that only leads to being thirsty again (John 4:13). The people
had some light, but it wasn’t the true light. Jesus is the one
who is the “living bread” and the “spring of water welling
up to eternal life” (John 4:14). In Christ, there is no end, only
true joy.
As we prepare for the coming of Easter, we must ask
ourselves: Are there dark places in our lives that need light?
How much time and energy are we spending on things that
are only temporary?
PRAYER
God, we are easy to distract. We like shiny objects and easily
accessible toys. But what is right in front of us is not always
helpful and healthy. Guide us toward you. Lead us to ask
hard questions and allow us open ears to hear the responses even when they are difficult. Amen.
FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2021
The Rev. Kristen Renee Barner ’97
SCRIPTURE
Jeremiah 23:1-8
1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of
my pasture! says the LORD. 2 Therefore thus says the LORD,
the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd
my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have
driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I
will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. 3 Then
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the
lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back
to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will
raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and
they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any
be missing, says the LORD. 5 The days are surely coming, says
the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute
justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will
be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by
which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”
7 Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when
it shall no longer be said, “As the LORD lives who brought
the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,” 8 but “As
the LORD lives who brought out and led the offspring of the
house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the
lands where he had driven them.” Then they shall live in their
own land.
DEVOTIONAL
I read this passage from my couch, during quarantine and
election season. We live in a time of unknowing—not just
not knowing, for what we used to know about this world
has been mightily challenged. And that’s not a bad thing. A
frightening thing? Sure. But not a bad thing.
These verses from Jeremiah 23 speak of shepherds and
leaders, people in charge. “Woe to the shepherds who
destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” Has there ever
been a time in any nation when the leader has been flawless?
Do we not, in every election season, try to find exactly the
right leader to satisfy us?
Lent is often a season of fasting—a season that includes a
tradition of prayer and giving something up. We know this
tradition. Many if not most of us have been familiar with it
our whole lives. But . . .
What if we decide that during this particular Lent we will
flip the idea of giving something up and instead challenge
what we know about our Lenten practices? Suppose that,
instead of giving something up, we take something on.
24 Lent Devotional 2021