2016
LENTEN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
BELMONT UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF THEOLOGY & CHRISTIAN MINISTRY & THE OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY MINISTRIES
LENT 2016 Again this year, through an intentional partnership between the College of Theology & Christian Ministry and the Office of University Ministries, we have been able to create and offer a Lenten Devotional Guide to help our campus community prepare for Easter. In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This guide has instructions for daily devotions during this season. You are encouraged to read scripture, the brief devotional, and pray and meditate each day as you prepare your heart for Easter. We are truly grateful for all of the individuals who have helped to make this fifth annual Lent and Holy Week guide a reality for our campus community, as it was indeed a campuswide collaboration that includes contributions from students, faculty and staff from across the campus, and even a few alumni. What a gift it is to be a part of this special community with you! May each day of reflecting upon God’s Word, and the written words of these writers, faithfully lead us through the Lenten season and towards a deeper union with Christ and one another. Grace and peace,
Office of University Ministries Darrell D. Gwaltney Dr. Darrell Gwaltney, Dean, College of Theology & Christian Ministry
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GUIDE TO DAILY PRAYER
Opening Prayer Comfort, comfort your people, O God! Speak peace to your people. Comfort those who sit in darkness and mourn, Forgive us our sins and end the conflict in our lives.
Confession of Sin Reflect quietly before God, asking for forgiveness for all things done and left undone that are unpleasing to God. Remember, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Scripture Lessons Read the Psalms for the day. Read the Old Testament passage for the day. Read the Epistle passage for the day. Read the Gospel passage for the day.
Prayers The following is a suggested guide for prayer during Lent. ray for all Christians around the world and especially for those who endure persecution P for their faith. Pray for our nation and all those in authority. Pray that Christ’s peace may cover the world. Pray for the end of conflict and war and the triumph of truth and justice. Pray for all those who engage in the educational ministry of the Church and especially for Belmont University. Pray for those who suffer and grieve. Pray for closer union with Christ—both in His suffering and ultimate victory.
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ASH WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 Psalm 51 Joel 2:1–2, 12–17 2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10 Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21 Ashes are left when everything else is burned up: “thrown on the ash heap” and “reduced to ash” are about as far away from hopeful as one can go. No one sends cards for Ash Wednesday. While during other seasons we greet each other with “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Easter!,” Ash Wednesday is a holiday—in the true sense of “holy day”—that has nothing to do with cheerfulness. Ash Wednesday brings us back to the Jesus who said, “How long must I put up with you, you adulterous people?” The Jesus of whom the beloved disciple wrote, “Many people… entrusted their lives to Him. But Jesus didn’t entrust Himself to them. He knew them inside and out, and how untrustworthy they were.” Jesus is not fooled by us. Truth be told, we don’t fool others as often as we think. About the only person we consistently fool is ourselves. We convince ourselves that we occasionally make mistakes, not that we are real live sinners. We remember the high points of our Christian lives and believe, against plenty of evidence, that we have become consistently generous and forgiving and patient and selfless. But God knows differently. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of 40 days of repentance and confession. “Confess” meant literally to “admit together.” We are in a season of the year when together we can stop being defensive or self-justifying. Together, as a Christian community of learning and service, we can admit that we are no strangers to the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and laziness. Since the 4th Century, Christians have used this comprehensive list of vices to examine their lives in order to be able to repent. Yet Christianity never deludes us into thinking of spiritual life as a self-improvement plan to please God. Quite the opposite. God comes into the world and into our lives to bear in Himself the full weight of our sin. We are thus freed to admit how awful we are because we don’t trust in ourselves, but in Jesus: “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 6:20–21) Jesus takes away all our sins and remakes us from the inside out, if only we will let Him. TODD LAKE Vice President of Spiritual Development College of Theology & Christian Ministry 3
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 Psalm 91:1–2, 9–16 Exodus 5:10–12 Acts 7:30–34 As we embrace this season of Lent, of remembering the sacrifice and the life of Jesus Christ, we can find solace in God’s past faithfulness. David understood that the Lord allows us to be sheltered by His shadow and not be overtaken by our enemies. David trusted God fully, with the knowledge that resting in the Lord would bring strength and peace and protection. David assures us that our love for the Lord will be all that is needed for God to respond to us or protect us or care about us. When Moses follows the Lord and the plan seems to go awry with the Egyptians, Moses seeks answers from God. He asks God for His purposes, doubting Him. And I think that’s where all of us can relate. We hear this promise from God—this calling—and we might even step out in faith toward it, but the waters get choppy and we begin to question and doubt. However, God doesn’t rebuke us for our questions, as we may fear. David assures us that God will answer those who love Him. When we call, the Lord will respond to us. In Acts, when Stephen is on trial, he references the time when God shows Himself to Moses in the burning bush. The Lord then makes the promise to set free His people from the reign of the Egyptians. Stephen references all this as a way of showcasing a facet of God’s faithfulness and credibility. God calls these different people to action, in His name, if they will trust Him. He calls us to participate in His work so we can see His faithfulness ourselves. Today, allow yourself to dwell on the past times God has been faithful in your life. Write them down so you can look back at them later. Also, ask yourself if God has called you to do anything that you’re beginning to question or doubt. Lay those questions at His feet, remember His track record of keeping promises, and breathe in His shelter. HAILE-MONTANA DI TIERI Senior Religion & the Arts
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 Psalm 91:1–2, 9–16 Exodus 6:1–13 Acts 7:35–42 All three of the Scripture passages for today reassure us of God’s protection and care for us. Psalm 91 contains beautiful imagery of the divine refuge offered to those who love and seek the Lord. One of the most vivid is the psalmist’s picture of God as a mother bird who protectively covers her chicks under her wings (Psalm 91:4, echoed by Jesus in Matthew 23:37). But humans throughout history, right down to us today, often push this protection away, or fail to recognize it. The Exodus passage is a particularly thought-provoking example. In Exodus 5, Moses first approaches Pharaoh with a request to liberate the Hebrews from their slavery. Pharaoh responds by increasing the enslaved people’s workload; he won’t give them the straw they need to make bricks, but expects the same daily production. Moses, unsurprisingly, is not too impressed by this result; God, after all, had promised Moses that Moses’ mission was to be God’s messenger to free the Israelites, not make their situation even worse. When Moses pours out his anger (even asserting in 5:22–23 that God has mistreated God’s people and “done nothing at all to deliver your people!”), God responds with a restatement of the covenant promises to Israel: God will liberate them from Egypt, give them the land of Canaan, and be faithful as a covenant partner with Abraham and his descendants (5:2–8). The most interesting verse here to me, though, is Exodus 5:9: “Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.” No kidding, huh? It’s hard to trust promises of liberty and independence in the midst of oppression. This Lent, let’s consider where in our world people are so trapped by “cruel slavery” and “broken spirits” that they can’t even conceive of God’s love and protection. How am I, how are you, how are we contributing to or participating in that oppression? How might God be calling us to offer liberation and healing to one another? Love and hope are the gifts that God gives to the world, and we accept them when we share them. May we lift the burdens of the slave, the broken-hearted, the refugee, the victim of violence, the homeless, those we have marginalized. May we thus make God’s promise of protection and faithfulness a reality, that the words of Moses might ring true for all people. AMANDA MILLER Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies College of Theology & Christian Ministry
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13 Psalm 91:1–2,9–16 Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 John 21:27–36 These verses give us insight to the complete and whole nature of God. He does not take one moment of our lives for granted. Rather, He has promises and purpose attached to every moment that composes our entire existence. Nothing is ever without a purpose. You are not insignificant to God but rather a vital part of His Kingdom. Read these verses again and consider the things that have occurred in your life. Everything counted. Everything made sense as part of God’s plan. God knew everything about you before you drew your first breath and has even organized the details to meet you in eternity. We find both patience and humility in this piece of scripture. We are reminded that nothing of this world is eternal: neither the bad nor the good. These verses comfort us in the knowledge that all pain and suffering must end, but at the same time it humbles us in that all the joys and wonders of this world are limited. The dark times will not last, nor will the good times. In the acknowledgement of this, it is important that we remain strong and faithful no matter what misfortunes befall us, and it is important that we enjoy and make the best of the good times while we can. In these troubled times that we all live in, it is important to remember that nothing in our universe is permanent. The ups and downs of this life will come, and they will test and strain us, but we should not get so caught up in them that we lose our way. One thing remains true throughout all of life’s twists and turns: it is our duty, as Christians, to endure these trials, and remain true to the Lord. Hold on to your faith, and no evil can toss you into the abyss. Remember, this too shall pass. In a time when bad news is raging on every broadcast, when experts are certain we are struggling like never before, Ecclesiastes can serve to both remind us not to take things too seriously, and warn us against wasting our lives on the temporal things. What matters is if we faithfully lived for the eternal King and Kingdom in this life. What we do now in worship and honor to Jesus Christ does indeed last for all eternity. So a life lived in pursuit of Him, in enjoyment of Him, and in the advancement of His Kingdom is a life not wasted. MORGAN TWEDDLE Sophomore Exercise Science and Spanish
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14 (First Sunday of Lent) Psalm 91:1–2, 9–16 Deuteronomy 26:1–11 Romans 10:8b–13 Luke 4:1–13 As Deuteronomy 26 opens, the writer pulls back the curtain of Israel’s long and checkered history and gives us a glimpse inside. Practical instructions are given concerning the Offerings of First Fruits and Tithes. This ancient practice seems odd to us. Not so if you were a son or daughter of Abraham. This Jewish festival played a central role in their faith journey. It was a call to remember “His-Story”—what God had done in bringing their forefathers out of slavery. Three things came to mind as these early sojourners observed this festival: First, they remembered a very dark day: “And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor” (v. 6). The Israelites found themselves in a bad place. It appeared that all hope was gone. All they had left was a desperate cry. “Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers (v. 7a). Secondly, they remembered God’s intervention: “…and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression. And the Lord brought us out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (v. 7b-–8a). Finally, they remembered God’s faithfulness: The Lord not only heard their prayers and brought them out, but He also gave them a new beginning in a new land, one flowing with milk and honey. A new generation stands before us here in this Old Testament drama. Their parents had been given the same promise of blessings but because of fear chose not to enter the promised land. This generation is challenged to remember what God has done. They are instructed to bring an offering of the first fruits of the land and present them to the priest. In thus doing they are to acknowledge all that God has done in saving them and providing for their needs. Fast forward some 1400 years. Once again we see God intervening and doing for His creation what they could not have otherwise done for themselves. Entrapped in the slavery of sin with no hope or way of escape. With outstretched arms on Calvary’s Cross the sinless son of God shed His blood and gave His life to make possible our deliverance. What should be our response for such a great gift? Humbly, let us “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Rom 12:1c). JEFF HOLDER Missionary-in-Residence College of Theology & Christian Ministry 7
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15 Psalm 17 1 Chronicles 21:1–17 1 John 2:1–6
Let me paint a picture for you. Kneeling on the ground is a person with arms stretched out wide crying out for a rescue from the raging sea of life. The words they utter say, “Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry.” This is the first verse of Psalm 17. Throughout our lives we go through many struggles. Some people go through financial struggles, family toils, educational hardships and the list goes on and on. Psalm 17 is a long prayer for protection for God. We long to feel those loving arms of comfort hold us in our midst of confusion, trials and tribulations. This picture might have painted a faint version of you. If so, you are not alone. If you’re anything like me, you’re a person who likes control over your life and wants to fix things on your own when something goes wrong. You play yourself out to be Superman or Superwoman and think you are unstoppable. Sound familiar? I love scheduling things in my calendar even if they are months in advance, and I want to fix problems right away. When something comes up that surprises me, I am often overwhelmed and thrown off a little. In my life there have been a few surprises that God has thrown at me: my mother’s cancer, the almost ending of a friendship, and even the struggles of perfectionism in my life. In these moments I found myself crying that first verse of Psalm 17 while pleading for God to fix whatever was going on after I had tried and tried myself. Though those surprises might have been the worst thing that could have happened at that moment, now I can look back and see where God was working all throughout those elements of surprise. It is amazing to take a step back and remember how BIG God is and that He only wants the best for you. This might be the most difficult to see if you’re going through a very difficult season in your life right now, but just know that God is with you, He is for you, and He will never be against you. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful! (Hebrews 10:23) CASEY ENRIGHT Junior Faith and Social Justice
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 Psalm 17 Zechariah 3:1–10 2 Peter 2:4–21 I have taken your guilt away from you. (Zechariah 3:4) In today’s reading, Zechariah the prophet has a vision of Joshua the high priest dressed in pathetic rags. Before him stands the angel of God who brings forgiveness and joy. Shed your garments of guilt, for God has brought you a new garment of joy and restoration. It is a wonderful vision for this Lenten season, as it prepares us to welcome God’s mercy and renewal as the joyful garments that await the Lenten pilgrim. But there is another figure in Zechariah’s vision, and he too stands before Joshua. Satan comes to tear God’s servant down with words of guilt and accusation. I confess that when I look upon my sins, anxieties and failures, as I am called to do during Lent, I find it easier to allow shame and guilt to have the final word on my “pathetic” existence. I struggle to accept that I am forgiven, or that God has the power to renew my life. There is a voice—at once my own and not my own—that tells me that I am not good enough, that there is no hope for me or those I love. It is the voice of an accuser that looks on me and on my sins without mercy, a voice that lacks the power to breathe new life into the dead and dying realities of my life. I have come to wonder whether this dark yet seductive voice of despair and guilt is not the voice of Satan. His ventriloquism speaks my words to me in my own voice, and yet I am left more dead, dumb and wooden for having believed them. In Zechariah’s vision, the voice of Satan is silenced by the voice of God who denounces him and proclaims Jerusalem as His own. As we turn to our sins and shortcomings, let us remember that within us there lies a voice that boldly invites us into forgiveness and new life, but there is also a voice that denies us the love and life of God. Let it be our Lenten labor to tune our ears to the voice of mercy, the voice of life, the voice of God, and silence by faith and the Word of God those voices that would bring guilt and shame on us and all the beloved of God. MANUEL CRUZ Assistant Professor of Theology College of Theology & Christian Ministry
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17 Psalm 17 Job 1:1–22 Luke 21:34 David would not have been a man after God’s own heart had he not been a man thoroughly obsessed with prayer. In the midst of sin and enemies, David consistently flies to the Lord in prayer. He brings his appeals and requests before a God that cares about every hair on his head and whatever befalls him. In Psalm 17, we see an appeal to heaven because of persecution on the Earth. David is calling out for the Lord’s help, asking Him “to show his steadfast love” and to “give refuge under his wings.” David is crying out to God and framing his thoughts in light of who he knows God to be. Similar to David, we are surrounded by injustice and atrocity. Sometimes it seems as though the arrogant and the wicked are successful while we wallow in our misery. Yet within this state David calls us to talk to a God “who will answer us.” In this Lenten season, we often have a lot of things we want to ask of God. We have parts of our lives that aren’t how we want them, we have made mistakes we want to make sure are forgotten, and we have hopes and dreams that we desire to see realized. It is in the midst of these that David reminds us to run to the feet of Jesus. We are to present our requests to God expectantly, knowing that we have a God who answers. Yet we are also called to frame our requests within the knowledge of his character and his will. Therefore, we are called to end our prayers with a humble admittance and desire for God. We are to end with contentment, not only if He gives us the things that we desire, but also if He doesn’t. We are called to be “satisfied with his likeness.” Let us focus on what it is the cross accomplished: Jesus took upon Himself our sin and guilt and died the death that we deserved; He ensured for us that “we can behold his face in righteousness.” Jesus “became sin, even though He knew no sin, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our hope is in the fact that we have the righteousness of God, not of man, and that allows us to have fellowship with Him. NATHAN ARNOLD Junior Social Entrepreneurship
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 Psalms 27 Genesis 13:1–7, 14–18 Philippians 3:2–12 Conversations I’ve had with many of my friends (Christian and non-Christian) related to faith is about our relationship with Christ. There are those who have a relationship who need to be fed in order to keep it strong. There are others who need a more formal introduction to the Lord. The more meaningful portion of the conversation is not about the life, death and resurrection of Christ as our Savior. It is about understanding what it means for Christ to be our Lord. It’s interesting how we are willing to follow, listen and give complete adoration to the star player, the organizational leader, or the military commander, but sometimes find difficulty in complete surrender to Christ. It is written throughout the Bible how the Lord will not leave us nor forsake us, yet we opt not to completely receive Him. How He provides protection from others as well as self, yet we place ourselves in precarious situations. We are considered joint heirs with Him and He daily offers grace and mercy, yet we are haughty in our belief that all we are and have is due to how awesome we are. If we have knowledge of Christ’s favor on our lives, then why is there difficulty in surrendering? We can speculate that we only want to surrender ourselves based upon our own conditions. I would also contend that we allow for there to be this pseudo-competition between the world and God. Philippians 3 asserts there are those who put confidence in human effort and not the Lord. But those who know Him boast about His loving kindness and all He has done. Each day we are provided an opportunity to do something positive in the lives of others. This provision is from Christ who sacrificed his life for us to have the ultimate victory of life everlasting. How wonderful it is to know that material things and even humans are imperfect, but we serve a perfect God who adores us and wants nothing more than the very best for us. Psalm 27:13–14 says, “Yet I am confident that I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently on the Lord.” I would ask that we not cause the Lord to wait on us. Acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior and receive ALL of the benefits of being in the family. Be confident, be bold and know that the Lord of Lords has your best interest at heart. JEFFERY BURGIN Associate Provost and Dean of Students Division of Student Affairs
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Psalm 27 Genesis 14:17–24 Philippians 3:17–20 During the Lenten season I usually end up thinking about self-denial. I may be thinking about giving up sweets, or deleting my Facebook, or committing to wake up earlier to ready my Bible, but I am definitely thinking about giving something up. Sometimes I find myself participating in the “holy” act of self-denial simply for the sake of self-denial, and not because I truly believe Jesus is better than whatever I am giving up. I get caught up in the Christian activities and end up being a Christian just because it’s the subculture I’m a part of instead of being a Christian because I truly love Jesus Christ. So, I just want to offer this simple reminder to myself and others: Lenten rituals like 40 days of self-denial mean nothing if it is not from the overflow of a heart filled by the love of Christ. I don’t want to delete my Facebook because I believe that I’ll be more holy and Jesus will love me more if I do. I want to have the mindset where I delete my Facebook because I know it simply distracts me from what is true. I want to be in a place where I don’t need to find meaning through being well liked, or where I quantify my self-worth based on how many likes I can get on my most recent attempt to be clever in a status update. I want to know that my identity is found in a much deeper reality, the reality of Christ that says, “No, you’re not good enough even in all your attempts at being righteous, but remember I didn’t choose you because you were good enough; I chose you simply because I love you.” In Philippians 3:20, Paul reminds us, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” As we deny ourselves things this Lenten season, let’s do it because we believe Jesus is transforming us to be more like Him, not because we feel like we should or because we are worried Jesus doesn’t like us anymore. And as we continue to seek Jesus, may He give us new hearts that want Him more than the shallow satisfaction of empty self-denial. DANIEL WARNER Alum Religion & the Arts
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20 Psalm 27 Psalm 118:26–29 Matthew 23:37–39 Psalm 118 is a kind of walking song-prayer. In it, we can hear the worship leader calling out to the priest to open the temple gates so the faithful can make their way to the altar. As such, Psalm 118 has been sung by the faithful in outdoor procession. Ask any Christian liturgical scholar and you’ll hear about some interesting outdoor procession rituals. Fourth century John of Chrysostom held a kind of sing-off or psalmic scrimmage in Constantinople. Concerned by the Arian Christians assembling for all night city processions to sing of what John feared heretical, John set up opposing stations for his followers to make a stand with their own nocturnal hymnody. Constantinople also was the site of processionals born from disasters averted—like earthquakes sending persons into the city streets to pray for life—these became commemorated in yearly processionals of thanksgiving to God. Or take Rogation Days, a procession ritual used for centuries in European villages where Christians walked around the boundaries of their parish to give God thanks for the fruits the land would bear. Rogation Day stations would earn names such as “Gospel Oak” or “Amen Corner” that remain in places to this day. We retain processions in our church services, but historically, a procession intended to enter and end somewhere other than circling through the aisles of a church sanctuary. For our community at Belmont, where does God wish to lead our procession? What public spaces and conversations does God want us to enter? To begin to answer this, we can look at Jesus’ own procession into Jerusalem where we hear Psalm 118:26, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,” sung by the crowd as they welcomed Jesus. Jesus is entering into a place that will take Him into confrontation with authorities and institutions of political and religious power as well as his own death and resurrection. Jesus’ journey leads us into our own—toward the very thing Psalm 118 names at its conclusion—God’s hesed, a rich Hebrew term for God’s loving kindness. This is what Matthew’s Jesus evokes as He yearns to gather Jerusalem’s children to Him, like a mother hen covering her chicks with her wings. As we move through Lent into Holy Week, may we enter more deeply into Jesus’ journey that will take us in our own walk together toward God’s loving kindness. CYNTHIA CURTIS Assistant Professor of Religion College of Theology & Christian Ministry
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21 (Second Sunday of Lent) Psalm 27 Genesis 15:1-12, 17–18 Philippians 3:17–4:1 Luke 13:31–35 When I think of the time of Lent, the first thing that comes to mind is sacrifice and giving something up. Whether it is some kind of food or media, I have often joined into the season and tradition of sacrifice for forty days. Along with this idea of giving something up tends to be a sense of anxiety or fear. Will I be able to succeed for that length of time? Or will I fail? We know that fear is not from God, so if I am fearful then I am probably not relying on God for strength or trusting that He will sustain me through it. And what is the purpose of giving something up during this time of Lent? Is it just to join in or is it with the desire to subtract a distraction from our lives in order to focus on God during that time—leading up to the gratefulness we have for the crucifixion and resurrection? I encourage you to know your own motivation during this season. Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” How often have you seen this verse but not taken it to heart, not let those words wash over you and give you hope and strength? God asks us to be strong and wait because He has promised to deliver us and be with us in our struggles. It may not be the solution we imagine or the timeline we prefer, but God does answer and He is right there with us. However, as humans we tend not to be the best at waiting because we are an instant gratification species. Lent is a time when we can take advantage of this season of waiting through our struggles and let God be our main focus. Give Him the opportunity to spend uninterrupted time with us because rather than just seeking out a solution to our current problems, we can just seek Him and His presence. After all the waiting and seeking, we can look forward with hope that we too will hear the words that God says to Abram in Genesis 15, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” ROBIN MCCORD University Ministries Assistant Office of University Ministries
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22 Psalm 105:1–15, 42 Exodus 33:1–6 Romans 4:1–12 Remember. As I get older it is interesting what I remember from my childhood. I cannot recall the address of the house I grew up in, but I can tell you there was a worn spot in the thick grey carpet next to the door leading into my room. I can’t tell you anything specific I learned in second grade, but I can tell you that my teacher always smelled like peppermint. Our minds often dictate what we recall. Some of our most cherished memories fade over time, while some of our more painful ones seem to reveal themselves more often than we want to admit. Memories often seem so arbitrary. The season of Lent is a season of remembrance. It is a guided reflection necessary to fully acknowledge the morning of Easter. The Psalmist says, “Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, you his servants, the descendants of Abraham, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob. He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth.” We are called not only to remember the act of the cross but we are called to remember the very nature of God that precipitated it. We are guided to recall the wonders, the miracles, and the decrees. To reflect on this nature of God begins to prepare our hearts for an understanding of the cross. Without this understanding the crucifixion is simply an event. It is the remembrance of who God is that helps us wrap our minds around the sacrifice we find in the death of Jesus. We also find that the Lenten season is not arbitrary. The preparation for Holy Week is the intentional turning of our hearts and minds to the recollection of God’s nature. Our daily lives often serve as the noise that clouds our memory, but during Lent we are called to remove those things and to remember. It is during this time our memories once again become clear. Father, as we prepare our hearts in this season, we open ourselves up to remember. To remember your goodness, your miracles, your sacrifice. We remember that it is your nature to be just, to be faithful, to be compassionate. Lord during these moments let the recollection of who you are prepare the way for our knowledge of what you have done. CHRISTY RIDINGS Associate University Minister and Director of Spiritual Formation Office of University Ministries
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 Psalm 105:1–15, 42 Numbers 14:10b–24 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 The Lenten Season is a time of reflection, confession and preparation. However, what if I told you my two greatest sins are adultery and amnesia? In today’s readings from 1 Corinthians, Paul warns the believers to beware of falling into the temptation of unfaithfulness caused by forgetfulness. I cannot speak for everyone, but as for myself, it is precisely in the times that I begin to think that I am a “good Christian,” that I fall into the traps of temptation the most. I appreciate the goodness of where God has brought me, but I purposely forget to acknowledge the mess of where I was before now. In this ignorance, I forget that God is the one who brought me out of the mess, so I fail to give God the glory and credit, rather I devote my adoration to myself, a friend, or a pastor. This forgetfulness causes me to become unfaithful. My amnesia leads to my adultery. Today I speak Paul’s warning to you: do not forget where you have come from and the one who led you to where you are now. When you find yourself comfortable in your Spiritual walk, take heed, for “if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12 NRSV). One sure way to avoid falling into this temptation is to remember God’s goodness and faithfulness. Like David does throughout the Psalms, keep record of God’s provision, protection, love and forgiveness. Continually reflect on it and allow it to produce a song of praise from within you. Confess when you forget and become prideful or unfaithful. And prepare your hearts to receive Christ’s forgiveness in a new way that does not allow you to graduate from the awe of deliverance through grace. HAYDEN MCDANIEL Sophomore Faith and Social Justice
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24 Psalm 105:1–15, 42 2 Chronicles 20:1–22 Luke 13:22–31 On a Sunday soon after the first of the year, my family and I joined a local Haitian congregation for worship in the chapel at First Nazarene Church in East Nashville. Having traveled to Haiti several times in the past, our hope was to experience once again the passion and beauty of a Haitian worship service and connect with members of the local Haitian community. We were not disappointed as we were enthusiastically welcomed and enjoyed again the spontaneity and vibrancy of worship. The sermon (which was quietly translated for us by a young woman sitting nearby) focused on the birth of Isaac to an aged Abraham and Sarah, celebrating a long anticipated promise, fulfilled by God. The pastor encouraged his congregation, many of whom experienced great suffering before leaving their home country and continue to be very concerned for family they left behind, to exercise patience in waiting for the fulfillment of the promises of God. The sermon took on new meaning for us because since the spring of 2011, my wife Elizabeth and I have been medical foster parents to a young boy from Haiti who is in the United States for medical treatment. He is an orphan who was born one month after the earthquake in Haiti and has needed medical attention for a congenital leg condition and vision impairment. We call him “Kenbe” which in Creole (the language of Haiti) means, “to hold on.” Our hope is to adopt him as our son one day. However, adopting from Haiti is a lengthy and unpredictable process. So we must be patient as we wait and pray for the chance to become his parents. Lent is a time for patient waiting that provides to Christ’s followers an opportunity for reflection and preparation before the joy of Easter Sunday. The story of Abraham and Sarah reminds us that long after one would expect a woman to be able to conceive and birth a child, God fulfilled a promise he made to them to make their descendants a great nation. Such a time of waiting tried their patience. While they were not always models of patience, God still used them to be a blessing to others. As we prepare ourselves during Lent, let us patiently await the fulfillment of the promises God has made to us. We can take comfort in knowing that because of the resurrection we celebrate on Easter, we have the hope that those promises will be fulfilled. JASON ROGERS Vice President for Administration and University Counsel
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25 Psalm 63:1–8 Daniel 3:19–30 Revelation 2:8–11 “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” David strikes a chord in Psalm 63 which resonates to the very roots of Christianity, and that is the truth that our sovereign Lord’s love is so incredibly abounding and everlasting that it is undeniably worth giving up our lives for. Yet despite knowing this truth, upholding it proves to be far more difficult than simply understanding it. I often find myself asking, “Would I really give up my life in pursuit of Jesus Christ my savior?” While our natural behavior is to question, there is only so much that can be done, other than being put to the test. Daniel 3 is a fantastic chapter of the Bible because it gives a concrete example of humans trusting in God to the point that they are willing to leave the Earth in pursuit of Him. The key difference between my questioning and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s faithfulness is that I am relying in my own strength and willpower, while Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego rely on God to carry them through their trial. What is really being put to the test when Christians are suffering for their faith is not a matter of individual strength, for when one fully trusts in the Lord, by all earthly measures he is weak. True strength comes in offering up all of yourself to the almighty Father whose strength is unmeasurable. So take heart. Use this Lenten period to reflect and meditate on what it means to fully rely in the Lord. For when times of trial do come, your faith will make you strong. There is no amount of earthly questioning or preparing which will ever ready you for the tribulations of life, and that is completely fine. Relying on Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is the only way to truly overcome fears, trials and challenges. BENNETT HEIDELBERGER Sophomore Marketing and Music Business
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26 Psalm 63:1–8 Daniel 12:1–4 Revelation 3:1–6 “Run for your life!” David must have been thinking. After all, Absalom (David’s son) had rebelled against his father, won the hearts of the people in Jerusalem, and had his eyes on taking his father’s place as King. If David chose to stay in Jerusalem, innocent people could have been killed not to mention his very own life taken. A father’s love for his son trumped retaliation. Rather than stay in Jerusalem and fight, David fled. Psalm 63 finds David alone in the wilderness, hiding from those who are meant to kill him. As I read these verses I have to ask myself, “What would I do if I found myself in David’s place?” “Pity party” comes to the top of the list followed by panic, cold sweats and fear. But not David. He begins by recognizing God as his God, not just in a casual kind of way. His expressions of this knowledge are so personal. David believes from the core of his being that only God can satisfy his soul because God has proven Himself faithful so many times in his past. David owes his very life to Him. Praises fall from David’s lips as he recounts God’s faithfulness, marvels at His power and is humbled by His love. While David could lament his condition and put all his focus on his situation, he chooses the better option—praise. He knows where his help comes from and this very knowledge is all the comfort he needs. Would it be so with me? As the Lenten season continues, I pray that I might be solely focused on Christ alone not for what He can do for me, but for who He is. I pray that my love for Him might keep me up at night just so I can praise Him. I pray that I will marvel at His creation with a child-like wonder. When trials come, I pray my first reaction will be to remember God’s faithfulness. May you find strength in this psalm of David today. LYNNE HOLDER Missionary-in-Residence Office of University Ministries
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27 Psalm 63:1–8 Isaiah 5:1–7 Luke 6:43–45 During the season of Lent, we often find ourselves thirsting for the Lord like the psalmist writes about in today’s reading. Whether you have given up something or are simply reflecting on the meaning of Lent, if you haven’t felt faint yet, you most likely will. The times when we feel empty are crucial to the formation of our faith because it is in these moments when our faith is put to the test. Based on Jesus’ parable in Luke, we have two possible outcomes when we seek fulfillment: we can produce either bad fruit or good fruit. The first option is to try to quench our thirst ourselves, which according to our Gospel reading for today will only lead to bad fruit. Isaiah’s song of the unfruitful vineyard offers some insight into the consequences of bearing bad fruit. He says that the vineyard that does not bear any fruit will be devoured, trampled down and made to waste. Trying to find fulfillment with worldly things, other people or even our own accomplishments will never lead us to produce Godly fruit. But there is a bright side. The other option is to look to God for fulfillment. Luke writes that a good person, because of the goodness in his or her heart, produces good fruit. This would be someone who looks to God during difficult times, not someone who tries to fix everything on his or her own. It is perfectly natural to struggle to want to take control. It is part of our human nature. On top of that we live in an instantaneous society, one in which if we can’t find what we want or need we move on to the next thing. Waiting on God and finding fulfillment in God does not always seem like the easiest step, but it is the one that ultimately fills the empty space in our heart. And if we look to God, to continue with Luke’s analogy, we will bear the best fruit. So during this season of Lent, I encourage you ultimately to seek fulfillment in God. The purpose of Lent is not to show others how strong of a Christian we are by how devoted we are to this season, but to remind us how much we need God. And by seeking fulfillment in God alone when we are weak, we are able to show the glory of God to others when He makes us strong. ELIZABETH-ANNE NORDGREN Senior Philosophy of Religion
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28 (Third Sunday of Lent) Psalm 63:1–8 Isaiah 55:1–9 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 Luke 13:1–9 On a recent trip to Phoenix, Arizona, I carved out a couple of hours to hike to the top of Camelback Mountain with a couple of friends. I’ve been privileged to do the hike several times and always try to persuade others to join me. Its summit provides a magnificent view of the desert, surrounding mountains, and communities. Each time it strikes me to see the areas of lush, green grass from the golf resorts and lawns of the “well to do” homes. They are a stark contrast against the natural reddish-brown, dry desert soil that makes up a vast majority of the landscape. I remarked to my friends about the necessary time, effort and resources that it must require to maintain that beautiful, groomed grass in the desert climate: a seemingly endless effort I imagined! The desert is unmistakably like the “dry and parched land” that David writes about in Psalm 63:1. On this occasion, as I looked out below, it occurred to me that our hearts in their natural state are every bit as “dry and parched” in our sinful nature. The great news is that our hearts have the opportunity to be like those bright green lawns and golf courses in a world that is arid and dry! Jesus has paid the price and given us the resources for that growth! It is our option to take it, or not. When others see our lives (and hearts) from different vantage points, what do they see? Is it brown, dusty and dry, or do we show the bright colors of life provided by a risen Savior? MARK PRICE Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach Athletics
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29 Psalm 39 Jeremiah 11:1–17 Romans 2:1–11 It is difficult to wrap my mind around the idea of God as loving and kind while simultaneously judging and wrathful. I’m not quite sure how to make sense of the judgment he places on his creation as they will never be able to attain what his desire for them is in their humanity. He commands obedience, yet His chosen people, the Israelites, can never quite measure up. At times they get close, yet they are never perfectly obedient. I am reminded of a lyric by a songwriter named Jon Foreman: “I’m always close, but I’m never enough. I’m always in line, but I’m never in love.” I find this incredibly relatable to my life. There are days when I get quite close to living the life Christ calls me to, but there is always a flaw, whether I mess up along the way or obey God imperfectly. Perhaps I partially obey His glory out of love, but another part of me obeys in order to feed my own pride or win the approval of my fellow humans. So what is the solution in this state of consistent imperfection? In Psalm 39, David asks the Lord to reveal to him his own frailty and humanity. He pleads for mercy and for the Lord to hold back his judgment for a little while longer that David might live in the Lord’s peace on earth and not be destroyed by God’s wrath. In this prayer, we see David’s desire for mercy, freedom and redemption for his own failures. David is often referred to as a man after God’s own heart. The desires of this prayer are also the desires of God’s heart. In sending Himself in the flesh to die a death upon a piece of wood, Jesus takes our failures upon Himself and fulfills the law we weren’t able to. His perfection frees us from our imperfection, and we no longer have to be good enough, but are covered in grace abounding. Therefore, the pressure is off to be “enough” because Christ is. There is no longer an ideal standard God asks us to meet. Instead, because grace has been fully given, He simply asks, “Will you come?” and He asks, “Will you follow me?” His love for us is what brings us into Jesus’ perfection. Instead of being condemned, through Jesus we share in life filled with joy and peace and community with God. Instead of wrath, He extends grace. Instead of condemnation, He invites us in. “The man on the middle cross told me I can come.” ANYSSA WALKER Sophomore Songwriting
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TUESDAY, MARCH 1 Psalm 39 Ezekiel 17:1–10 Romans 2:12–16 The reflections from today’s scripture cut like a knife through our modern understanding of humanity. A post-enlightenment notion of humanity places us on a pedestal above all else. We convince ourselves nothing can stop us from reaching our full potential or working together to create a flourishing society. Yet we know deep down this idea is not true. It only takes a few minutes of scrolling through the latest news feed to see that this view of ourselves is grossly exaggerated. Often we try simultaneously to maintain a positive conception of humanity and desperately hold at bay the darker reality we know deep down is true. This inner struggle to make sense of the world around us often leads us to cynicism or despair. We place our hope in that which can only disappoint, so to avoid the pain of yet another disappointment, we choose to laugh in the face of any well-intentioned effort at bettering humanity, or we weep without hope under the crushing weight of the world’s pain. What these scriptures, and the season of Lent, offer us is an alternative view of humanity that gives birth to hope and courage rather than cynicism and despair. Lent is a season to acknowledge that we are only a breath, that humanity is in fact deeply flawed and broken. However, Lent is also a season to acknowledge the redemptive work of Christ rising in the midst of our fractured world. The scriptures provide a vision of humanity that by our own efforts is incapable of healing the wounds of this world, but through the reconciling death and resurrection of Christ we are invited both to be healed by and partner with the redemptive work of our Savior. In this time in which we live, between Christ’s resurrection and the fullness of his forthcoming kingdom, we will still experience the pain caused by our sin. We will still feel sorrow from our own brokenness and a deep longing for a world free from injustice. However, when we place our hope in the redemptive work of Christ rather than our own ability to heal the wounds of the world, our pain no longer serves as a place of disappointment, but as a reminder that the best is yet to come JOSH RIEDEL Assistant Director of Spiritual Formation Office of University Ministries
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 Psalm 39 Numbers 13:17–27 Luke 13:18–21 Sometimes God disappoints us. We expect a particular outcome will come to pass and it does not happen the way we hoped. The prayers for a loved one to get better seem to fall on to empty ears when they breathe their last breath. The patient striving for reconciliation seems wasted when the relationship crumbles right in front of us. We live in a world of disappointment and unfulfilled expectation. If we are completely honest with ourselves I think most of us can at times identify with the Psalmist’s stark confession at the end of this Psalm that seems to suggest life would be better if God left him alone. The God we read about in the Bible often seems vastly different from the God we experience in reality. He does not quite meet our expectations the way we hope and we are often left frustrated and angry. It turns out we are in good company. The disciples themselves expected Jesus to be something different than He was. They expected a warrior king to liberate the people of Israel from hundreds of years of oppression. Instead they got a meek and humble servant, who shows them, and us, the only way to full and abundant life is a slow and painful process that involves death to self. The beauty of God’s grace is that He not only hears our disappointment, but continues to embrace us as His children regardless of how we might feel about Him. The words of the psalmist and the disciple’s false expectations are just two of countless examples of when the people of God expect Him to be different than He is. Rather than ignore our disappointment or frustration with God we ought to practice the sometimes brutal honesty we see in the Psalms (and many other places in scripture) and confess the ways in which God has appeared to let us down. It is in those moments, often our darkest, when we find freedom from unspoken expectation. Then, and only then, can we see the simple and profound seeds of grace of slowly growing in our midst. ANONYMOUS
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THURSDAY, MARCH 3 Psalm 32 Joshua 4:1–13 2 Corinthians 4:16 By the time Lent comes around, I’ve already broken my New Year’s resolution one or two or ten times. I have the best of intentions, whether it’s a resolution to write every day, run every day or cut down on my caffeine consumption—but I can’t seem to stick with any of these things for more than a week at a time. So by the second month of the brand new shiny year, I’m feeling dull and defeated. I want to forget that first month or so of trying and failing. I tend to treat Lent like a second chance at a New Year’s resolution, a clean slate. Sacred time is different from secular time, however, and that’s not how this season works. Lent (somewhat inconveniently!) invites us not to forget but to remember. I would prefer to sweep my mistakes under the rug, pretending they never happened. We do this collectively as well. Our histories—familial, communal, national—are all a mixed bag of triumph and failure, and, at least on the national scale, justice and oppression. But we tend to be much better at loudly trumpeting the things we did well than we are at acknowledging the times we did not live up to our ideals. The people of Israel mark a momentous occasion in Joshua 4 after they cross the Jordan River. It hasn’t been a perfect journey. Fear, disobedience and death linger in their memory. I’m sure there are things they would prefer to forget. Yet they are instructed to remember. In the midst of their fear, they have been delivered, and that’s worth recalling and recounting to future generations. I’m not suggesting we all erect stone monuments for every part of our past. But during this season of Lent we are encouraged to remember and repent: to name our fears and our failures, out loud, or risk “wasting away” in our self-suppressing silence (Psalm 32:3). These confessions require courage. Fortunately, we are made to be people who “do not lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Let’s intentionally remember both our glorious victories and our humiliating defeats, not so we can dwell for too long in either place (for neither one defines us) but so we can remember where we came from and better orient ourselves to the future. Failure breeds learning—of our own limitations, as well as of our own God-given resilience and resourcefulness in the face of them. Maya Angelou wisely reminded us that all we can do is the best with what we know, but that “when we know better, we do better.” We can courageously face our past, learn from it, and know that grace, forgiveness, and love are ours. BETH RITTER-CONN Lecturer College of Theology & Christian Ministry, Honors
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FRIDAY, MARCH 4 Psalm 32 Joshua 4:14–24 2 Corinthians 5:6–15 What a gift that we know the end of the story. The heart of this Lenten season is to look ahead to Jesus, as we place ourselves in the shoes of those who waited with bated breath for his coming, his salvation and ultimately his resurrection. I can’t help but think that we today have an unfair advantage, knowing how it all ends. However, knowing the end of the Great Story, that Jesus ultimately defeats Death—tearing the veil of separation between us and God—isn’t quite like being told a key movie plot point that ruins it completely for you. On the contrary, Jesus’ victory strengthens, refines and infiltrates every area of our stories that are unfolding by His grace day by day. In today’s reading, the psalmist writes praising the Lord for His forgiveness. Not yet having tasted it through the death and resurrection of Jesus, David is still sure that “blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” This is the climax of the Great Story—the forgiveness of our sins—and ends with our nearness to God. In my collegiate experience, I have often found myself tethered to burdens of procrastination, perfectionism and people-pleasing. Quickly I can feel I am drowning in stress and unmet expectations, my feelings of shame and disappointment pulling me further down. There in the water, thrashing and gasping and desperate for air—the hand of Jesus reaches out to me: “surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach me [emphasis added].” In Joshua 4, the people of God are rescued from rushing waters too, crossing through the river Jordan on dry ground just as the Lord had promised them. They gather 12 stones, so that their children will remember what He did there. This act of remembrance, of holding on to the tangible symbol of God being good on His promises, is left as a reminder for generations to come: God is faithful to rescue His people. And we are rescued and made His people by the blood of Jesus. With Easter on the horizon, may we posture our hearts to the truth of the Great Story that affects our stories day by day: As you are in waters—they will recede. As you have sins—they are forgiven. As you are uncertain—rejoice! We know how it ends. MELE GIRMA Sophomore Songwriting
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SATURDAY, MARCH 5 Psalm 32 Exodus 32:7–14 Luke 15:1–10 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” —John 14:27 “Love one another as I have loved you.” —John 13:3 As a kid whenever Lent came around I always knew that I had to give something up, to not only demonstrate my discipline but also to better understand the sacrifices that Christ made for me. Each year I would unsuccessfully sacrifice my beloved sweets. Giving up sweets was like sacrificing everything to me, so thus I figured I truly understood the agony of Christ’s 40 days and 40 nights. As I have matured spiritually, I have a greater appreciation and understanding of what the season of Lent truly means. I still try to sacrifice something and more often than not it is sweets. And more often than not I end up with the same unsuccessful results. However, what has changed are my focus and my intentions. In addition to sacrifice I also try and be more mindful, peaceful and thoughtful in that I seek to be a blessing to others. The season of Lent reminds us to not only be disciplined but also focus on being a vessel of love and peace. One of the lessons that we can learn from the season of Lent and the life of Christ is to find peace through being a blessing. All throughout the Bible we are taught the many stories of Christ and how He seeks to be a blessing to others and through his ability to bless individuals He finds peace and loves unconditionally. So while the season of Lent is one of discipline and sacrifice, let it also be one that reminds us to give of ourselves and seek to be a blessing to others. As we give of ourselves we are not only keeping our commitment to God but we are also moving in the spirit of love and thus peace. MARY CLARK Director Bridges to Belmont
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SUNDAY, MARCH 6 (Fourth Sunday of Lent) Joshua 5:9–12 Psalm 32 2 Corinthians 5:16–21 Luke 15:1–3, 11b–32 “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” —C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory In Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection we receive the mercy—undeserved favor—of God. From the events thousands of years ago, we have been redeemed for our past, present and future sins. Let that sink in for a second—all that we have done and ever will do has been forgiven. Forgiven, not for our own sake, but solely on the fact that we are prized and loved children of God. How is it that we can become immune to this grandiose gift? How is it that we can know it, but not fully believe it? Where is the disconnect between our head and our heart? I fall prey to this sin numerous times as I can unconsciously have the knowledge of my redeemed sins, yet I sometimes lack the heart to gift was has been given to me. As C. S. Lewis points out, God has forgiven our deepest sins when we do not deserve it. In Christ, we are made a new creation, “the old has passed away and the new has come.” Just like in the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father welcomes the son back with open arms, without mentioning how the son squandered all his money or disrespected his father and family. The son, like us, is gifted a clean slate because of the love the father has at his return. There are neither grudges nor any debts. However, in our own lives, we can turn our back to a neighbor, friend or sibling who has wronged us. Yet, it is our Christian duty and distinction that calls us to forgive like we have been forgiven. When we consciously rest in the undeserved forgiveness of Christ and begin to vividly see each other as loved children of God, it is impossible to have hatred towards each other. When we full heartedly embrace our forgiveness, the Spirit in us will genuinely forgive the faults against us. Today, ask God to show us how He sees us—clean, loved, beautiful, and cherished—so that we can see others in the same light. Ask God to work in our hearts so that we can mirror to others the forgiveness that He has given us. HANNAH FLETCHER Junior Christian Ethics and Business Management
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MONDAY, MARCH 7 Psalm 53 Leviticus 23:26–41 Revelation 19:1–8 The Psalm in today’s reading is one of David’s prayers in which he is frustrated and confused. David is a man after God’s heart. His heart hurts when he sees people not pursuing the Author and one true source of life, “they never call on God.” David desires for all to find the adventure and joy that comes in pursuing God. God knows we need structure in our lives. We as fragile humans need to be taught, trained and reminded to seek after Him. The Day of Atonement outlined in the Leviticus reading for today is one of those ways God provided a structure for His people to seek Him. God outlined a structured way where His people would seek His face. A time where they would be intentional on creating space and time for God in their life. Oh, how we need this reminder today. In a world, in a life that demands for us to constantly be going, doing something, being somewhere, we so easily forget to create the space and time for God to minister to us. To sit in prayer, to sit with His word. David’s cry is for us: “But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread.” Yes. Yes, how my heart cries for the deliverance of God. The promise of deliverance is bold. It is beautiful. Let today’s reading in Revelation take root in your heart, in your mind. We need the space, we need the time to reflect on God’s glory: “Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” The time will come when we will be singing “Hallelujah!” as described in Revelation. When our voice will be in harmony with all the others, coming together to sound like the roar of rushing waters, the loud peals of thunder, singing praises to our God because of His goodness and Glory. Until then, we create the time to sing praises to Him now. His glory is all around us in this world. How are we creating the space, creating the time, the opportunities, to be amazed by Him in the present moment? JORDAN HOLM Coordinator of Academic Services and Sports Ministry Athletics
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TUESDAY, MARCH 8 Psalms 53 Leviticus 25:1–19 Revelation 19:9–10 God gives the Israelites a peculiar command in the 25th chapter of Leviticus. He tells them to give the land a Sabbath year, a year where there shall be no sowing, no reaping, no harvesting at all. The land is to lay low, lay bare and be free from the pressure to produce anything. It sounds preposterous, or risky at the very least. Where would their food come from if not from the ground? If not from their own hands? God knows the risk this long rest would render and he asks them anyway. It’s a simple lesson in faith with large implications. Will God come through? Will He provide? Or will we starve? The Israelites sit back, I imagine with some fear, and hope for His best. I am struck by the Sabbath year because I’m continually tempted to force growth in places I’m not sure it was ever meant to be. I pump energy and time and resources into places where I know God has told me to simply let it rest. I want progress and I want it now and I don’t want to wait. For a maximizer like me with a streak (or two) of impatience, a Sabbath year sounds like a waste of my can-do energy and a risk I’m not willing to bear. I know that food requires sowing and reaping, work and time. That is something I can count on. That is something I know to be true. But I have a feeling that God is asking me to believe in better things, to find truth beyond my own self-determination. I want instead to believe in God’s economy, the one of abundance, the one that assures me that scarcity is merely a myth. I want to believe that rest can be productive, that my own humanity has limits that leave me needy of receiving the grace of God. Sometimes grace looks like an abundance of food in the Sabbath year and sometimes it looks like something else entirely. But it is always a gift from above, always straight from the hand of a loving Father. Thanks be to God. KELSEY KING Alumna
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9 Psalms 53 2 Kings 4:1–7 Luke 9:10–17 Jesus gathers the apostles after they return from their first missionary journey to slip away for rest and to share their experiences. Can you imagine the stories they had to share with one another? The healing of sick people, the demons that were cast out, the sharing of the gospel and those who believed! The apostles had to be excited and amazed at all they did in the name of Jesus. As they traveled to their remote place, the crowds found them and began to gather. The plans changed. Jesus was compassionate for those who were hungry for the gospel. He healed those who were sick and shared the kingdom of God with them. There were well over 5,000 people in attendance and as night fell, they were hungry. The apostles were practical thinkers that evening and knew there was not enough food or money to feed this many people. Their solution was to send the people away so they could find their own food. Jesus commanded the apostles to feed the people and all who were in attendance witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. All were fed and there were leftovers! The problem was not the size of the crowd or the lack of food. The apostles were focused on the problem and not on Jesus. They allowed the circumstances to overtake their faith. Jesus took charge of the situation. He demonstrates to the crowd and the apostles that He is sufficient to meet their needs. He is all we need! We often focus on the problems in our lives and forget to look to Jesus just like the apostles. When life becomes difficult and we face challenging situations, our words and actions show what we believe. His promises are real and He will meet all of our needs when we seek Him. As we prepare for the celebration of the resurrection of our Savior, may we affirm our love and belief in Him seeking Him in all we do. NANCI ALSUP Office Manager Teaching Center
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THURSDAY, MARCH 10 Psalm 126 Isaiah 43:1–7 Philippians 2:19–24 I do not know why, but I think sometimes it is easy to forget God’s faithfulness. I forget the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord more than I like to admit, but luckily I am in good company. Throughout scripture we see God’s people forget who He is and what He has done for them, which is comforting to know we are not alone in our doubting and our wandering. But what is even more comforting is God’s constant affirmation of His faithfulness; we doubt, but He is steadfast and we wander, but He pursues. It is beautiful to think about this truth in light of this season of Lent because what Jesus did for us on the cross is what makes it all possible. Jesus died and rose again and therefore invites us, the wandering, the doubtful, into his faithful love. It is because of Jesus that we are redeemed children of God. “Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 The perfect God of the universe claims us as his own, over and over again, despite our wandering, doubting and forgetfulness. That fact is truly too miraculous for me to wrap my head around! When I run from God or forget who He is, some part of me expects that if I return to Him I will only find wrath, guilt and shame, but all of those things ended at the cross. Instead, when we return from our wandering, we are met with grace and mercy overflowing from our faithful God! What’s more is the faithfulness of Jesus not only allows us to return to Him again and again, but also for God to go with us into hard seasons of life. His faithfulness not only invites us in, but also carries us through. We can cling to the past faithfulness of God to provide us with hope of His future provision. We can run to his faithfulness and also remember it, such as in Psalm 126:3, “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Things God has done for us in the past, can fill us with joy in the present. Search your heart today and see if you are wandering or doubting. Wherever you are, faithfulness is waiting for you, God calls you his very own and is with you. Remember God’s faithfulness. HUNTER WADE Sophomore Faith and Social Justice
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FRIDAY, MARCH 11 Psalm 126 Isaiah 43:8–15 Philippians 2:25 Biblical scholars maintain that this short psalm begins as a prayer of thanksgiving that commemorates the end of the Babylonian exile. Those returning to their homeland after Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon are overwhelmed with joy and seek to praise God for their deliverance. Their homecoming was nothing short of miraculous and was an event that was even recognized by those in other nations. There is more to this psalm than thanksgiving though. Building on the theme of gratitude, the composer seems to be reminding God (and the reader) of the great deliverance from Babylon in hopes that God will once again come to the aid of God’s people. It appears that hard times have fallen upon the people, as fortunes need to be restored because they have been damaged or destroyed. Tears are being shed, and the psalmist reflects that in such difficult times, seeds are being sown. These seeds of hope rest on the promise that God will faithfully deliver the people once again. However, it is important to note that action must not be God’s alone. The people of God must sow the seeds and trust that God will help them to grow, thereby maintaining faith in the covenantal relationship they share with the Divine. During this season of Lent, Christians recall the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus by reflecting on ideas of repentance and denial. As the psalm seems to indicate, during times of hardship, we often remember easier times in hopes that such memories will sustain us and propel us toward a future that will be joyous. Christians are not simply called to remember the life of Jesus during this season; we are also called to actively repent and to take on practices that remind us of who we are as people of faith striving to maintain our relationship with God. We are called to be faithful sowers of the seeds of hope as we wait for Easter morning. As we remember and seriously reflect on the suffering that so fills our world during this Lenten season, let us actively sow seeds of hope as we anticipate not only the approaching Easter Sunday, but as we also hope for the presence of Divine love in our midst that daily works to reconcile and make right all that is not. SALLY HOLT Professor of Religion College of Theology & Christian Ministry
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SATURDAY, MARCH 12 Psalms 126 Exodus 12:21–27 John 11:45–57 This Lenten season, and any season, it is good to ask: to what extent do we see God’s sovereignty—his “bigger-than-ness”—abiding in our lives? Today’s passages illustrate God’s sovereignty in three different ways. 1) God assures deliverance for those whom He has called to be his people. Exodus 12:23 says, “the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.” Through the Passover of the Israelite Exodus, we know God guarantees eternal protection for those who belong to Him. Even though God could have justly subjected the Israelites to the same sufferings that the Egyptians were about to face (after all, many Israelites worshiped idols), He created opportunity for salvation through the sacrifice of a Passover lamb for each house. This unconditional and unmerited gift points to God’s unconditional and unmerited love for his people, and his sovereignty over their deliverance. It also points to Jesus, the final and perfect Passover lamb—freely given to all who believe. 2) God is sovereign, even over the workings of his enemies. In John 11:50, the high priest Caiaphas, who first proposed putting Jesus to death, said, “’It is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.’” Verses 51–52 go on to commentate: “He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” Caiaphas had no idea about the full implications of what he said and what he would eventually do. We should have tremendous peace in knowing that God works in all things—even his enemies’ actions—toward his glory and our joy. 3) God is sovereign over your future, and the future of the world. Psalm 126:2 says, “…Then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’” If you ever worry about being on the wrong side of history by living according to the Gospel, take comfort in this: the only historic inevitability is that one day, all nations will see God’s power and glory. As we continue through the Lenten season, take comfort in God’s sovereignty. He’s got everything taken care of. DAVID BARTEK Senior Audio Engineering Technology
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SUNDAY, MARCH 13 (Fourth Sunday of Lent) Isaiah 43:16–21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4b–14 John 12:1–8 At my deepest core, I am a lover of experiences—both simple and complex. I love good food and drink and all sorts of well-crafted objects. I love art and museums, and big cities with their sidewalks and endless shops. Well planned or impromptu parties both delight me, as does riding on airplanes and taking road trips with my family. As a result, I don’t generally like Lent (whereas I can’t get enough of the Christmas or Easter seasons). Where some folks see Lent about discipline and fasting and refocusing their sights on Jesus and the reign of God, I have a hard time seeing Lent as anything but giving up all the fun experiences—eating out, cooking elaborate meals, etc.—that help to shape my life and give it meaning. Today’s Gospel text, then, is helpful for me. It is a reminder that God is also, in fact, a lover of experiences. Jesus’ defense of his own anointing in Bethany might be a startling text for those of us who have spent the last few weeks forgoing coffee shops or restaurants or chocolate or meat in order to think about God’s justice or their own relationship with Jesus. Even if we know that Judas was a betrayer and a thief, we also hear ourselves in his complaint: aren’t we all supposed to be giving up such luxuries and experiences in exchange for good deeds? Shouldn’t we be focusing on more “heavenly” things than perfume and anointing and burial and bodies? Apparently not. It’s worth noting that this is (in all probability) the same Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet while her sister Martha ran about her work in Luke’s Gospel. In that story, we might also hear ourselves in Martha’s complaint: shouldn’t we all be working harder and being more disciplined instead of just sitting around? Again, Jesus’ words might come to us as startling. Maybe Lent is less about self-denial and the rejection of worldly things and more a reminder that the things and experiences of our lives have Godly significance—that is, that Jesus’ death and resurrection is about the redemption not just of our souls but our bodies, and not just our eternity but also our days. To that end, Lent itself becomes a kind of “meta-experience,” in which we realize that all of our experiences are places in which we might meet Jesus. MICAH WEEDMAN Associate University Minister and Director of Outreach Office of University Ministries
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MONDAY, MARCH 14 Psalm 20 Exodus 40:1–15 Hebrews 10:19–25 The brutality of Good Friday and the glory of Easter, the culminating events of the Lenten season, bring us hope and the “full assurance of faith” as the author of Hebrew puts it. Everything that could possibly hold us back from communion with God was destroyed when Christ rose from the dead. Too often however, we find ourselves shirking back from the “holy places,” ashamed to bring our requests, prayers, cries and sometimes silence before the Lord. Lent is a season to reflect on our sin and repent for the ways in which we fail to love God and neighbor. While it is vital that we take the time to reflect on the specific ways we fail to fulfill the mandate to love God and neighbor, it is easy to lose sight of the core issue. At the root of every sin—greed, pride, lust, envy, the list could continue—is an ultimate lack of trust in the provision and love of God. We become greedy when we look to our possessions, relationships or experiences to bring us meaning. We become prideful when we lose sight of our inherent value as children of God and look to people to affirm that value in us. Instead of coming honestly and confidently before God we turn to “chariots” and “horses” to fulfill our needs. We turn to human means, such as possessions, relationships and status, to find value and meaning in this world. Take time in this season of Lent to reflect on the ways in which you put your trust in the “chariots” and “horses” of this world, rather than coming confidently to God. What is keeping you from receiving the gracious and warm embrace of our Creator? JOSH RIEDEL Assistant Director of Spiritual Formation Office of University Ministries
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TUESDAY, MARCH 15 Psalms 20 Judges 9:7–15 1 John 2:18–28 And in today’s scripture reading by which we consider the coming of the Lord, we’re invited to discern, in ourselves and others, the spirit of antichrist. Given the energy expended projecting the entity on popes, presidents and far-flung public figures whose names we find it difficult to pronounce, we might be surprised to see that the term only appears five times in two very short letters in the New Testament. What’s it all about? We do well to note that the context, 1 and 2 John, are a couple of letters to communities of people who’ve sought to live and love together according to Jesus’ vision of God’s reign among us. But wherever two or more are gathered, we might say, things get complicated: “Antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come” (1 John 2:18). So we keep it plural and we keep it close to home. Abiding in the Father and the Son, as the counsel has it, means belonging to and for one another in every minute particular. Then and now, there are so many ways we avoid doing this, so many excuses we concoct to avoid even asking what such a thing might involve. Or as Kathleen Norris observes, “Each one of us acts as an Antichrist, whenever we hear the gospel and do not do it.” Very oddly, amid the slayings and betrayals that comprise the book of Judges, we have a little parable on trying to take charge of things which, like Tolkien’s epic on the question of power, might be said to speak to the enigma of antichrist. Jotham, son of Jerubbaal, has watched his brother Abimelech hire out the slaying of all their siblings to secure the crown for himself. Having narrowly escaped with his own life, Jotham tells a story about a community of trees who seek a ruler for themselves. Neither the fig nor the olive nor the vine think it fitting to forfeit their own roles of sustaining others in exchange for swaying over others. Only the bramble accepts the charge, but upon doing so, sets fire to all trees. With this in mind, perhaps the fear that renders us eager to control or order or even fix others is at the heart of our antichrist trouble. And perhaps the work of real belonging is the more blessed task before us. We can only heal that which we belong to. DAVID DARK Assistant Professor of Religion & the Arts College of Theology &Christian Ministry
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16 Psalm 20 Habakkuk 3:2–15 Luke 18:31–34 “Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.” (Psalm 20 6-8 NIV) People are bound to fail. It’s one of the few things that are guaranteed when it comes to humans. Ever since the succumbing to sin in the Garden of Eden, people have constantly hit bumps in the road. The beautiful thing is that our failure can be redeemed. When we humble ourselves and allow the anointing of the Lord to overflow onto us, we become greater than any person could possibly be on their own. All throughout the Bible we see the failures of man. When Saul decides to glorify himself instead of God, his reign is passed to someone outside of his bloodline. When Jonah inititally refuses God’s command to go to Ninevah to preach to the people, the seas erupt in a violent storm. But when people trust in God, the impossible happens. David kills a giant with a rock and a sling. The Israelites bring down the walls of Jericho by marching and praising God. Jesus is born to a young man and a young woman who can’t even get a room in the inn for the night. Lent is a time to fast, pray, repent and reflect on our lives as we prepare to celebrate the most amazing showing of love the world has ever seen. There is no greater time to humble ourselves in the power of God. In Him there is victory. When we put our trust and confidence in the hands of man, no matter how powerful they may seem, we are bound to be disappointed. If we trust in God, we will rise up and stand firm, because the Lord is faithful. DANNY HENNESSY Sophomore Music Business
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THURSDAY, MARCH 17 Psalm 31:9–16 Isaiah 53:10–12 Hebrews 2:1–9 The words of the psalmist in verses 11–13 in today’s scripture reading could easily be the words of Jesus. His closest friends abandoned and denied all association with Him. Throughout the majority of His ministry He had countless religious leaders plotting to trap Him in saying the “wrong” thing, which eventually led to His death. Forgotten by friends, pursued by enemies and at his lowest moment forsaken by his Father, Jesus intimately understood suffering. It is easy in the season of Lent to skip over the suffering of Jesus and move right along to the glorified and risen savior. In a world that avoids pain at all costs we do not want to sit in the fact that the Creator God suffered. Jesus did not just suffer the night of his crucifixion; He experienced suffering throughout His entire life. We see Jesus weeping over the city of Jerusalem and the loss of a friend. Jesus was constantly misunderstood by His disciples. Countless places in the gospels we find Jesus emptying Himself to heal people only to receive very little appreciation in return. Jesus knew suffering. I think part of the reason we do not like to meditate on the extent to which Jesus suffered is because we fear we too have to suffer. Honestly, our fears are correct. We will experience suffering. The life Jesus calls us to will ultimately end in abundant life and redemption, but demands that we die to self along the way. We want to experience resurrection without death, but it simply does not work that way. So rather than trying to avoid pain and suffering this Lenten season, we ought to lean into it. We are not consumed by our suffering and sin, but rather through Jesus the Lord uses it to make us into more whole human beings. Jesus “taste[d] death for everyone” so that we might not have to taste the ultimate death. Suffering, pain and even death are now avenues for resurrection in the economy of the kingdom. May we not avoid the very thing that brings us life. ANONYMOUS
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FRIDAY, MARCH 18 Psalm 31:9–16 Isaiah 54:9–10 Hebrews 2:10–18 It does not take much life experience to identify with the words of the Psalmist in the scripture reading for today. “My eye is wasted with grief…For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing.” How many days, and years do we spent sighing in grief, feeling “forgotten like one who is dead”? How often do we feel as though it is God who has forgotten us? The author of Hebrews tells us Christ has experienced the same anguish and pain that we experience in this life. Loneliness, sorrow and anxiety are all feelings Jesus experienced. Elsewhere in the Gospel narratives we see Jesus crying out to God asking why He abandoned His one and only son. Our feelings of loneliness, loss and sadness are not foreign to our Creator. In providing a way to save us He could have chosen to sidestep the human experience. Instead He chose to become like us in every way and even experienced death so that He might destroy it. The gift of salvation is not Christ pulling us out of our mess, but Christ experiencing and becoming part of our mess. His redemptive work begins in the midst of our pain and sorrow, not outside of it. The season of Lent can be a time to reflect on the ways in which Jesus identifies with us in our humanity. So rather than trying to ignore the seemingly negative feelings of grief, sadness and loss we can fully embrace our entire experience, feelings and emotions and know that we have a God who is with us in the midst of it all. “’For the mountains may depart, and the hills may be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord who has compassion on you.” JOSH RIEDEL Assistant Director of Spiritual Formation Office of University Ministries
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SATURDAY, MARCH 19 Psalm 31:9–16 Leviticus 23:1–8 Luke 22:1–13 Leviticus frequently plays the role of the least important book in the Bible for Christians; it is considered dull, primitive and ritualistic. The festival calendar in Leviticus 23 suffers from an additional handicap as one of several such festival calendars in the Torah. Why is one not enough? The Passover portion of this calendar in 23:5–8 is one of about a dozen descriptions of the Passover celebration in the entire Old Testament. The presence of so many sets of instructions reveals a multi-vocal tradition, which attempts to bring together people who remember and celebrate the same story in a variety of ways. The celebration of Easter in the Christian tradition is different in some ways, but similar in others. There is no prescribed way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in our sacred texts, but we do have multiple recountings of the event in the New Testament. The ways of celebrating have multiplied as the founding story of our faith has made its way into different times, places and cultures. When I lived in Ethiopia, I was part of a religious community that celebrated Lent and Easter according to the Eastern Christian use of the Julian calendar, but I was also connected to family and friends celebrating Easter according to the Western date. The latter observance of Easter is usually later, but occasionally the two fall on the same date. So, the practice of remembering and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus finds both variation and harmony in Christian tradition. The Leviticus 23 version of Passover offers another cue for our contemporary observance of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Within verses 4–8, the text twice commands “You shall not work at your occupations.” Our modern lives may not be congenial to long periods of cessation from our jobs, but finding ways to change the rhythm of our lives at certain times of the year connects our actions to our memory. Some may see Lent as a time to give up something as an act of personal sacrifice, but it may be as important to use this practice as a way of marking off and setting apart this time in the year, to make it different from the ordinary times that lie on either side of it. MARK MCENTIRE Professor of Biblical Studies College of Theology & Christian Ministry
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PALM SUNDAY, MARCH 20 Isaiah 50:4–9a Psalm 31:9–16 Philippians 2:5–11 Luke 23:1–49 Palm Sunday. The beginning of the end of the beginning. This day brings a whirlwind of emotions. Often we are the spectators, just like the residents of Jerusalem. Laying our branches and shouting “Hosanna!” Celebrating the coming of the miracle worker! The one they call the King of the Jews. The difference is, they didn’t know these would be the last days of Jesus’ life on earth. They didn’t know that Jesus was willingly, humbly coming to a place where He would be rejected, beaten, alone. But Jesus knew. How remarkable. Jesus rode into Jerusalem toward His death, through a crowd that greeted Him with praise. Ironically, some of the same folks praising Jesus will be the ones, just days later, saying, “Crucify, crucify him (Luke 23:21)!” And yet, Jesus remains obedient. How must Jesus have felt? We read in the Psalm a song of lament. The psalmist is in distress, wasted from grief, full of sorrow and yet, trusting God in his or her time of weariness. What a picture of how Jesus might have felt coming into Jerusalem that day. Being obedient and still weary. Trusting in God while walking on the branches of those who would later betray Him. How deep Jesus must have felt the sting knowing what was coming. Paul tells us that Jesus didn’t see Himself as equal to God. Jesus saw Himself as a servant. Our own pain can give us tunnel vision. It is all we see and nothing more. It is how we view those around us and how we view ourselves. Pain can be good. It means we feel. But pain that takes away from the rest of our world can be detrimental. Jesus combated His pain with love. A love so deep and so heavy that even when He didn’t think He could take it, when He was physically shaking before God asking for the cup to be removed, He pressed on in obedience. The events of the coming days were known to Jesus in the midst of this celebration of Jesus’ arrival. We celebrate Palm Sunday because we know the end of the story. But the suffering of Jesus should not be lost on us this day. These are the steps that were taken to complete the journey to our own restoration. Let us rejoice in the love that Jesus has for us. Let us remember the suffering that Jesus endured. Let us take on the identity of a servant and live in our broken world in such a way that all who know us will see the one who emptied Himself and took on human form and was obedient to the point of death. We do not lay our branches for just a miracle worker. We lay down our branches for the Savior of the world. KENDRA CRABTREE Alum 42
MONDAY of HOLY WEEK, MARCH 21 Psalm 36:5–11 Isaiah 42:1–9 Hebrews 9:11–15 John 12:1–11 There is, for me, at the heart of the Lenten season a sense of heaviness. The scene from the film, The Mission, in which Robert De Niro’s character is instructed, as penance, to drag the vestiges of his mercenary life through the jungle, always reminds me of the emotional and spiritual weight of my own struggle. As I consider this weight, and the neediness which comes with my inability to “make all things right,” I am reminded by the Isaiah passage of the compassion, the care, the understanding offered by the model of the suffering servant to those all of us who carry the weight of our own lives, that: a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. The Lenten season is my bruised reed season, my smoldering wick season. There is an inherent fragility in these days for me. I am fully human and fully needy, in ways that are crisper in this season of the year. In my garden the tender tips of daffodil foliage begin to break the surface of the soil, having toiled out of sight for months. In order for them to come to full bloom they must each wait in the dark cold earth—a necessary penitential season—to experience their own full bloom. The language of Isaiah here gives me solace and gratitude. In this season we are reminded that it is not up to us, that we are not left to do the work alone, no matter the voices we carry that seem to tell us this is so. The word capable recently rose off the page like a digital-effect in a film. I recognized in it the fullness of my ability. But I also heard it as: cap-able; the invitation to consider the “cap on my abilities.” This gracious space allows me to know my own limitations and know where I need to invite others into this needy space: the space in which,
“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people... to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
May the penitential darkness open our blind eyes to the gift of our limitations and fragility. DANE ANTHONY Lecturer College of Theology & Christian Ministry
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TUESDAY of HOLY WEEK, MARCH 22 Psalm 71:1–14 Isaiah 49:1–7 1 Corinthians 1:18–31 John 12:20–36 What would you do if you knew when you are going to die? What would you say to your children and loved ones? Would you change the way you live your life? Would you be kinder? Would you have any regrets? If you had one last lesson to bestow, what would it be? In John 12:20–36, Jesus foresees his own death. He has accepted that He must die in order to fulfill the role of Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus knew that his teachings to the world were complete. Jesus told the crowd that was before Him, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of the light” (John 12:35–36). When I read this passage, I often think about the loved ones I have lost in my life and all the lessons they taught me but also the lessons they left unsaid. None of us knows how long we will have with one another. We need to consciously make every moment, every interaction count. We must accept the teachings of others, whether or not we agree with those lessons. There is still a message inside that we must understand. Every person with whom we have contact has the potential to teach us something, to give us light. Likewise, we have the potential to be the givers of light. We have the potential to affect one another on a daily basis with our own personal wisdom. What lessons do you offer on a daily basis to those around you? If you knew the moment you were going to leave this Earth, would you be satisfied with how you lived your life? MOLLY ZLOCK Assistant Dean of Students Division of Student Affairs
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WEDNESDAY of HOLY WEEK, MARCH 23 Psalm 70 Isaiah 50:4–9a Hebrews 12:1–3 John 13:21–32 There are times where the world seems to be crashing in and the unthinkable happens. If you have ever been in a place where you longed for God to rescue you the words in Psalm 70 bring comfort. “Hasten, O God to save me; come quickly, Lord, to help me… may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your help always say “The Lord is great!” But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.” The psalmist reminds us that the story of the Hebrews is our story too. Life has ups and downs. There are times of joy and times of sorrow. Life brings both triumphs and heartaches. The words reflect anxiety in the midst of difficulty. Heartache filled with pain. Read closely for the words reveal one who holds on to hope believing that God will come to the rescue. Like the Hebrews we wait for one to deliver us. Imagine you are present with the disciples and early followers of Jesus at the time of his arrest and trial. The world comes crashing in and the unthinkable happens as Jesus is convicted and crucified before your eyes. While you hope for a different future, all seems lost. The questions are never ending and what was certain now seems impossible. In your confusion you witness the followers of Jesus holding on to the words of Jesus for there must be more. You wait for God to come to the rescue. Here’s hoping today is bright, filled with all possibility. For you, life is all you hope for and your dreams are being realized. Then take time to celebrate and whisper a prayer of gratitude to God. May you live in the moment and encourage others today. Who knows, one of the people who crosses your path today may long for God to come to the rescue. Listen with your heart and speak words of compassion. On the other hand, if today is one where you’re anxious and life seems uncertain, then hold on to hope. As you wait on God to deliver, choose to trust and your anxiety dissipates. Peace will guide your thoughts. As you wait, be glad and speak of God’s greatness for He is relentless and He will rescue you. SCOTT ALLEN Lecturer College of Theology & Christian Ministry
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MAUNDY THURSDAY, MARCH 24 Psalm 116:1–2, 12–19 Exodus 12:1–14 I Corinthians 11:23–26 John 13:1–17, 31b–35 The last supper was a meal. It was not waiting in line for a hunk of bread and a sip of grape juice. It was not a soup kitchen for the poor and weary hearted waiting for their share of scrappy slops. Rather the last supper was a feast, with family, tradition and ritual reverence. It was a communion. Imagine as the host of blesses the meal saying it was His blood and body…you’d think he’d gone crazy or eaten too much. Yet here we are reminded of Christ’s humanity, and how others look at Jesus (being human at the time) within a very fleshly context. This Lenten season it is easier for us to acknowledge Jesus as God because we were not sitting next to Him at the table that night; we were not one of the apostles that knew Him in those 33 years He spent in a flesh and blood body. No, the last supper was not a soup kitchen. Yet we see this picture of redemption where the homeless are able to come, broken, starving, downtrodden and He welcomes us at His table, as children, as heirs, a family coming together remembering our provider, His redeeming death, and the resurrection of new and everlasting life. Christ, the Master of the Universe, served us at the meal, the waiter breaking bread, the servant washing the feet. And yes, we are servants to the Kingdom as well, as Psalm 116:16 states. Yet we are not slaves, we are waiters and waitress, and Jesus is the busboy picking up the muck of the messes we leave behind. God, on His last night humbles Himself to a position of ultimate service, selfless sacrifice and pure love. Christ came to foster the Kingdom of Heaven through this divine communion. He did not come to feed the starving, poor and hungry masses with a hunk of bread and water, rather He offers us a cup of salvation. Nor did Christ come to be served as King, but instead washes our feet with the same hands that were nailed to the cross. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34–35) MARY JANE MEIROSE Sophomore Corporate Communications and Religious Studies
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GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 25 Psalm 22 Isaiah 52:13–53:12 Hebrews 10:16–25 John 18:1–19:42 The first line of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” has grounded Christian understandings of the death of Jesus ever since the writing of the Gospels. When Jesus utters them on the cross in Mark 15:34, we find ourselves reaching for questions in a forest of theological answers. While scholars have debated the reason for the presence of these words in the gospels, Christian teaching often finds in them a point of theological focus. We hear that God’s hatred of sin requires that Jesus be left alone on the cross because he has become, or taken on, all of humanity’s sin. They are to be a reminder of the deep theological meaning of Jesus’ suffering. Yet, I believe they more accurately convey the deep pastoral meaning of Jesus’ suffering. They are words of comfort to those, like the righteous sufferer of Psalm 22, who feels as if God has abandoned them “in their groaning.” They were offered as a peace assurance to Jesus’ family grieving at the foot of the cross. They were written to Christ’s early followers undergoing turmoil. And they provide contemporary believers with a salient reminder of God’s love. But how could this be, if they signify God’s abandonment in the presence of sin? Following the lead of scholars like Ched Myers, I think that Mark’s Jesus invoked the first line of Psalm 22 because it is a prologue to Good News. Psalm 22 begins with the palpable experience of suffering and isolation in persecution, but it ends with the assurance of God’s deliverance and presence with the praising community. When rabbis quoted the first line of a book or prayer (and Jesus was called rabbi in Mark) they alluded to the entire book or prayer. Jesus did the same. While many understand these words to be descriptions of God’s action, or a prophecy, or a support for atonement doctrine, I read them as pastoral care and Good News. Jesus is not questioning God, but is echoing the Psalmist’s confidence in God’s love despite feelings of desperation. Today is a day of sadness, for it is the day we remember Jesus the Christ’s suffering. As we recite these words, may we confidently join with the Psalmist and acknowledge: “For God did not despise the affliction of the afflicted; nor hide from me, but heard my cries.” May we have peace. ANDY WATTS Associate Professor of Religion College of Theology & Christian Ministry 47
HOLY SATURDAY, MARCH 26 Psalm 31:1–4, 15–16 Job 14:1–14 I Peter 4:1–8 Matthew 27:57–66 Lament and blame, followed by hope and submission. This is the dichotomy of emotions experienced in this section of Lamentations. Both are necessary portions of the story of redemption. As nursing majors, we are taught to watch out for indicators suggesting a high risk of suicide in patients. Generally, those include self-perceptions of worthlessness, thoughts of hopelessness and a preoccupation with death. In many ways, these are the thoughts innervating the day between Christ’s death and His resurrection. It’s always astounding and revealing to think of these dark thoughts as a part of the process of resurrection. If we are considered to have died and risen again with Christ, then we should expect these to be a part of our stories. The Lamenter does not mince words concerning God, saying, “Even when I call out or cry for help, He shuts out my prayer” (Lam.3:9). People, this is in God’s Bible! This should cause us to shudder and question and wrestle. God inspired someone to write His truth in Lamentations, and those words are written correctly. We should also be comforted by these things. We have died with Christ, we are not yet home and Christ understands those emotions. Christ Himself cried out on the cross, asking the Father why He forsook His beloved Son. We are known by a God whose love was displayed by Him taking on our hopelessness. The grave is our reminder of earthly hopelessness. Yet, we cannot remain here in thoughts of darkness. To do so would be a lie and our loss. We have hope. The Lamenter has assurance: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail” (3:22). Despite our doubts and questions, do we believe this? Are we able to honestly say to God “It seems you reject my prayers” while acknowledging “Great is your faithfulness” (3:23)? This day of waiting is perhaps the day that exposes our inability to trust in God’s good promises. Hope is a reality that we can often deny because of our world of apparent darkness. We are called to lament; we are given the words and examples to follow in expressing our sorrows. Yet, the last part of this passage of Lamentations does not end in sorrow, as the author writes: “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him’” (3:24). Friends, let us wait. DANIEL LOPEZ Sophomore Nursing
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EASTER SUNDAY, MARCH 27 Psalm 118:1–2, 14–24 Isaiah 65:17–25 Acts 10:34–43 John 20:1–18
Lent is an uncomfortable season. It’s a time when we are asked to identify with the suffering of Jesus. We want so badly to fast-forward this season to its inevitable end—Jesus’ resurrection. But the season doesn’t allow for this—just like the rest of life. Instead, we are forced to acknowledge the reality that life is not yet as it should be. Life is, at least at times, difficult. We struggle. We sin. We want to be good and do good—but (more often than we’d like to admit) we find it hard to accomplish this. And when we look around at the rest of the world we wonder with all of the world’s pain and anguish what good our good might accomplish anyway. But just when it feels like all hope might be lost—it happens. Like the earliest signs of daylight after a long, cold night—we are awakened to the fact that the story is not yet over. No, the world is not yet as it should be. But the narrative is still being written. Creation (and the Creator) are still in the process of making all things new. Our lives are living proof. Today we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection! We declare that death, darkness, pain and depravity will not have the last say—in our lives or this world. Christ is alive—and He lives in us! As we step out into the warmth and glow of a new day may we be reminded that the risen Jesus calls us forward into the unfolding story of this world. He wants to use our imperfect lives to bring about a better way—and a better world. As men and women who strive to live in light of these truths, may we be quick to encourage and pray for one another, may we serve with the heart and mind of Jesus, and may we see the world around us with the same eyes and tenderness as that of our loving King. OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY MINISTRIES
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COLLEGE OF THEOLOGY & CHRISTIAN MINISTRY VISION The College of Theology & Christian Ministry seeks to be a premier academic community that nurtures a living faith in God, reflects critically on its discipline, develops skills for Christian ministry and distinguishes itself through its emphases on contemplative spirituality and social justice. PURPOSE The purpose of the School of Religion is to provide student-centered, academically challenging religion classes to the diverse student body of Belmont University and to provide a foundation of religious studies for students preparing for congregational ministry and advanced theological studies. GOALS • To provide all Belmont students with a solid foundation in Biblical and theological studies. • To teach courses for religion majors and minors in the following areas: Biblical languages, Biblical studies, religion and society, theological and historical studies, practical studies, seminars and special studies. To offer professional education courses in practical ministry. • To offer continuing education opportunities to ministers and laity. • To integrate contemplative spirituality and social justice into the curricular and co-curricular program. COLLEGE OF THEOLOGY & CHRISTIAN MINISTRY FACULTY AND STAFF Dr. Marty Bell, Church History Dr. Ben Curtis, Pastoral Care & Spiritual Formation Dr. Darrell Gwaltney, Dean Dr. Steve Guthrie, Theology Dr. Sally Holt, Christian Ethics Ms. Tola Pokrywka, Assistant to the Dean Dr. Donovan McAbee, Religion & the Arts Dr. Mark McEntire, Hebrew & Old Testament
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Ms. Amanda Miller, Greek & New Testament Dr. Steven Simpler, Theology Dr. Judy Skeen, Biblical Studies & Spiritual Formation Dr. Andy Watts, Christian Ethics
OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY MINISTRIES MISSION We exist to… • Foster a culture of worship and spiritual formation at Belmont. • Cultivate lives of intentional service to God and to others through church and outreach. • Promote the integration of all University life including academic, co-curricular and residential. • Ultimately, University Ministries equips students to engage and transform the world by loving God and loving people. WAYS YOU CAN BE INVOLVED WORSHIP Join us for Chapel every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m. in in the WAC Chapel (convocation credit offered) NEAR 48 A residence-hall based discipleship/spiritual formation ministry that is designed to engage first-year students in on-campus community. You can connect to intentional Christian community through your Spiritual Life Assistant. OUTREACH Into.Nashville: a popular convo-credit based outreach program that takes students into Nashville for education, service and reflection that happens on most Saturdays throughout the year. Immersions: fall & spring break trips to national destinations to be immersed in service, culture and love of neighbor. CHRISTIAN STUDENT FELLOWSHIPS Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM), Belmont Catholic Community (BCC), Belmont Wesley Fellowship (BWF), Chadasha Gospel Choir, Ukirk, Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), Christian Law Society, Christian Pharmacy Fellowship International, Nurses Christian Fellowship, Belmont Greek Ministries, Men’s and Women’s Communities OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY MINISTRIES STAFF Christy Ridings, Associate University Minister, Director of Spiritual Formation Micah Weedman, Associate University Minister, Director of Outreach Josh Riedel, Assistant Director of Spiritual Formation Robin McCord, University Ministries Assistant
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COLLEGE OF THEOLOGY & CHRISTIAN MINISTRY 615.460.6405 Check us out: BELMONT.EDU/THEOLOGY facebook.com/BelmontTheology twitter.com/BelmontTheology UNIVERSITY MINISTRIES A branch of the Office of Spiritual Development 615.460.6419
Belmont University is a Christian community. The university faculty, administration and staff uphold Jesus as the Christ and as the measure for all things. As a community seeking to uphold Christian standards of morality, ethics and conduct, Belmont University holds high expectations of each person who chooses to join the community. Belmont University does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, military service or sexual orientation. Inquiries or complaints concerning the application of these policies to students should be directed to the Dean of Students, Beaman Student Life Center Suite 200, 1900 Belmont Blvd., Nashville, TN 37212, deanofstudents@belmont.edu or 615.460.6407.
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Check us out: BELMONT.EDU/UNIVERSITYMINISTRIES facebook.com/BelmontUM twitter.com/BelmontUM