Opening Prayer
O
Almighty God, who pours out on all desiring it the spirit of grace and
supplication: Deliver us, when we draw near to you, from coldness of heart and
wanderings of mind, that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may
worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP
833).
Jeremiah 5:20-31
“Tell the house of Jacob this,
put out this bulletin in Judah:
Listen to this,
you scatterbrains, airheads,
With eyes that see but don’t really look,
and ears that hear but don’t really listen.
Why don’t you honor me?
Why aren’t you in awe before me?
Yes, me, who made the shorelines
to contain the ocean waters.
I drew a line in the sand
that cannot be crossed.
Waves roll in but cannot get through;
breakers crash but that’s the end of them.
But this people—what a people!
Uncontrollable, unnameable runaways.
It never occurs to them to say,
‘How can we honor our GOD with our lives,
The God who gives rain in both spring and
autumn
and maintains the rhythm of the seasons,
Who sets aside time each year for harvest
and keeps everything running smoothly for us?’
Of course you don’t! Your bad behavior
blinds you to all this.
Your sins keep my blessings at a distance.
“My people are infiltrated by wicked men,
unscrupulous men on the hunt.
They set traps for the unsuspecting.
Their victims are innocent men and women.
Their houses are stuffed with ill-gotten
gain,
like a hunter’s bag full of birds.
Pretentious and powerful and rich,
hugely obese, oily with rolls of fat.
Worse, they have no conscience.
Right and wrong mean nothing to them.
They stand for nothing, stand up for no
one,
throw orphans to the wolves, exploit the poor.
Do you think I’ll stand by and do nothing
about this?”
GOD’s Decree.
“Don’t you think I’ll take serious measures
against a people like this?
“Unspeakable! Sickening!
What’s happened in this country?
Prophets preach lies
and priests hire on as their assistants.
And my people love it. They eat it up!
But what will you do when it’s time to pick up the pieces?”
The Message
God’s lament—a pained desire for holiness, righteousness,
commitment. When God looks at us, what does he see? Does he rejoice—or weep?
Lent is a time for us to ask those questions, to examine ourselves, to set
things right. In fasting and self-denial we open ourselves to hear; we force
ourselves into a posture of attention, not as a once-a-year exercise but as a
lifelong period of examination and checkup. The way of the cross is too
difficult, and drifting into the wide road too easy; we need a periodic
checkup, a regular examination—we need Lent. In Lent we hear again the story of
our salvation, the great acts of God, looking particularly to the cross. That
is the way of life Christ calls us to. Do we remember what we signed up for?
Are we still on course?
Do we still trust him?
Do we reflect the cruciform life?
BR
Lent is a time to remind us that God is most important in our lives. Our family is studying together during this season of Lent and learning from this study.
Posted by: Margie Wells, Rick and Samantha McLoughlin | February 26, 2009 at 08:48 PM