Lenten Meditation


Praying

O Lord, strong and mighty, Lord of hosts and King of glory: Cleanse our hearts from sin, keep our hands pure, and turn our minds from what is passing away; so that at the last we may stand in your holy place and receive your blessing; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Scripture Readings

Genesis 42:29–38

When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ‘The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us, and charged us with spying on the land. But we said to him, “We are honest men, we are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.” Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, “By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me, and I shall know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will release your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.”’

As they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his bag of money. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. And their father Jacob said to them, ‘I am the one you have bereaved of children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has happened to me!’ Then Reuben said to his father, ‘You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.’ But he said, ‘My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should come to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to Sheol.’

Psalm 74

Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation

A Maskil of Asaph.

O God, why do you cast us off for ever?
 Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
 which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
 Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.
Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
 the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.

Your foes have roared within your holy place;
 they set up their emblems there.
At the upper entrance they hacked
 the wooden trellis with axes.
And then, with hatchets and hammers,
 they smashed all its carved work.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
 they desecrated the dwelling-place of your name,
 bringing it to the ground.
They said to themselves, ‘We will utterly subdue them’;
 they burned all the meeting-places of God in the land.

We do not see our emblems;
 there is no longer any prophet,
 and there is no one among us who knows how long.
How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
 Is the enemy to revile your name for ever?
Why do you hold back your hand;
 why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

Yet God my King is from of old,
 working salvation in the earth.
You divided the sea by your might;
 you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
 you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
You cut openings for springs and torrents;
 you dried up ever-flowing streams.
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
 you established the luminaries and the sun.
You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
 you made summer and winter.

Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
 and an impious people reviles your name.
Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
 do not forget the life of your poor for ever.

Have regard for your covenant,
 for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
 let the poor and needy praise your name.
Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
 remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.
Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
 the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.

I Corinthians 6:9–20

Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Glorify God in Body and Spirit

‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful for me’, but I will not be dominated by anything. ‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food’, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

St. Mark 4:21–34

A Lamp under a Bushel Basket

He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’

The Parable of the Growing Seed

He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’

The Use of Parables

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.


“Holiness requires waiting on God. Without spending time in the presence of the Holy One, no one can become holy — for God alone is the source of all holiness.”
— excerpt from Road to Reality
—— Metropolitan Yohan

Fasting

Spanish Corn

Ingredients

  • 1 small onion
  • ½ green pepper, chopped
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1 can whole kernel corn
  • 237ml canned tomatoes
  • Salt, pepper
  • ½ tsp chili powder

Method

  1. Chop the onion and green pepper fine. Brown gently in the melted butter and then blend in the flour.
  2. Add the tomatoes and the seasonings and cook until they are thickened. Add the corn and reheat.

You may omit the green pepper and chili powder, but that extra seasoning gives it what most of us think of as the “Spanish flavour.”


Giving

When was the last time you thought about leprosy? If you live in a western culture, odds are you might think that leprosy is something only from medieval or biblical times. However, there are places throughout the developing world where leprosy still exists. Often, families abandon and communities reject individuals who contract leprosy leaving those struggling with leprosy feeling isolated and unloved. As believers in Jesus, we are called to live differently and follow in the footsteps of our Lord by caring for the needs of the abandoned and lonely. In this video, behind-the-scenes missionary Chris Brewer shares about his experience visiting one of GFA World's leprosy ministry colonies and what he saw and heard that will move you to tears.

Provide Care to Leprosy Patients

Give today, and you can bring hope and healing to those suffering from leprosy.

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Source for Collects: The Collects are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.

Source for Revised Common Lectionary Prayers: Reproduced from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers copyright © 2002 Consultation on Common Texts admin. Augsburg Fortress. Used by permission. A complete edition of the prayers is available through Augsburg Fortress.

Source for Scripture Passages: Scripture texts are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

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