water & spirit
Augsburg Fortress Lenten Devotions 2023
Ash Wednesday, 2.22.23
In my end is my beginning. TS Eliot
Victory of cross
Our end is our beginning
Water, Spirit gifts
John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Thursday, 2.23.23
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound...that save a wretch like me. -John Newton
The law, grace and truth
An interlocking puzzle
God’s gift to a wretch
John 1:16 - From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
Friday, 2.24.23
I saw the throng, so deeply separate Fed at one only board--
The devote people, moved, intent, elate, And the devoted Lord. --Alice Meynell
See God in the throng
Gathered as one at table
Together in Christ
John 1:18 – No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Saturday, 2.25.23
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world – have mercy on me. -Traditional Euharistic prayer
Meek-Mighty-Mercy
Opposites in one sentence -
Can we balance the three?
John 1:29 – The next day John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
First Sunday of Lent, 2.26.23
Baptism is not simply plain water. Instead it is water used according to God’s command and connected with God’s word. - Martin Luther
A God-given gift
Baptism is community
Together in Christ
John 1: 32, 34 - John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him...this is the Son of God.”
Monday, 2.27.23
“Come and See’ is the simplest method to get to know a situation. It is the most honest test of every message, because, in order to know, we must encounter. - Pope Francis
Rabbi or Teacher
Jesus teaches ‘Come and See’
Actions speak loudest
John 1:38-39 - They said to him, ‘Rabbi, Where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’
Tuesday, 2.28.23
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. -Wm Shakespeare
What is in a name?
Only one really matters -
Simply ‘Child of God’
John 1:42 - Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You are to be called ‘Cephas’ (which is translated Peter.
Wednesday, 3.1.234
RSVP – French respondez s’il vous plait – Please reply.
Jesus just shows up
And turns water into wine
No RSVP necessary.
John 2:7 – Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
Thursday, 3.2.23
From the cross, Christ calls us to a new life, a new creation.
Like the wedding wine
Jesus saves his best message
While up on the cross
John 2:11 – “Everyone serves the good wine first...but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Friday, 3.3.23
Come to Your temple here with liberation And overturn these tables of exchange
Restore in me my lost imagination Begin in me, for good, the pure change.
-Malcom Guite
John 2:15 Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
Saturday, 3.4.23
Built on a rock the church shall stand
Even when steeples are falling. - Hymn ‘Built on a Rock’
The temple may fall
But the church is God active
Serving a needy world
John 2:19 – Jesus said, ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.’
2nd Sunday in Lent, 3.5.23
The true meaning of existence is disclosed in moments of living in the presence of God. - Abraham Joshua Heschel
When amidst darkness
The presence of God’s love-light
Seems to shine brighter
John 3:1-2 – Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs you do apart from the presence of God.’
Monday, 3.6.23
Let this season be springtime of the soul.
Time to be renewed, broken hearts made whole.
Jesus in our hearts; walk toward Easter’s goal.
Let this season be springtime of the soul.
-Rusty Edwards
John 3:3 – Jesus answered him, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.”
Tuesday, 3.7.23
Those in whom the Spirit comes to live are God’s new Temple. They are, individually and corporately, places where heaven and earth meet. - NT Wright
Water and Spirit
Baptism in God’s presence
Heaven and earth one
John 3:5-6 – Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Wednesday, 3.8.23
I need only to let faith in all its freedom exercise its power and dominion. Indeed, this is the priceless power and freedom of the Christian. - Martin Luther
Spirit moves freely
Like the rush of wind or water
Carried by God’s grace
John 3:7-8 - “Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Thursday, 3.9.23
Our goal is to ascertain the existence of a Being to whom we may confess our sins, of a God who loves, of a God who is not above concern with our inquiry and search for him; a father, not an absolute. - Abraham Joshua Heschel
Lift serpent or cross
God meets us in our ugly
With healing and grace
John 3:14-15 – “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Friday, 3.10.23
Oh love, how deep, how broad, how high,
Beyond all thought and fantasy,
That God, the Son of God, should take
Our mortal form for mortal’s sake.
- Hymn “O Love How Deep”
Dive into life with God
Mystery waters of grace
And know you are safe
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.
Saturday, 3.11.23
The real scandal of the Gospel is this: humanity’s salvation is revealed in the cross of the condemned criminal Jesus, and humanity’s salvation is only available through our solidarity with the crucified people in our midst. - James Cone
God’s love clearly says
You also are worth saving
You are a keeper!
John 3:17 – God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Third Sunday of Lent, 3.12.23
I’m a Vietnam veteran. I did two tours in the jungle...and I came home from that. So I don’t pass the flowers up; I smell them. A lot of guys rush to get done and get back to the garage...I always like the street...talking to people. - Angelo Bruno, sanitation worker
Drink living water
Stop, don't rush through life, enjoy
God moments, people
John 4:9-10 – The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” … Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.
Monday, 3.13.23
It’s a delightful world out there and I think we ought to notice. God noticed, at the end of each day of Creation, what a lovely world it was: ‘And God saw that it was good.’ I think God intends for us just such delight. - Lee Hull Moses
Tuesday, 3.14.23
Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone in our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we ARE sinners! - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We ALL are sinners
No one alone in error
Don’t hide, but affirm
John 4:16-19 – The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying you have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.” ….The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.”
Wednesday, 3.15.23
Making do reaches fruition when someone dares to imagine another possibility greater than what appears to be the reality. - Michael Curry
“I am he” proclaims
A reality of new
Possibility
John 4:23-26 [Jesus said] “The hour is coming, and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he.”
Thursday, 3.16.23
Moments of compassion, giving, grief, and wonder shift our behavior, get inside us and change realms that we might not have agreed to change. -Anne Lamott
Share the hope of Christ
Let wonder and awe shift our
Focus to others
John 4:28-30 - Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?”
Friday, 3.17.23
The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry… The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor… The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit. - St. Basil the Great
What can I offer?
I am only one person
God can make 'enough'
John 6: 9,11 - “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they among so many people?”…. Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
Saturday, 3.18.23
Breathe in the love of God
John 6:48-51 - Jesus said, “I am the bread of life….whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Fourth Sunday of Lent, 3.19.23
John 9: 1, 6-7 - As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth...Jesus spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go wash in the pool of Siloam’. He went and washed and came back able to see.
Monday, 3.20.23
Sabbath is that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities enough to see what God is doing. - Eugene Peterson
John 9:13-16 - People brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was the Sabbath Day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. The Pharisees began to ask how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath. “ But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?”
Tuesday, 3.21.23
Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else. - Maya Angelou
John 9: 18-21 - Others did not believe that he had been born blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man...they answered, “We know this is our son who was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees or who opened his eyes. Ask him.”
Wednesday, 3.22.23
John 9:32-34 – “Never since the world began had it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” But they answered him, “You were born entirely in sin and you are trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
Thursday, 3.23.23
Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. - Fyodor Dostoevsky
John 9: 35-38 - Jesus heard that they had driven the man out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I might believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him.
Friday, 3.24.23
Christ’s redemption from the sin that separates us from our whole relationship with our Creator, empowers Latinas in our claim for abundant life for ourselves, our families, and our communities within the oppression and marginalization that defines Latinas life in the US. - Alicia Vargas
John 10: 7-11 - Jesus said to them, “I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture…. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd.
Saturday, 3.25.23
At camp, I finally understood I am claimed by God, as a child of God, through baptism. This understanding allowed me to see that my unique heritage as a Lumbee Native American was to be celebrated….each culture has a unique perspective to share with the church that needs to be heard. I know feel empowered as a child of God to share my faith and my heritage, not separately, but in union. - Brandon Hunt
John 10:27 Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.”
Fifth Sunday of Lent, 3.26.23
We are waiting, if not for the Messiah, as such, we are waiting for the messianic moment. And the messianic moment is what each and every one of us tries to build, meaning a certain area of humanity that links us to all those who are human and, therefore, trying desperately to fight despair as humanly as possible and – I hope – with some measure of success. Elie Weisel
Listen! Jesus speaks!
Reach out to him and follow -
Find life with meaning.
John 11:1,3,6 - Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ...So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill” ...After having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Monday, 3.27.23
Q: Have you ever had doubts about your faith?
A: Doubts? No. Anger with God? Yes. Plenty of that. I’ve remonstrated with God quite frequently and said, “What the heck are you up to? Why are you letting these oppressors get away with this injustice?” But doubting whether God is good? That God is love? NO. - Desmond Tutu
If only, Lord God -
Our doubts can lead to anger
Why didn’t you act, God?
John 11: 17, 20-24 - When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days...Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him. “ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Tuesday, 3.28.23
Belief initiates and guides action...or it does nothing. - Octavia Butler
John 11:25-27 - Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Martha said to him, “Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
Jesus’ tears are an honest sharing in Mary’s grief and perhaps in her anger at death, the enemy of all life. Jesus, in his most fully human moment in the Fourth Gospel, legitimates human agony in the face of death, an agony he will feel for himself. - Sandra M. Schneiders
Jesus shares our pain
We are not alone in sorrow
It is ok to weep
John 11:32-35 - When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping….he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep.
Thursday, 3.30.23
Despair, so deep it bears no name, or sorrow paralyzing cannot revoke Love’s faithful claim to dwell within our dying. The love that called Creation good all goodness still is bringing. This Love turns death again to life and silence into singing. - Hymn: Before the Waters Nourished Earth
Doubts may come and go
But for Jesus to change us
It’s never too late
John 11: 38-41 - Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone.
Friday, 3.31.23
God is not only with us in terms of God’s presence in history on the side of the oppressed; but...God is in the flesh of the ‘oppressed of the oppressed’...”God in us’...compels the church to recognize injustice against any body, most especially those bodies that defy normativity, as an injustice against God. - Ebony Marshall Turman
Jesus still does it!
He calls all who are struggling
Into a new life
John 11:43-44 - Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go!”
Saturday, 4.1.23
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. - attributed to Martin Luther
Is the world ending?
Or with death does it renew?
Believe. Live with hope.
John 12:1, 3-5, 7 – Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead… Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, annointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair….But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.”
Palm Sunday, 4.2.23
Despair and hope. They travel the road to Jerusalem together, as together they travel every road we take. - Frederick Bruechner
Words of praise, and yet..
Hosanna! To Crucify!
We have fickle souls
John 12:12-15 - The great crowd that had come to the festival had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord – the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written, “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look! Your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
Monday, 4.3.23
God of grace and God of glory, on your people pour your power...Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour, for the facing of this hour. - Hymn “God of Grace”
Who is this man Jesus?
Grant us the understanding
To see God at work
John 12:16-18 - His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. It was also because they heard he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him.
Tuesday, 4.4.23
One must not love oneself so much, as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us, and those that fend off danger will lose their lives, while those who out of love for Christ give themselves to the service of others will live. - Oscar Romero
Losing and living
Jesus is hard to understand
Loss allows new birth
John 12:23-25 – Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. “
Wednesday, 4.5.23
Believer’s who wash each other’s feet show that they share in the body of Christ. They thus acknowledge their frequent need of cleansing, renew their willingness to let go of pride and worldly power, and offer their lives in humble service and sacrificial love. - Confession, Mennonite Church
With humility
Let go of prideful ego
In lowly service
John 13: 5, 12, 14 - Jesus poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him….After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Maundy Thursday, 4.6.23
We are made for loving. If we don’t love, we will be like plants without water. -Desmond Tutu
We are made to love
Regardless of wealth or health
Love everyone
John 13:34-35 - “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Good Friday, 4.7.23
Faithful cross, true sign of triumph, be for all the noblest tree; none in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit your equal be; symbol of the world’s redemption, for your burden makes us free. -Hymn – “Sing My Tongue”
Jesus was finished
No one could deny it, but
Ends can be fresh starts
John 19: 16-18, 28-30 - The soldiers took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgatha. There they crucified him…..Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.”
Holy Saturday, 4.8.23
(My devotional booklet did not have an entry specific to Holy Saturday, so I used this prayer poem published in the Presbyterian Outlook.)
Prayer by ARIANNE BRAITHWAITE LEHN
I hope I would have been with Joseph of Arimathea…
But would I have been?
Would I have stood vigil beside him,
mixing the myrrh, tearing the cloth,
swallowing my screams in the darkest silence?
Would I have wrapped you in the bands of my own brokenness,
hearing your wailing mother outside who once tore cloth and wrapped you with swaddling bands of love and light?
Would I have asked for her courage, her forgiveness,
a strength I hadn’t had before, in naming and claiming my discipleship?
Would I have wondered if it was too late to be true to you?
If everything was over?
Would I have strained my eyes and scanned the inky sky for that star
something to make me steady the way you were steady,
unshaken by all that tried to rattle and unravel your conviction apart?
Would I have felt the damp cold of the cave, a sacred rock never entered, a rock hewn for my mortality and limits
which would now hold the body of boundless love?
Would I have vowed to never wash my skin again
so I could smell and feel and remember the coating of pain?
How when I put you in the tomb, I put myself in there too?
Would I have known that anything left in me needed transformation,
and the only way I could keep living would be to hold with my hands
and place before my face what I never wanted to see.
But it’s what I would have needed to see then.
And it’s what I need to see now.
Oh Lord Jesus, help me see!
Help me see you as the Savior you are,
and all that needs saving in my life.
Help me stay with the transformative tomb.
Help me trust it’s not over. I will wait as long as it takes. Amen.
Easter Sunday, 4.9.23
The tomb being empty points to our now being full of the new life in Christ. Jason Rocks
The tomb is empty!
Resurrection miracle!
Have we seen the Lord?
John 20: 1, 16-18 - Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed….Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’.” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”
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