Dear God, Maundy Thursday. The Last Supper. The bread/body, wine/blood. The washing of the feet. The betrayal. The blood from sweat. The prayer to take the cup. The anguish. The healing. The prayer for our unity. So much happens. Thank you.
Here are today’s verses from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer. Ironically, I have not hardly read the commentary from the book. Maybe 10% of it. I’ve almost exclusively just used the passages each day. Maybe I’ll go back and read it when I’m done.
- AM Psalm: 102
- PM Psalms: 142, 143
- Jeremiah 20:7-11
- John 17
- 1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 11:27-32
Psalm 102 – When I started reading this psalm, which contains the introduction, “A prayer of an afflicted man. When he is faint and pours out his lament before the LORD,” I thought of Jesus praying this psalm. The pain and the anguish. May I never forget the fully human nature of Jesus as he faced this. He didn’t get a divine intervention from this pain. He was fully you, but he was also fully Mary. Oh, Jesus, thank you.
Psalms 142 and 143 – Again, I imagine these words layered over Jesus’s experience nearly 2,000 years ago. The lament. The dread. The fear. The love. The submission. The devotion. The determination. The strength. The self control. The kindness. The goodness. The faithfulness. The patience. The gentleness. All of the fruits of the Spirit on full display that night. Amazing.
Jeremiah 20:7-11 – Jeremiah had moments of feel very rejected. Each day I fill out a 6-question survey on how I’m doing emotionally and physically and share it with a friend. It’s on a scale of 1-5, and the idea is to be able to see how your friend is doing at any given time. It has proved to really bond this friend and me together over the last 18 months. I have a tendency to use “4” as a baseline, bump it to 5 if things are fully engaged at that level in that particularly category, and let it drop to 3 or even 2 if it was a bad day. Most days are 4s and 5s, but sometimes I give a 3, and a few times I’ve given a 2 on some of the questions. I can imagine that Jeremiah had a lot of days that were filled with 2s. The path you had for him was certainly contentious and full of rejection by man. His pain was real. But your presence and comfort to him were real as well. Just as it was to Jesus as we began his final journey to crucifixion.
John 17 – Ah, the prayer at the Last Supper. I knew this chapter even before I opened it. Jesus prays for himself, Jesus prays for the disciples, and then he prays for all of us, including me. He will do more praying later in the garden–anguished prayer–but for now he is covering us in prayer. Father, answer those prayers, even today. Use things in our world that are happening in your Church that concern me, and redeem them for your ultimate glory. Bring us all to repentance for our idols. Help us to look only to you for our path forward.
1 Corinthians 10:14-17, 11:27-32 – I need to be sure to find some time tonight to take your bread and drink your wine. I need to remember the body and the blood you gave for me. And the idols Paul mentions in 10:14. There is all kinds of idolatry. Anything that we look to for our fruits of the Spirit–especially peace (in my opinion)–instead of you. Our government? Our economy? Our spouse/significant other? Our children? Our job? Our reputation? I’ve been guilty of all of these and more. Please help me to be free from idols, look only to you for my peace, and help my friends and your Church to have our eyes opened to its idols, repent, and return to you.
Finally, I want to pray for a couple of friends experiencing the deaths of their mothers and one who lost their spouse, all this week. For the woman who tragically lost her spouse two days ago from an accident, please strongly support her in every way. Support her through this terrible time. Provide every need so that, ultimately, she might find rest in you. And for her children as well. For the two friends who lost their mothers this week, please comfort them. There is no one like Mom. Please help them and comfort them as, even at their older ages, they are motherless for the first time. Help them to find their rest and peace in you.
I pray all of this in Jesus and everything that the next 72 hours represents, and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen