Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28

In reading this I am reminded that life is full of highs and lows, of joy and sadness, and of hellos and goodbyes. I can think quickly of some of my moments of joy – high points in my life over the last few years – mainly my marriage to a wonderful godly man and the birth of my two small boys. Of course, other highs include seeing God work low points or moments of sadness into blessing.

In 2005 my new husband and I found out that the Pfizer site in Kalamazoo, Michigan was closing their R&D site. Six months into our marriage we were faced with the reality that we were going to have to relocate and leave the town we loved. God opened an amazing opportunity for us to work overseas in Sandwich, England and we started our second year of marriage together in a new home far from family and friends. As you can imagine, the last five years have been full of highs and lows. We have come to love our new home and have grown closer in our relationship with one another and with God. God turned much sadness into many joys. When we left Kalamazoo we had many goodbyes, but here in Deal/Sandwich many of our hellos have turned into lifetime friends.

Once again, February 2011, we are faced with news that the R&D site in Sandwich is closing and once again we are faced with another low time, the possibilities of more goodbyes and much sadness… Yet, we know that out of the burdens of life that make us weary, God will give us rest. Our future is once again unknown: maybe it will bring sadness and goodbyes… yet we also believe it will once again bring joy and more lifetime hellos!

Prayer: Father, I pray we remember that it is You who knows our future and that we can trust You to give us much-needed rest when we feel weary or burdened with things in life that are our out of our control. Amen

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. — John 10:17

This statement from Jesus is puzzling: does the Father only love Jesus because Jesus lay down His life? Surely the Father’s love for the Son is from eternity, unconditional and unbreakable?

Two ways of understanding this come to mind. First, Jesus is giving us a glimpse into His eternal relationship with the Father – a relationship of joyful, voluntary submission of the Son to the Father, and of the Father’s love for His Son, continuing from eternity to eternity. It is scarcely surprising that we should find it difficult to understand something belonging to the profoundest depths of God’s being.

Second, Jesus’ death on the cross doesn’t mean that the Father didn’t love Him before but does now, but it does bring a new dimension to the Father’s love for the Son. Now the Father’s love is not only for the Son in and of Himself, but for the Son as redeemer and representative of the whole human race – and especially those who are united to Him in His death and resurrection, as we are in our baptism.

Lord Jesus, who laid down Your life and took it up again, vindicating the Father’s eternal love for You, keep us united to You in that same love of the Father, through Your death and resurrection. Amen.

You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone… — Ephesians 2:19-20

These two verses sum up some of the great benefits that result from Jesus’ saving work. They look back to verse 13, “in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Christ literally means Messiah. Jesus is the long-expected deliverer, who had been prophesied many years earlier.

At the right time, God sent His Son, Jesus who is “Immanuel” – God with us. At the right time, God spoke to each one of us. In my case (and probably yours also), the Holy Spirit had been working, preparing me, for several years. At the right time, God spoke in His grace – His favour that we did not deserve -to each one of us. God spoke His message of peace. We had no hope and were without God in the world (verse 12).

But God took action in His great love. “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ” (verses 4-5). What action did we need to take? Absolutely nothing! The only thing we needed to do was to not obstruct God’s gracious work in our lives. Jesus Himself is our peace (verse 14). Jesus reconciled us to God through the cross (verse 16).

Jesus has given us direct access to Almighty God, His Father. Through Jesus we have access in the Holy Spirit to the Father”.

Now we are no longer aliens and strangers to God. We are fellow citizens of Heaven with the vast number of our brothers and sisters in Christ, throughout the centuries and throughout the world. When Paul wrote, very few people were citizens of Rome. Being a citizen gave great benefits. How much greater are the benefits of being a citizen of Heaven! We are also members of the household of God. Jesus Himself is not only our Saviour, but also our brother.

So let us join in the song in Heaven to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world:

We pray:

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5.9-10)

Amen.

ASH WEDNESDAY: He will swallow up death forever

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
And the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth,
For the Lord has spoken. — Isaiah 25:8

On this day, Ash Wednesday, the Church enters the season of Lent. This season is a time of prayerful and penitential reflection as our attention is focused on the sufferings and death of our saviour Jesus Christ.

This evening we will gather at a special Divine service where ashes can be placed upon our foreheads. As the imposition of ashes takes place, the pastor declares, remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.

Now those are some sobering words. There is no joy or hope tucked away in that phrase. It forces us to face the grave reality. We will die, and when we do, we will return to the soil from which God first called humanity into being. Our time is short and death awaits everyone. The act of imposing ashes is almost a literal rubbing our noses in the fact of our mortality. Maybe that’s why not many people come to this service, because this service reminds us of how helpless we are in the face of death.

But into this gloom, which covers us like a pall, come these words from Isaiah. Death, our greatest enemy, which the imposition of ashes confronts us with, will not win the day. No, it will be swallowed up forever, never to cause us sorrow or reproach again.

I love the imagery of being swallowed up. When I eat a curry, or a pizza, or a hamburger, I swallow the food and it is gone – no trace remains. So it is when Jesus burst the bonds of death on that first Easter morning. He had death for lunch. Death could not stand in the presence of Jesus – the Resurrection and Life. Death has not only been defeated, but in Jesus no trace of it will remain. Death has been swallowed up in the victory of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Death is still our enemy and its power is real. One day we will return to dust. It may seem death has won the day, BUT death was swallowed up on Easter morning. When Christ returns in glory to take us to live with Him forever, then there will be no trace of death left anywhere. Death cannot survive in the midst of life, and Jesus is the LIFE.

By Thy deep expiring groan,
By the sad sepulchral stone,
By the vault whose dark abode
Held in vain the rising God,
O, from earth to heaven restored,
Mighty, re-ascended Lord,
Bending from Thy throne on high,
Hear our penitential cry!
Amen.

(Saviour When In Dust To Thee LSB 419 v. 4)

Welcome to the 2011 edition of the Christ Lutheran Church Lenten Devotions. Thanks for taking the time to journey through the season of Lent with us.

This year’s devotions follow a catechetical theme. This means we will be examining parts of Luther’s Small Catechism in some detail via Bible verses from which it’s drawn.

On Wednesdays we will focus on the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed, specifically the two phrases the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

We remain in the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed on Thursdays as we examine passages related to the confession that we believe in the holy Christian Church.

On Fridays we take a step back in the Apostles’ Creed to the Second Article, and we contemplate on the person and work of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Our attention is especially drawn to the fact that He is our atoning sacrifice.

To help us prepare for the Divine Service the following day, on Saturdays we move to the Third Commandment and prayerfully consider that we are to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

After a day of rest on Sunday, our journey continues with thoughts on that most overlooked section of the Small Catechism: Confession.

We come full circle as on Tuesdays we once again delve into the wonders of the holy Christian Church and the communion of saints.

Thanks for taking the time to read these devotions written by friends and members of Christ Lutheran Church. I pray this has been a constructive exercise in helping each of us better be able to share the faith God has given to us, for it is our joy and privilege to do so. May these humble contributions help to strengthen and nurture your faith too.

Yours in Christ,

Jon Ehlers, Pastor

Click here to read our Lent devotions.

If you use an RSS reader (such as Google Reader or Bloglines), you can subscribe to our Lent 2011 RSS feed.