BRING JOY to YOUR SERVANT, LORD

 

March 8, 2025

 

This Weeks Theme Verse

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

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Psalm 86:1-7

Hear me, LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you. You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, LORD; listen to my cry for mercy. When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me.

Today we start with this question, "Have you ever felt unworthy or disqualified from following God?" I often encounter people who feel this profoundly, and while they make little jokes about this, like the church roof would collapse if they came to church, there is sadness and pain in this belief. 

Maybe today as you read this, you think your past or present struggles make you unfit to approach Jesus. I want to say to you, and remind us all, that is just not true!! Lent reminds us that God calls us as we are, not as we think we should be. I know in the busyness of life, it is so easy to feel stuck, but what if this season could be a time to hear God’s call and respond? Think about it this way, what if responding to God's call in this season of Lent, this time of renewal, means leaving behind our doubts and stepping into the new life God offers all? That would be a worthwhile step wouldn't it. 

Psalm 86, is a song or prayer attributed to David. David is highlighting his desire to give all his trust in God. He knows that God is near to him in life and has been his source of life in all circumstances. By placing his trust in God, David is setting the intentions of his heart to let go of the control and trust in God’s abounding love.

RESPONSE

What is Jesus asking you to place in his hands? 

Pray for the courage to surrender distractions, doubts, fears or habits that keep you from fully following him.

LETTING GO to TAKE HOLD

 

March 7, 2025

This Weeks Theme Verse

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

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Matthew 9:9 - 15

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

 

Do you find it is easy to go through the motions of spritual practices, like attending church, saying prayers, or perhaps even fasting here and there, reading devotionals, without really engaging our hearts? Perhaps lately you have been wondering what it means to truly connect with God or maybe wondering how faith can be more than rituals. This why the season on Lent is so valuable to us. You see, Lent invites us to shift from surface-level actions to genuine surrender, ("Letting Go"). Imagine for a moment today, what could happen if this season became about aligning our hearts with God’s purposes and stepping into or "taking up" something more meaningful.

Our Gospel reading today is Matthew 9:9-15. In this passage, Jesus calls Matthew to follow after him as his student. Matthew lets go of other things and takes hold of the way of Jesus. We see that Jesus comes to heal us inwardly to be people who are whole and free. We take action and movements towards God but it is never about the means or practices, but instead about the end goal of moving deeper into a relationship with God. God desires hearts that are accepting of this divine love and learning to love others. That is after all what Jesus said was the heart of the Kingdom of God, LOVE GOD and LOVE OTHERS.

RESPONSE

Identify one way you can take a step towards God today or show love to someone in your life.

I CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR THIS?

 

March 6, 2025

This Weeks Theme Verse

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

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2 Kings 5:1-14

Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?”

So he turned and went off in a rage. Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

 

 

I wonder have you ever struggled to accept help because it didn’t come the way you expected? Maybe you have faced a situation where letting go felt risky, beneath you, or uncomfortable. Why is it that surrender ("letting go") is so hard, even when we know it’s necessary? Yesterday we suggested that Lent begins with a call to release control and embrace surrender. We said that by letting go of the burdens we carry, we create space for God’s grace to bring renewal and transformation.

In 2 Kings 5:1-14, Naaman, a powerful commander, sought healing from leprosy. He expected a grand solution, after all he was Commander of the King of Aram's military, but the prophet Elisha instructed him to do something simple, wash in the Jordan River seven times. At first, as we read, Naaman resisted. He must have thought, "I CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR THIS?" Yet when he humbled himself and obeyed, ("Let Go") he experienced the healing he longed for. We notice that Naaman's breakthrough didn’t come through his power or status but through surrender and trust.

RESPONSE

What is one area of your life where you may be holding on too tightly—an expectation, a plan, or even a struggle?

Could God be inviting you to release control and trust Him in a new way?

 
Take a moment to reflect and pray, asking for the courage to surrender. What step of obedience can you take today?

AND SO IT BEGINS

 

March 5, 2025

 

Lent begins with a call to release control and embrace surrender. By letting go of the burdens we carry, we create space for God’s grace to bring renewal and transformation.

I believe a good focus scripture for us during Lent is Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

 

 Joel 2:12-13

Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent, a 40-day journey of reflection, turning towards God, and renewal. For many of us, it’s a season to step away from distractions and focus on spiritual practices that help deepen our personal faith. 

Perhaps you’re approaching this season with questions about faith or curiosity about who Jesus is, and his relevence to your life. Lent is an opportunity to explore what it means to let go of burdens and open your heart to something deeper. What if this season became a turning point, a time to release guilt, fear, or doubt and experience God’s love and grace in a new way. The message of Ash Wednesday is a invitation for us to remember that we have limits and that we need God in all areas of our lives.

Joel 2:12-13 above, calls us to "return to the Lord with all your heart." God is gracious and compassionate, ready to embrace us. This Bible passage reminds us that repentance is not about shame but really about surrendering our hearts to God’s mercy and love. What Joel wants us to grasp is that God is abounding in love for us this day, and all we need to do is turn towards God.

RESPONSE
Take a moment today to ask God to reveal areas where you need to let go. Pray for the courage to surrender your fears, sins, or burdens and experience renewal in His grace.

 

Ready to LENT?

 

March 4, 2025

While you are enjoying your Pączki or stack of pancakes with extra maple syrup today, I wanted to remind us that the season we call LENT is upon us again. Lent, that period that begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday and continues until Easter, which has been a time for spritual growth and development, a season for renewal, refreshment, and creating space to follow the road with Jesus to the cross. To turn our attention away from the clutter of life, and hold space for what is everlasting.

Each year during Lent we talk about laying something down in order to take something up that will benefit our spiritual life and our walk with God. We often challenge one another to slow down, to rest, to experience the benefits of solitude. The Bible says much about this,

Isaiah 30:15 says “in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength”

Psalm 46:10 says “Be still and know I am God.”

Mark 1:35 talks about Jesus practice of soul care “And early in the morning, a great while before day, he arose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.”

Revelation 8:1 records these words “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

That’s hard to do isn’t it? To be still, I mean, to practice solitude, to shut things down even for a few moments. I mean there are family things to keep us busy, chores and projects, work, sports, shopping, Church programs, Church meetings, appointments to keep, trips to plan … and list goes on and on.

I am aware that stillness can be hard because it is something we know little about in our culture of busyness. If we are honest, stillness and silence can bother us whether in a church service or in a conversation with someone. We want to fill the space with sound.

I once read these words, “Reading about Jesus, the impression left with us is that his silence did not come about because he was at his wits end and could think of nothing to say. Rather it was as though he strained his ear to listen. Stillness did not terrify him.” What if in this slowing down time, this stillness that we are not accustom too, in the quiet, we strain our ear to hear, to listen to and for the voice of God. “Be still and know that I am God”.

I have found, and the testimony of others supports this, that the most fruitful times in our lives are the spaces between the sounds, the times when you and things are still. So today, embrace the slow down, welcome the stillness and the quiet. BE STILL. Let the Good News in. You are not alone. You live in God’s world. God loves You. God is with us! May you find, today and everyday that "in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

PRAYER

Lord, thank you for enabling me to be still in your presence. You are my strength, and I trust in you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

THIS WAY

 

MARCH 3, 2025

Isaiah 30:18–26

18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

19 O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. 20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any longer, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like impure things; you will say to them, “Away with you!”

23 He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures, 24 and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage that has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.




This passage and its message have sustained me through many uncertain times in my life. What stands out to me is the certainty that we worship a God who has promised to guide us on our life journey.

Take careful note of the description of God’s character in our reading. Gracious and compassionate, he rises up, blesses us, answers us and provides for us. He binds up our wounds; he heals us. (Go back and slowly read that sentence again). Isn't that a beautiful and comforting description of the God we worship?

Reflect on the imagery in verse 21. How comforting it is that whether we turn to right or the left, we will hear God's voice behind us saying, "This is way; walk in it"! The promise is that we have the presence of God guiding us daily. And that is indeed very good news.

One final point to consider today is whose voice we're listening to. There are many voices calling out to us in our noisy distracting culture, and it can be confusing. Agreed? Today's passage reminds us to listen to just one voice, the voice of our faithful and loving God. Notice what the Psalm tells us, that hearing the voice of God behind us inspires to tell the other distracting voices, "Away with you!"?

In the confusion of our living, in our noisy generation, let us listen intently for God's voice saying “This is the way; walk in it”.

Lead me, guide me along the way;
For if You lead me, I cannot stray;
Lord, let me walk each day with Thee.
Lead me, O Lord, lead me.