John 21:24 “This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.”

As I did the cutting of this block for our churches’ Lenten service I wanted to show our Savior’s struggle, the agony the loss. I wanted you to feel “boxed” in with nowhere else to look. Look! There is your Jesus! But you can’t see his face because the shadow of the cross blocks your view. Yet, as you gaze at these lines and ink, even though 2,000 years passed, you are still a spectator. You can still see his poor hands torn, and claw like as he attempts to move forward. But his body betrays him and he stumbles. What do you do? You and I like many others merely watch as he falls on the path.

John Chrysostom wrote, “When we suffer anything for Christ’s sake, we should do so not only with courage, but even with joy. If we have to go hungry, let us be glad as if we were at a banquet. If we are insulted, let us be elated as though we had been showered with praises. If we lose all we possess, let us consider ourselves the gainers. If we provide for the poor, let us regard ourselves the recipients. Do not think of the painful effort involved, but the sweetness of the reward; and above all, remember that your struggle are for the sake of our Lord Jesus.”

Dear God, please allow this journey of Lent to transform us. Whenever we encounter suffering we will recall how you suffered first for us. Whenever we come face to face with loss, we will remember how you gave everything for us. Whenever we stumble, when we want to turn away give us the courage and faith to move one step further remembering your journey to the cross. Amen.

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“Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).” John 19:16-17

Jesus is now cut off from everyone, he must endure alone. His face is swollen from the beatings, his hands torn from the wood he struggles to carry, he stumbles, he drags the implement of his execution forward. There is no turning back he walks this way for us.

Elizabeth of the Trinity said, “Let us ask God to make us true in our love, to make us sacrificial beings, for it seems to me that sacrifice is only love put into action.”

God forgive us for talking about love without sacrifice. Make us bold to tell this story. How you walked the path for us so we might have a relationship with You. Forgive us for turning away when needed. Forgive us for thinking only of ourselves. May our love reflect, if possible, the sacrifice in flesh you bore for our sins. Amen.

“What is truth?” Pilate asked.” John 18:38

Here we see Jesus standing like a statue. He says nothing, he pleads nothing. Why? He has already preached, taught, healed but most still did not believe. His path is set the time is now he is ready to walk the path for us. Jesus stands alone and says not a word. Take this moment to focus on Jesus and only on Jesus as he stands for you. Ask yourself, “Where do I stand in regards to the truth of the Savior?”

Athanasius of Alexandria wrote, “That mystery the Jews traduce, the Greeks deride, but we adore. For it is a fact that the more unbelievers pour scorn on him, so much more does he makes his Godhead evident. Thus by what seems his utter poverty and weakness on the cross he overturns the pomp and parade of idols, and quietly and hiddenly wins over the mockers and unbelievers to recognize him as God.”

Dear God, today we acknowledge the truth. There have been times we have run away, have hid and done what we want knowing we are wrong. Forgive us! Today we will stand for You, we will not be silent, we will help another along the path. Raise us up to live by your power the life only you can give. Amen.

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In this window you will recognize the first and the last latters in the Greek alphabet. The evangelist John, in the Book of Revelation, records a vision in which Christ uses two letters as a way of defining himself. Jesus states, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last…” In other words Jesus and God are one and we are assured there is no distinction. They are the same, “the beginning and the end,” he alone is eternal.

William Booth a Methodist preacher in Britain who co-founded the Salvation Army wrote, “Consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”

Dear God brother Booth was a prophet. We see much of that happening all around us here in the Western church. Help us Father to pause and become consumed with You producing a holy fear of not approaching You in true worship. To not forget You called us to walk this path with others. That even our smallest actions are a reflection of this truth: You are our God! “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.”

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“I Am the Bright Morning Star” Rev. 22:16

The prophet  Isaiah predicted that a twig would sprout upon the stump of Jesses (the father of David) and a shoot would grow out of its root (Isaiah 11:1). Christians recognize this as an allusion to the birth of Christ. While in Numbers 24:17, it was predicted that “then shall come a star out of Jacob”. Here in Revelation we see the prophets, the preachers, the worshipers, the seekers all come together. Here we see the “bright morning star” our long awaited Jesus!

Fifth century monk Paulinus of Nola shouted, “We have no right to our possessions; they have been entrusted to us for the good of all. Let us then invest with the Lord what he has given us, for we have nothing that does not come from him: we are dependent upon him for our very existence. And we ourselves particularly, who have a special and a greater debt, since God not only created us but purchased us as well; what can we regard as our own when we do not possess even ourselves?”

Lord Jesus you have shown yourself to the nations, the countries, the world and many have been transformed by your beautiful light. But…there are those remaining who have yet to look toward the “bright morning star.” May today’s rising sun remind us of your healing light to all people and all nations.

” As evidence that He is the Son of God, Jesus makes the statement, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty,” (John 6:35). This window shows the bread and wheat that represents the first of the “I Am” sayings found in John. Here we catch a clear echo of the divine self-definition.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin prayed, “Since once again, Lord, I have neither bread nor wine nor altar, I will raise myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the real itself; I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all labors and sufferings of the world.”

Dear God, do not let us get caught up in the world and so forget that You are all we need. You are our bread, you are our life today and tomorrow. Teach us to be joyful to celebrate today! So that when others ask, “Why are you so happy?” We can reply, “Because God is all we need!” So through such a living witness friends, family and co-workers will come to You and see You in our lives. “Come, let us bow down and bend the knee: let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” Amen.

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