Judas, Peter by Luci Shaw

Judas, Peter

because we are all
betrayers, taking
silver and eating
body and blood and asking
(guilty) is it I and hearing
him say yes
it would be simple for us all
to rush out
and hang ourselves
but if we find grace
to weep and wait
after the voice of morning
has crowed in our ears
clearly enough
to break our hearts
he will be there
to ask us each again
do you love me

Luke Challenge

Do you believe in Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible?
You can't know for sure unless you read the gospels for yourself!
Consider reading one chapter a day of the gospel of Luke and then the book of Acts and decide for yourself...do you believe in biblical Christianity?  As you read, take note of 1. What you agree with/believe 2. What you have questions about 3. What you disagree with and on what basis.

Today: Luke 1.

Keep Your Head in the Game

Don't turn to spiritual mush over spring break....keep your head (and heart) in the game.

Spring Break 2011 Devotional Passages

taken from Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God

by Bobby Gross.

Sunday

“You are king, O Lord; let the peoples tremble! You sit enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! You are great, O Lord, and exalted over all. I praise your great and awesome name. You are holy, holy, holy!”

Read Psalm 99. Let this psalm shape your personal worship this week.

Monday

“You have placed treasure- the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus- in the clay jar of my humanity so it will be clear that the extraordinary power belongs to you and does not come from me; I am humbly grateful, O Lord.”

Read Exodus 24:9-18, 34:29-35 and 1 Kings 19:11-12. Have you ever been around someone whose encounters with God gave them, at least for a time, a kind of holy aura? Has something like this ever happened to you? Might you find space this week to be still and silent and attentive to the voice of God?

Tuesday

“Shake me awake this day, O Lord, so that I may see your glory and hear your voice and be transformed.”

Read 2 Peter 1:16-21. Allow Peter’s eyewitness account of the glory likewise bolster your confidence in the good news. 

“O God, you spoke light out of darkness at creation and you have shone in my heart to give the light of the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus Christ; help me now to reflect this light in all that I say or do this day. Amen.”

Ash Wednesday

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Today marks the beginning of Lent.  Dust and ashes symbolize our mortality and our moral culpability.  Finite beings and sinful persons, we are destined to die. And so we humble ourselves before the eternal God who created us and the holy God who must, if we are to live, redeem us. Ash Wednesday sets the tone for the season: humility, simplicity, sobriety and even sorrow. 

During these weeks we become especially mindful of the sinfulness that alienates us from God, indeed, of the human evil that nailed Jesus to the rough beams.  And this we lament with sadness.  At the same time, we understand that by his death Jesus secured for us forgiveness and eternal life.

In this solitary sojourn, we turn away from our sins and temptations and toward God and his great mercy (aka repentance).  We choose a posture of humility and undertake practices that sharpen our spiritual awareness.  These include prayer and meditation, moral inventory and behavior change, fasting and other forms of abstinence, acts of generosity and service. As Jesus entered the desert keenly aware of his baptism, during Lent we too rehearse and reaffirm our own Baptismal promises: to renounce Satan and all evil and powers and sinful desires, to trust in the grace of Christ as our savior, to follow Him as our Lord.  As we turn inward and turn Godward, we can trust him to turn toward us with spiritual grace.

Prayer: “I turn to you, O Lord, with all my heart, for you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in love and relenting from punishment.”

Read Psalm 51. Let this psalm help you express to God your own humility and repentance and your own desire for a clean heart.

Thursday

“I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me; against you, you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.”

Read Joel 2:1-17. Do you see anything befalling your community that should impel us to collective humility and repentance?

Friday

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions; wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

Read Isaiah 58 & Matthew 6:1-21. Respond to these verses. 

Saturday

“Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

Read 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10. Lent turns us from our self-protecting and self-advancing instincts to a willingness to die to ourselves in order to be alive in God and faithful as ambassadors. 

To purchase this book visit http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=3520

We Love Because He First Loved Us

· Do you feel loved? Who loves you the most?

· What part of you feels unloveable?

· Do you believe that God loves you? What parts of you do you think He would deem unloveable?

· Read Romans 5:6-8

· When are you most sure that God loves you? How do you experience His love?

· How do you show God that you love Him? When is it easiest? Hardest?

· When is it easiest for you to love others? When is it hardest?

· How do you express your love to others?

· Read Luke 10:25-37. Who is your neighbor?

· Who are your “neighbors” that God is calling you to sacraficially serve and love? (ie. roommates, friends, family, enemies, rivals, boyfriend/girlfriend) How is He asking you to love them? Is that easy or hard for you?

· Read 1 John 4:7-21

In response to God's love, grace and truth: The Purpose of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is to establish and advance at colleges and universities witnessing communities of students and faculty who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord: growing in love for God, God's Word, God's people of every ethnicity and culture and God's purposes in the world.

· How do you currently

o Love God?

o Love God’s Word?

o Love God’s people of every ethnicity and culture?

o Love God’s purposes in the world?

· How can you individually grow in loving God, His Word, His people and His purposes?

· How can we as a group grow in loving God, His Word, His people and His purposes?

Read 1 Corinthians 13.

Make a commitment to God now…whatever He is asking of you…vow to love Him by obeying.

Read John 14:23-24

Help Me Help You

If you read and use the daily devotions I send out, I want your input! What would be helpful for you in growing closer to Jesus?  What kind of devotional or spiritual discipline are you interested in?  Let me know!

The Shining Star: Day 3

Elizabeth Wang

Gospel Reading: Matthew 2:1-12 .

Reflections from the Church Fathers: "In this way marvel was linked to marvel; the magi were worshipping, the star was going before them.  All this is enough to captivate a heart made of stone.  If it had only been the wise men or only the prophets or only the angels who had said these things, they might have been disbelieved. But now with all this confluence of varied evidence, even the most skeptical mouths are stopped. Moreover, the star, when it stood over the child, held still. This itself demonstrates a power greater than any star: first to hide itself, then to appear, then to stand still.  From this all who beheld were encouraged to believe. This is why the magi rejoiced. They found what they were seeking. They had proved to be messengers of truth. Their long journey was not without fruit. Their longing for the Anointed One was fulfilled. He who was born was divine. They recognized this in their worship." Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 7.4. 

For Further Reflection and Prayer:
1. Describe the character of the wise men. What do you admire about them?
2. If you were Mary or Joseph, how would you respond to these strangers bowing down and worshiping your son?
3. "But now with all this confluence of varied evidence, even the most skeptical mouths are stopped." What confluence of varied evidence led you to belief?  Who of your friends are skeptical? What varied evidence might help them believe?

Closing Prayer: "Make us glad, O God, in recounting your mercies and adoring your holiness, and let it be our chief joy to glorify your holy name. Almighty and everlasting God, the brightness of faithful souls, who brought the Gentiles to your light and made known to them him who is the true Light, and the bright and morning Star: fill, we ask you, the world with your glory, and show yourself by the radiance of your light to all nations. Amen." The Gregorian Sacramentary

To that end, pray for Penn to be filled with the glory of God and for Him to show His radiance to all.

And a good song to worship to: Glory in the Highest, Chris Tomlin 

The Shining Star: Day 2

Psalm of Response: Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14.

NT Reading: Ephesians 3:1-12 

Reflections from the Church Fathers: "The Gentiles are fellow heirs with Israel. Put more precisely, they are fellow heirs with Christ...It is not that some possession is divided among us but that God himself in his fullness is our inheritance and possession."  Jerome, Epistle to the Ephesians 2.3.5. 

For Further Reflection and Prayer: 
Read Psalm 72:10-14.  How can God use you to accomplish these promises?
Read Ephesians 3:8ff. The same grace has been bestowed to you. What do you think of this?
Re: the quote from Jerome...God himself is your inheritance.  What do you think that means?! Does that excite you?

For your listening (and pondering) pleasure: God of Justice by Tim Hughes 

The Shining Star: Day 1

Theme: Isaiah foretells the coming of the wise men; kings who will bring gifts and fall down and worship the Christ child. The wise men come to Bethlehem from the East, following a star and seeking the newborn Jesus. On arriving, they rejoice and worship him. Through God's grace in sending Christ for us, we are given the mystery of the salvation of humanity.

Opening Prayer: Epiphany: "Almighty and everlasting God, who has made known the incarnation of your Son by the bright shining of a star, which, when the wise men beheld, they presented costly gifts and adored your majesty; grant that the star of your righteousness may always shine into our hearts; and that, as our treasure, we may give ourselves and all we possess to your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." The Gelasian Sacramentary

OT Reading: Isaiah 60:1-6 

Reflections from the Church Fathers: "And the Logos, exhorting us to come to this light, says, in the prophecies of Isaiah, 'Enlighten yourself, enlighten yourself. O Jerusalem; for your light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.' Observe now the difference between the fine phrases of Plato respecting the 'chief good' and the declarations of our prophets regarding the 'light' of the blessed; and notice that the truth as it is contained in Plato concerning the subject did not at all help his readers to attain to a pure worship of God, not even himself, who could philosophize so grandly about the 'chief good,' whereas the simple language of the Scriptures led to their honest readers being filled with a divine spirit; and this light is nourished within them by the oil, which in a certain parable is said to have preserved the light of the torches of the five wise virgins." Against Celsus 6.5, Origen.

For Further Reflection and Prayer
1. Re Isaiah 60:2, do you notice that darkness covers the earth? Amongst your friends and community at Penn, how do you see darkness covering the earth and peoples?
2. Isaiah 60:4 and 5 state that the Messiah's heart would swell and throb with joy when He saw sons and daughters assembling about him. Have you thought about that? That you make Jesus' heart swell with joy? How does this impact you?
3. The wise men brought costly gifts of gold and incense. Why did they do that? Do you bring costly gifts to Jesus? What are your reasons for doing so?

From Ancient Christian Devotional ed. by Thomas C. Oden and Cindy Crosby

Feast of the Holy Name

Yes, it is New Year's Day, but according to church tradition, it is also the Feast of the Holy Name:

"On the eighth day after his birthday Jesus was circumcised and named, in keeping with Jewish law. So the church marks this octave day, previously called the Feast of the Circumcision and also, in the Roman church, the Feast of Mary. It reminds us of the Jewishness of Jesus.  But also on this day we celebrate with the wider culture the beginning of a new calendar year. (Julius Caesar in A.D. 46 first designated January 1 as the start of the new year.) It is fitting that we begin a new secular year by meditating on the names given to the Christ child: Jesus (the Lord saves) and Immanuel (God with us)...The Word who spoke the world into being is assigned a linguistic configuration of sounds and symbols within that world. He is named Jesus, as the angel had instructed. The Word becomes flesh. The divine takes on the human. The ineffable is named. This is the mystery of the incarnation. Yet the marvel goes even deeper. "He was made man that we might become god," wrote St. Athanasius in the fourth century. A great exchange! He becomes like us that we might become like him. In these remaining days of Christmastide we contemplate this deep mystery.

"Jesus, you are the Word. You are with God and you are God. You were in the beginning with God and all things came into being through you. In you is life and this life is the light of all people. The darkness cannot overcome your light. At your name, Jesus, I bend my knee this day and confess with my tongue that you are Lord, to the glory of God the Father. O God, send the Spirit of your Son into my heart so that I may cry, "Abba! Father!" Amen.

Read Luke 2:21-40 and John 1:1-18.

What do you admire about Anna and Simeon?
Grace + truth. What do these look like in your life? How do you experience grace + truth in your relationship with Jesus?

Taken from Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross. Can be purchased at InterVarsity Press.