Author: tbc

Repentance, Luke 13:1-9

Lent is an authentic call to repentance. This call is not metaphor, because to fail to repent is to perish. But the call to repent is ever present and is not withdrawn from us. Two titans face off: repent or perish-the call to repent is not withdrawn. Verse 9 tips Jesus’ hand. He wants us to repent, and is willing to grant us a bit more time, but for how long?

The message of hope is that there is time; so now is the time. This is not about who is the worst offender, but about repentance. It concerns a savior who loves all offenders and advocates for them before the Creator. “The worst offender” is a human invention, used to grade sin for the purpose of fairness. To God, sin is sin, and no one is immune from its consequences; no one is beyond grace’s redemption. Repentance is the point of separation, not gradations of offenses.

The opportunity to repent would never be offered by an angry god. But our God, the only God, is loving and long-suffering. What but love would delay destruction? God’s love and hope are expressed, and we are drawn to consider this loving option. The economics of love invested, but refused, would suggest destruction as pointed out in the parable of the fig tree. Love is not a formula; it is not measured on a ledger sheet.

Love must see sin as sin and must care about its consequences, but love does not have to measure sin, nor be defeated by it. Thus, the call to return, to repent, is issued, pressed against time. “Unless you repent, you will all perish” (v 5) is not an angry threat; it is a loving warning.

In this passage Jesus uses both a direct and an indirect approach to convince his hearers of the truth of his message. “Repent or perish” is obviously direct, but even the parable speaks of urgency. The man who planted the fig tree is ready to chop it down. The gardener is able to hold off the consequences for another season, but apparently not for ever. Another season of reminder has rolled around on the Church calendar. The message is the same, but the urgency has intensified by the factor of the year the parable calls for.

What does repentance mean? What change, what “fruit” is required? The answer is personal. Anything that stands between us and full submission to God through the journey toward Christ-likeness is something that needs to be acknowledged and confessed in prayer. The returning that this will entail is the beginning of repentance. The new journey begins with that “thing” acknowledged being dropped from or added to your living with the help of the Holy Spirit.

God the Creator grants time; God the Savior makes a way; God the Spirit encourages us and guides us. It is a God of threefold love who calls us to repent and to return. Jesus stands ready to dig around in our lives and show us a more fertile way of living. Jesus wants to enrich our lives and help us bear fruit to the glory of God.

Does doubt linger, making us wonder if this can really happen, and really happen in our life? Prayer defeats doubt, establishing communication with the One who pleads for us and calls to us, who died for us, and wants to live in us.

We acknowledge our sin; we acknowledge the call to repent.

We believe, Lord; cultivate our belief.

 

A word about the series

The Lenten season has always inspired many people to create everything from poems, art and music to a completely new direction in their lives.  This Lenten season Tabernacle will be exploring many of those creations in the hope of inspiring you to compose in a medium that is natural for you.   The paintings in the Sanctuary are of the Biblical Stations of the Cross.  The artist, Grieg Leach, completed them in 2010.  They will help us to visualize the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.  In addition to the paintings there is a Lenten devotional booklet, Return to Me, which is available in print or online.  The Stations of the Cross also inspired these devotions, written by Terry York of Baylor University.   Living with these two bodies of artistic expression based on the Biblical Stations of the Cross throughout the season of Lent should help us as we seek to return our lives to God by walking with Jesus though his final days.

Pray, read, think and return to God.

 

 

 

All scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible.

Copyright © 2013 Birnamwood Publications (ASCAP)

A division of MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc., St. Louis, MO

All rights reserved.  Printed in U.S.A.

www.MorningStarMusic.com.

 

Guilt and Hope,Accusation and Redemption, I Corinthians 10:1-13

What are we to think of our tendency to sin? How are we to process that part of us that considers sinful options when they present themselves? What part does sin’s presence in our lives play in our relationship to a loving God? These questions are never unimportant to us, but we do find ways to live with them. Lent calls us to deal with them-to acknowledge, own, and address them. But we do not do so alone. To sin is human tendency, with no exceptions. God is with us; God, in Christ, understands temptation. Even so, sin tends to isolate us.

This passage contains guilt and hope…accusation and redemption. This is Lent in a nutshell.

Sin has consequences. That’s not news, but it may not be our screen saver, either. It is a miscalculation to think that God meets us only on the bright, good deeds, good citizen side of our lives. The darker, sinful side of our lives is something that we get into, experience, and escape on our own. Christ died in order to redeem us from our sin. There is no sadder consequence. But, as redemption pulls us up and out of our sin, we learn about ourselves and our God. We learn how destructive our sin is, and how easily it is entered and painfully exited. We learn sin’s cost and separation. We learn, too, of God’s love for us. We learn of grace and forgiveness-wonderful words with woeful associations.

Paul, the writer of this letter to the church in Corinth, does not want us to be ignorant of what it means to treat sin lightly. We cannot brush off sin’s dust or excuse sin’s little lapses of integrity. Yet, to the extent that sin may be connected to the testing of faithfulness (ours and God’s), God is faithful, and he will not let [us] be tested beyond our strength. God provides a way out so that we can endure sin’s consequences. Jesus took upon himself our humiliation and separation, our shame and guilt.

Lent doesn’t let us forget. More than that, Lent calls us to remember with a sense of weighty gratitude, a sense of responsible forgiveness. There is a way out that is more a way in. This scripture is a reminder that there is a way into life in Christ. The way out of the mess is a way into blessing. The way out of confusing thoughts of testing is a way into a life of trust and obedience. The way out of the darkness is the way into the light of the Lord. But nothing removes the cost. Sin takes us to the cross. The love of Christ moves us beyond the cross, but the cross is in the path, is in the Way. Grief is redeemed into gratitude; guilt is redeemed into grace, futility into purpose, and shame into joy.

These turnings and their cost should keep us from desiring evil. In like manner, they should give us hope that we are not trapped by evil. Our first glimmer of hope can be seen in the fact that evil did not nail Christ to the cross-love did. Our failures did not drag Jesus kicking and screaming to the top of Mt. Calvary; Love walked him up the hill. Theological discussion of testing (God of us, us of Christ) and examples of enduring-these attempts at explaining sin’s encounter with grace finally must bow to the simple but costly scene of sin separating and love reuniting, of God and humanity. Let us not be ignorant of this. To be flippant is to be ignorant. To be dismissive is to be ignorant. To be chained to our failures is also to be ignorant.

God is faithful. This passage ends there. Lent begins there.

Remind us of the weight of sin, and the buoyancy of grace.

 

A word about the series

The Lenten season has always inspired many people to create everything from poems, art and music to a completely new direction in their lives.  This Lenten season Tabernacle will be exploring many of those creations in the hope of inspiring you to compose in a medium that is natural for you.   The paintings in the Sanctuary are of the Biblical Stations of the Cross.  The artist, Grieg Leach, completed them in 2010.  They will help us to visualize the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.  In addition to the paintings there is a Lenten devotional booklet, Return to Me, which is available in print or online.  The Stations of the Cross also inspired these devotions, written by Terry York of Baylor University.   Living with these two bodies of artistic expression based on the Biblical Stations of the Cross throughout the season of Lent should help us as we seek to return our lives to God by walking with Jesus though his final days.

Pray, read, think and return to God.

 

 

 

All scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible.

Copyright © 2013 Birnamwood Publications (ASCAP)

A division of MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc., St. Louis, MO

All rights reserved.  Printed in U.S.A.

www.MorningStarMusic.com.

 

Our worship service centers on Luke 22:54-62, Peter’s denial of Jesus. Worship leaders include  Anna Tuckwiller, Megan Strollo, Rob Wright, Jessica Corbitt, Lay Htoo, Cung Thawng,Wade Severns, Jake Braford, Steve Slager, Samantha Denton, William Strollo, Nathan Hatfield, and the church staff. Highlights of the service include the dedication of Julian Wright and Communion.

 

Thirst Signals: Psalm 63:1-8

Thirst is an indicator that our life could be in peril. We can’t go long without water, so our body sends “thirst signals” when we are running low on that essential element. Our spirit, our sense of who we are, our inner-most being is essential to life as well. We have no better way to describe our spirit’s need for God than thirst. The psalmist likens our need for God to the need for water in a hot desert.

But, we know where the well is, because the spiritual well is worship. That was easy. Go to church and all is well! Not exactly. There are many mirages in the desert-things that look like water from a distance, but are dry when you get there. In this passage of scripture, the psalmist rejoices in worship that is refreshing and life giving.

Worship in this psalm is worship in which God’s power and glory are seen. There are some Sunday mirages that are dry because other sources of power and glory are held up as equal to or synonymous with God’s. Military power and national glory are not equal to or greater than the power and glory of God. To seek them on Sunday morning is to chase a mirage, an illusion of salvation. Entertainment is a clever illusion, a sophisticated distraction. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it cannot quench the soul’s thirst. It has no place in the category of essential. Entertainment cannot be our God, and its illusion must not be mistaken for reality. Our soul thirsts. In the season of Lent, we confess our hunger and our thirst that only God can satisfy.

Celebrity does not make the worship leader (pastor or musician) a substitute for God. Attempts to convince us otherwise are conscious efforts to call upon the seduction of the mirage, and there is no water there. The point is made that the illusionist is not a synonym for priest or pastor.

We must not think of worship as a magic show, because that well is dry. We are refreshed and nourished when we bow before God, acknowledging God’s power and glory as the ultimate, and as the unique source of our salvation. We worship when we confess that God’s steadfast love is better than life itself, indeed, is life itself. Our thirst is quenched when our dry lips praise God and no one or nothing else. Our thirst is quenched when we cease to dig in the sand, and instead lift our hands to God in praise and petition. Our thirst is quenched when we call upon the name of the Lord for our next breath, for wisdom for our next decision, for our energy to relate to the world around us in humility.

When we have engaged in authentic worship, we do not thirst again. The water that God offers through Jesus the Son is an eternal drink. At night, when the cares of our heart and mind would grip us like thirst, our soul is satisfied (vv 5-6). We do not thirst in the heat of the day’s responsibilities, but are shaded by God’s “wings” (v 7). It is reason for songs of joy remembered and whistled throughout the day by a moist soul and mouth.

After worship, real worship, our soul clings to God (v 8), bonded by the condensation of praise and prayer into our daily living. As the dryness of the world would begin to evaporate our worship, God’s right hand upholds us. No mirage can do that. Sing the joy of living water. Let Lent name your thirst.

Lord, our thirst brings us to our knees.

We bow before you in praise and prayer, and joy ever flowing.

 

A word about the series

The Lenten season has always inspired many people to create everything from poems, art and music to a completely new direction in their lives.  This Lenten season Tabernacle will be exploring many of those creations in the hope of inspiring you to compose in a medium that is natural for you.   The paintings in the Sanctuary are of the Biblical Stations of the Cross.  The artist, Grieg Leach, completed them in 2010.  They will help us to visualize the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.  In addition to the paintings there is a Lenten devotional booklet, Return to Me, which is available in print or online.  The Stations of the Cross also inspired these devotions, written by Terry York of Baylor University.   Living with these two bodies of artistic expression based on the Biblical Stations of the Cross throughout the season of Lent should help us as we seek to return our lives to God by walking with Jesus though his final days.

Pray, read, think and return to God.

 

 

 

All scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible.

Copyright © 2013 Birnamwood Publications (ASCAP)

A division of MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc., St. Louis, MO

All rights reserved.  Printed in U.S.A.

www.MorningStarMusic.com.

 

God’s Promise: Isaiah 55:1-9

The rich and the poor are on the same page here. They are in the same description of God’s bounty and the same invitation to abundant life. What the rich and the poor have in common is that they need God’s love and are the recipients of God’s promise to make an everlasting covenant with us. Money can’t buy that and poverty does not disqualify one from receiving it. When something is free, money is taken out of the picture. This passage is a picture of God’s bounty, God’s love, and God’s people.

One receives this rich gift of life by listening to God (vv 2-3). God’s word should be our food; God’s promise should be our strength. God’s love for us should be our energy; God’s glory should be the purpose of our living. The lowly shepherd boy, David, became a leader and commander. There is no limit to how God’s glory can be shown when God is our food, our strength, and our energy. Our hope is in God. God’s promise includes nations and opportunities and futures we do not know. God’s presence with us connects this day to that future; it is a gift.

Lent is a time of seeking the Lord. The very act of seeking God brings new perspective to our lives. The lesser things of life must bow when God is near. The things we spend money on and the things we wish for know their place, but do not have to take that lower place until God is present.

The wicked and the unrighteous are as welcome as anyone else to receive God’s gift of life made abundant by God’s presence and perspective. Lent puts things in perspective and levels the playing field. “Let them (the rich, poor, wicked, and unrighteous) return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (v 7). The righteous are not named here, but by this time they have come to realize they are not righteous at all, and they find their place on the list.

All this may not make sense upon first hearing, or given present life circumstances, but God’s thoughts are not like ours; God’s ways are not like ours (v 8). God makes all things new, even our thought processes and standards of assessing worth.

A new way of thinking, of evaluating, of determining worth-these are gifts that cannot be purchased, money or no money. Food for the spirit that becomes more important to us than food for the body-this is a gift that only God can give, and it is offered freely. The heavens are higher than the earth, so heavenly thinking and seeing may make us a bit dizzy as we adjust to it. We may be a bit unsure or uneasy about building our lives on these teachings and promises. But when we accept them and become acclimated to the loftiness, the timelessness, and the abundance of this new perspective, we will bring glory to God and will find new meaning in life.

The “new” and the “more” that the world values must stay at the lower level of importance and worth. The higher thoughts and motivations and perspectives of God lift the life of the one who will receive the gift. If we will accept the gift, our life will encourage everyone, from those around us to folks we don’t even know. Our lives will be encouragement to consider the new reality, the eternal reality of God’s covenant and abundant life. First we must return to God.

God, we accept your gift. We want to see as you see.

Bless us and bless the nations through us.

 

A word about the series

The Lenten season has always inspired many people to create everything from poems, art and music to a completely new direction in their lives.  This Lenten season Tabernacle will be exploring many of those creations in the hope of inspiring you to compose in a medium that is natural for you.   The paintings in the Sanctuary are of the Biblical Stations of the Cross.  The artist, Grieg Leach, completed them in 2010.  They will help us to visualize the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.  In addition to the paintings there is a Lenten devotional booklet, Return to Me, which is available in print or online.  The Stations of the Cross also inspired these devotions, written by Terry York of Baylor University.   Living with these two bodies of artistic expression based on the Biblical Stations of the Cross throughout the season of Lent should help us as we seek to return our lives to God by walking with Jesus though his final days.

Pray, read, think and return to God.

Something Beyond Words: Luke 9:28-36

To see Jesus as he really is-the Chosen One, the Son of God-can be a dazzling, if baffling, thing. It might even be a bit frightening. Jesus, who was fully human, was and is fully God as well. Peter, John, and James were with Jesus every day, but on this mountain on this day, they were reminded of who Jesus really is. John and James were dumbfounded, and Peter muttered something he wished he hadn’t said. God spoke, Jesus glowed, Moses and Elijah showed up to talk to Jesus, and we, along with the disciples, are reminded of something we are prone to forget. Jesus is the Son of God; he is God the Son. Either way you look at it, we follow a divine Master who knows our dust and our blood.

This passage is a glowing reminder that the Christ who is in us is not bound by anything on earth except his love for us. We follow him now not because we must, but because of love. He is our example; our trials and struggles are his, and his glory is ours.

When Jesus the human changed, it was transfiguration. When we humans change, it is transformation, but both are in the same direction-toward the brightness of who Jesus really is. Peter revealed what we all think: Jesus, let’s stay here on the mountaintop where you glow and Bible characters come to life and earthly hassles are beneath us. We’ve thought it; Peter said it.

But Jesus didn’t come to earth to be above it all. He came to earth to be in the midst of it all. Emmanuel, God is with us. We usually save the name Emmanuel for Christmas, but Lent has its Emmanuel, too. God is with us in the midst of pain, fatigue, disappointment, betrayal, dirty feet, weeping and virtually everything else you can name. God in Christ has experienced all this and more, and knows how to be present with us when we have the same experiences. Jesus is Emmanuel all the time; God with us on the mountain and in the valley. It sounds trite until it is us he is with.

“Listen to him.” That is God’s instruction to Jesus’ disciples (v 35). Listen to him. He glows and he weeps. He talks to the prophets of old and the prostitutes of last night. In the beginning he was the Word and in the end he was the Lamb. Listen to him. God says, “Listen to him,” because Jesus stands alone (v 36). Moses and Elijah left heaven long enough to listen to him. Peter, James, and John listened to him. “Listen to him” is good advice for us.

The last sentence of this passage is intriguing. Peter, James, and John, “kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen” (v 36). Aren’t we supposed to tell the good news? Is there anything about Jesus we are not supposed to share with the world?

Some things are too personal to tell to the world, even things between Jesus and us. Some things are to be held between Jesus and us not because they are secrets or are bad, but because they hold the intimacy of our relationship to him. Some things need to be pondered and processed before we know exactly how to tell them and to whom to tell them. Sometimes that pondering and processing can take awhile. We need to be silent about some things we know about Jesus because others wouldn’t understand, or would not yet understand.

Sometimes silence is the most appropriate response to something that is beyond words.

Speak Lord; we listen.

 

A word about the series

The Lenten season has always inspired many people to create everything from poems, art and music to a completely new direction in their lives.  This Lenten season Tabernacle will be exploring many of those creations in the hope of inspiring you to compose in a medium that is natural for you.   The paintings in the Sanctuary are of the Biblical Stations of the Cross.  The artist, Grieg Leach, completed them in 2010.  They will help us to visualize the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.  In addition to the paintings there is a Lenten devotional booklet, Return to Me, which is available in print or online.  The Stations of the Cross also inspired these devotions, written by Terry York of Baylor University.   Living with these two bodies of artistic expression based on the Biblical Stations of the Cross throughout the season of Lent should help us as we seek to return our lives to God by walking with Jesus though his final days.

Pray, read, think and return to God.

On Being a Christ-Follower: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Right in the middle of this passage of scripture is the key to understanding what it means to be a Christ-follower and how we are to relate to the life we are living: “our citizenship is in heaven” (3:20). This truth reorients everything. It is the ultimate “different drummer.” We are citizens, first and foremost, of heaven. It is, “from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (3:20). With this orientation, there is no other savior; there is no other source of hope or strength. Paul, the writer of this letter, weeps for those who think their lives can be saved by consumption or achievement.

This world does not bring Paul to tears. Rather, his tears are for those who put their hope in the very things that are bringing them down. Paul speaks in 3:21 of a “transformation.” This is a church word that is not just a church word. We know of transformation from toys to makeovers. The church usage of the word speaks of a spiritual change that affects how we see the world and the meaning of life.

We can be changed and/or transformed by the same power that “enables [Christ] to make all things” (3:21). Understanding our heavenly citizenship as more important than our earthly citizenship is both one of the results of our transformation in Christ and one of the evidences of it. We are encouraged to, “stand firm in the Lord in this way” (4:1). For many of us, standing firm in this citizenship, or this orientation, will have to be preceded by a return to the Lord. Lent slows us down, gets our attention, and reminds us that such a turning is possible.

In the first verse of this passage, Paul lets us know that this transformation is learned. It may be instantaneous for some, but Paul is focused on those of us who must learn the ways of transformation. Christ in us is the beginning and the necessary starting point of the learning process. Paul suggests we imitate him [Paul] and others whom we know to be transformed toward Christ-likeness by their heavenly citizenship. There are beginners and there are masters, but they are all in the process of being transformed by Christ. All are learning what heavenly citizenship means. It’s awkward at first, unnatural, but deep inside we know it’s right. We stumble, but Jesus-our teacher, our model, the Master-helps us back to our feet and back on the path. He orients us. His teachings in scripture and his Spirit within us give us the guidelines.

There is another orientation in this passage that is very helpful. Paul suggests that we are brothers and sisters with any and all who are also in this transformation process toward Christ-likeness. We are brothers and sisters with any and all who know their first citizenship is their heavenly citizenship. The definition of family has expanded and gathered around us, and this is a source of warmth and strength. Knowing we are not alone encourages us. A transformed citizenship puts everything in a different and proper perspective.

The season of Lent calls us to turn or return to this knowing, this understanding, this perspective and orientation. Paul says, “Stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.” Philippians 4:1 (4:1).

Let my heavenly citizenship reorient my earthly day;

let Christ be seen in me.

 

A word about the series

The Lenten season has always inspired many people to create everything from poems, art and music to a completely new direction in their lives.  This Lenten season Tabernacle will be exploring many of those creations in the hope of inspiring you to compose in a medium that is natural for you.   The paintings in the Sanctuary are of the Biblical Stations of the Cross.  The artist, Grieg Leach, completed them in 2010.  They will help us to visualize the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.  In addition to the paintings there is a Lenten devotional booklet, Return to Me, which is available in print or online.  The Stations of the Cross also inspired these devotions, written by Terry York of Baylor University.   Living with these two bodies of artistic expression based on the Biblical Stations of the Cross throughout the season of Lent should help us as we seek to return our lives to God by walking with Jesus though his final days.

Pray, read, think and return to God.

Come to Me: Luke 13:31-35

Jesus was undeterred by threats on his life and, as a result, his commitment is our example. Too much of our life is oriented by fear. We fear terrorists, illegal aliens, liberals, conservatives, economic trends, people of other ethnicities; the list continues and the paranoia shapes our world. Return to me, says Jesus, come to me like little chicks congregating under their mother hen’s wings. Come, put your fears at rest and learn of me, learn of peace.

Jesus weeps over those who are oriented toward killing and stoning and creating fear. He laments the fact that people do not want to be known as chickens. Peace has been given a bad name. Peace is ignorance, irresponsibility, naivete, and cowardly in our culture (we can stop saying “post 9-11 culture”). The Pharisees warned Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you” (v 31). Jesus did not change his plans, his life, or his values because someone had targeted him.

Jesus’ love and ministry could not be altered by threats. Come, little chicks, learn of this courage, return to this life-orientation; but they would not. Jesus lamented the fact that fear could change them so deeply, so quickly. Does Jesus still lament the fear-orientation of his children? On the cross Jesus was forsaken by his Father (Mark 15:34). In Jerusalem Jesus was forsaken by his followers. He cried out his lament both times. Does Jesus still weep?

A returning to the Lord by his children during this Lenten season could change a nation, could change a world. Jesus simply calls for a change in his children. “Stop running away from me. Return to me. But they were not willing.” (v 34). An orientation of fear is an orientation away from God. Lent says return. It invites us to come in the name of the Lord. Come back to his teachings. Return to his example, to his courage.

Another word for lament is grieve. We grieve because we cannot return to the way it used to be. Jesus grieves because we will not turn toward the way it can be. “Return to me,” with wings spread, “Return to me,” but they were not willing. Lent echoes the call.

Jesus does not force us to turn. He will allow us to live in the house we are building, a house of fear. (v 35a) We are building a house with barred windows, “keep out” signs, guns locked and loaded, surrounded by high fences. Jesus’ house is a house of prayer where all are welcome. Come home, return to me, live like this, but they were not willing. We can turn. We can return. We can gather with those who are content to be sheltered by his wings, by the span of his love and grace.

This passage of scripture underscores the importance of Lent and a proper orientation toward the cross. Jesus said/says to the disoriented, “You will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ “(v 35-Palm Sunday for us). If we do not see him entering Jerusalem in defiance of fear, we may not see him at all.

Lord, in response to your tears, I come.

 

A word about the series

The Lenten season has always inspired many people to create everything from poems, art and music to a completely new direction in their lives.  This Lenten season Tabernacle will be exploring many of those creations in the hope of inspiring you to compose in a medium that is natural for you.   The paintings in the Sanctuary are of the Biblical Stations of the Cross.  The artist, Grieg Leach, completed them in 2010.  They will help us to visualize the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.  In addition to the paintings there is a Lenten devotional booklet, Return to Me, which is available in print or online.  The Stations of the Cross also inspired these devotions, written by Terry York of Baylor University.   Living with these two bodies of artistic expression based on the Biblical Stations of the Cross throughout the season of Lent should help us as we seek to return our lives to God by walking with Jesus though his final days.

Pray, read, think and return to God.