Thank you for joining with us in our journey through Lent. It is our hope that the reflections, practices and blessings have nurtured you in this season. In just a few weeks, we will be launching a new reflection series focused on the gift of friendship. Your support through reading, sharing and commenting means so much.
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May you experience some comfort and joy as you experience the sacred in the ordinary.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. – Psalm 136:1-3
Mix together Jesus’ commandment to love one another, the last supper, and Passover and you have some sense of Maundy Thursday. It is no small moment in Holy Week. Jesus’ humility and sacrifice joined together to demonstrate God’s enduring love. “This is my body . . .this is my blood . . .” Jesus’ call to remember his loving sacrifice placed alongside the Old Testament recounting of God’s faithfulness celebrated each year by the Jewish people during Passover. This excerpt from Psalm 136 repeats over and over the reminder – “His love endures forever”! The Psalmist is recounting God’s faithfulness to God’s people.
As a spiritual practice for this Holy Week consider attending a Maundy Thursday service in your community or celebrating communion in your home with friends or family. If you decide to celebrate communion at home, Matthew 26:26-29 could be a passage you share before sharing bread or crackers and wine or juice together. Consider closing the time with a song or with the verses from Psalm 136 shared above.
May God’s love be ever present with you as you journey through Holy Week this year.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
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“But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!” -Psalm 22:19
If the Easter story is familiar, it is easy to move through Holy Week without feeling the depth of fear, pain and despair in scripture’s account.
The alleluias and celebration of Palm Sunday are a relief after the ashes and fasting of Lent.
There is a buzz among the swelling crowds: Could it be that the one they have been awaiting has arrived? Perhaps the time of reckoning and justice has come!
In the rush of the triumphal entry, there was great rejoicing in king and kingdom come. But as outsiders to the story, we know how fleeting this confidence and belief was for many. We know that in just a few days, the crowds turn. There is denial and disappointment. Even among the faithful, those closest to Jesus, there is confusion and fear.
And, we can relate. We, too, can be quick to assign meaning, look for silver linings, living with hopeful expectation of some future goodness in an effort to numb the pain of the now, whether in our personal longings or in bearing witness to the horrors and suffering around the world. Yet the events of Holy Week make space to honor the the pain, grief and disorientation of our experiences as we are surprised by the upside-down nature, present and yet-to-come realities of God’s kingdom.
You do not ask us to deny our experience, O God. Instead, you invite us to faithfully live in the tension of already and not yet, what has been and what still yet could be. Grant us grace, patience and wisdom in this stretching and sacred work. Amen.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
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“What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches…It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” -Luke 13:18-21
It is said that you are a reflection of the five people you spend the most time with. Our lives are the summation of the routines and rituals of our daily lives. There is much sacred to be found in the ordinary. Small acts done with great love can change everything.
The kingdom of God is best described by small, ordinary things that over time bring significant change and transformation. As you move through your day, notice small things with big impact. Reflect on interactions and experiences in your own life, where something seemingly small has bought transformation.
God, thank you for the miracle of small things. When I am discouraged and hopeless, remind me of the power of growth and fermentation. May I not diminish these gifts in my midst. Amen.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! Do you know someone who would be inspired by today’s post? Please share Some Comfort and Joy with them. Be sure to subscribe and never miss a post.
“And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God?It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” – Luke 13:20-21
As a mother of two I find myself wanting to protect my children from the bumps and hardships of life. At the same time, I long for them to grow into spiritually mature adults, who love God and the people around them in equal measure. As an adult now in my 50’s, I can clearly see how difficulties in my own past have brought about compassion and new understandings in my life. It feels counterintuitive to accept that adversity, when placed in the loving care of the Holy Spirit, can be transformed into spiritual expansion in our lives.
I do not believe that God causes difficult situations in our lives in order to grow our faith. There are many ways to move towards God and they are not all negative and painful in nature. But, if we stay open to it, hardship can be transformed into spiritual growth. Trying to understand God’s love, grace, and mercy at work in our lives is mysterious. Of course there are always practical steps we can take, but transformation is a mix of our openness and God’s mysterious mercy mixed together. In Luke, Jesus reminds us that the kingdom of God is like yeast. While it looks impossible, yeast has the capacity, with time and intention, to completely change the final outcome of a mass of dough.
May our lives and hardships similarly be changed by the daily presence of God’s Spirit.
God, I submit my life into your hands. May your mercy transform my wayward paths and responses, so that over time I would be a reflection of your love in the world.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! Do you know someone who would be inspired by today’s post? Please share Some Comfort and Joy with them. Be sure to subscribe and never miss a post.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” -John 3:16
Sometime today light a candle as a symbol of your need for God’s love and mercy. Spend some time reflecting and confessing particular areas in your own walk where you need mercy. It is hard to admit our shortcomings, but admitting them and inviting the Holy Spirit to work in our lives is an irreplaceable first step.
Close your time of confession by blowing out the candle and saying this simple prayer:
“Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me according to your unfailing love and kindness.”
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! Do you know someone who would be inspired by today’s post? Please share Some Comfort and Joy with them. Be sure to subscribe and never miss a post.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” – John 3:16
Flowers, poems, breakfast in bed, a weekend away or grand gestures is how our culture defines love. Things that elicit particular feelings or sensations are categorized as love, and in the West (conveniently) there is always something you can buy to help you get there.
Discipline, fasting and ashes certainly can’t compete.
The radical nature of Jesus’s teachings may be muted for us as we navigate the barriers of culture, history and familiarity. The stories about and teachings from Jesus show us that divine love looks more like sacrifice, care for others, and treasure in heaven than the American ideals of love. The coming events of Holy Week and Easter remind us that the way of love, the way of Jesus is non-violent.
One of the opportunities within Lent is to re-order our passions. In this week, consider ways that your love reflects the qualities of God’s love.
O God, our ideas of love are so small and conditional. May your Spirit continue to stir in us, expanding our knowing of you and your ways. Amen.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! Do you know someone who would be inspired by today’s post? Please share Some Comfort and Joy with them. Be sure to subscribe and never miss a post.
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38-39
Unconditional love is a challenging concept to truly understand. In our humanity we are always bumping up against boundaries. It is difficult to extend love without limits (and perhaps most often we shouldn’t!). Yet, our human experience is the only framework we have in which to comprehend God. No wonder it is so challenging to perceive that there is nothing that would separate us from God’s love.
In your moments of prayer over the next few days, try taking on the posture of clasped hands, fingers intertwined. Notice the sensation of your knuckles touching, palms joined, the pads of your fingers on skin along the back of your hands. Use this gesture and the associated feelings to remind yourself of the nearness, tenderness and abiding presence of the divine.
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! Do you know someone who would be inspired by today’s post? Please share Some Comfort and Joy with them. Be sure to subscribe and never miss a post.
No, in all these things In the washing dishes, folding laundry, rushing out the door, shopping, taxi-ing the kids, the grind of work
we are more than victorious in the remembered hug, pink sunrise, holding hands, new ideas, list accomplished, anger dissolved, patience-chosen moments
through him who loved us. through it all – Jesus loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, Not dust, ashes, sadness, valley of the shadow
nor life, or the ebb and flow of our earthly existence,
nor angels, or spiritual realms, unseen powers, or strangers
nor rulers, or tyrants or democracy or kings
nor things present, or the immediacy of a baby’s touch, or a too-long painful illness,
nor things to come, or the foggy windshields of future life
nor powers, or the no’s and yeses of each day, so often just beyond our control
nor height, or joyful sun by day or stars at night
nor depth, or deep sobs and the flow of the tide
nor anything else in all creation or the mountains pushing up through the earth and the trees stretching for the endless sky, or the swirls of the universe and the microcosms of cells and matter
will be able to separate us will be able to remove or force us away
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. from God’s everlasting Love!
Some Comfort and Joy was developed as a devotional resource that follows the rhythms and seasons of the liturgical year from an Anabaptist-Mennonite perspective.
We hope this brings you some comfort and joy! Do you know someone who would be inspired by today’s post? Please share Some Comfort and Joy with them. Be sure to subscribe and never miss a post.
some comfort and joy 