Daily Prayer for April 24, 2011, Easter

Morning

Invitatory Psalm 24

Almighty God, through Jesus Christ you overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life. Grant that we, who celebrate the day of our Lord's resurrection, may, by the renewing of your Spirit arise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (UMH 320)

Psalms 147, 148, 149

Daily Lectionary Reading, Jeremiah 31:1-6; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Acts 10:34-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18 or Matthew 28:1-10

Lectio Divina
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus (John 20:14).

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).


Almighty God, you wonderfully created, yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature. Grant that we may share the divine life of the One who shared our humanity, Jesus Christ our Savor. Amen. (UMBOW 373).

Evening
Psalm 144, 145

Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 114; 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8; Luke 24:13-49

Lectio Divina:
They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32)

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever (Isaiah 25:6-7).

Evening prayer:

O God, at this evening hour, the risen Christ revealed himself to his disciples in the breaking of bread. Feed us with the bread of life and break open our hearts, that we may know him not only in the good news of the scriptures, but risen in the midst of your pilgrim people. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary Prayers, Fortress Press).

Time to Leave Our Cage, a Reflection on John 20:1-18

Adapted from Easter 2009:
The alternate gospel readings for today differ in the details. I am certainly not going to try to iron over those differences. Rather, today, I'm reflecting on John's message. No earthquake, but two Marys.

Mary Magdalene, one of the women who had stood near the cross (John 20:25) has come before daybreak to the tomb. When she sees that the stone has been rolled away, she runs to tell the disciples. Peter and the other disciple (we assume John) race each other to get there.


John gets there first, looks in, and see the burial wrappings left behind. Peter then goes in and also sees the wrappings and realizes that the cloth that has been on Jesus' head has been rolled up. Then John goes in, and we are told that he saw and believed.

What does he believe? What does belief do for him?

After the disciples left, Mary stayed. As she is weeping, angels come to her--to comfort? She sees Jesus but does not recognize him immediately.

She has a short conversation with him but is able to recognize him only when he speaks her name.

Jesus tells her to go tell. She obeys. She is the first witness to the resurrection.

Yet, as we read in the next verse, the disciples are so afraid that they lock themselves in. What do we believe? What does belief do for us?

Mary finally did recognize Jesus and did do what he told her. Yet, she was not immediately able to convince the disciples.

I remember a story that someone told me years ago. Although I can't remember the source, I want to repeat it anyway:
When the National Zoo in Washington D.c. moved to a spacious new area, the rhinoceros was confused. It now had a wide-open living space, but it had lived in a cage too long. Even though it now had more room, it quickly made a boundary the exact dimensions of its old cage. it wore an oval path in the grass that corresponded to the old iron bars.

The resurrected Christ can appear in our ordinary lives. We may be able to recognize his presence. Or, like the rhinoceros, we may restrict ourselves to our old path. I ask again, what does belief do for us?

The Easter Vigil, between Death and Return

The lectionary readings for the Easter Vigil are:
Old Testament Readings and Psalms
Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26
Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13 and Psalm 46
Genesis 22:1-18 and Psalm 16
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 and Exodus 15:1b-13, 17-18
Isaiah 55:1-11 and Isaiah 12:2-6
Baruch 3:9-15, 3:32-4:4 or Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6 and Psalm 19
Ezekiel 36:24-28 and Psalm 42, 43
Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Psalm 143
Zephaniah 3:14-20 and Psalm 98
New Testament Reading and Psalm
Romans 6:3-11 and Psalm 114
Gospel
Matthew 28:1-10

In her poem, Holy Saturday, the Space Between, Christine Valters Paintner expresses how much of our lives rest in the space between loss and hope, how our lives are full of Holy Saturday experiences.


Selected verses and prayers based on those verses from the readings of the vigil:
You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name's sake, lead me and guide me, take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge (Psalm 31:3-4).

We give thanks to you, O Lord, for you are good, for your steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 136:1).

A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might, it cannot save (Psalm 33:16-17).

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

And by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice (Genesis 22:18).

You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:11).

In your steadfast love you led the people whom you have redeemed; you guided them by your strength to your holy abode (Exodus 15:13).

O God, I will trust you, and will not be afraid; for you are my strength and my might; you are my salvation (Isaiah 12:2).

I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land (Psalm 143:6)

Daily prayer for Holy Saturday, April 23, 2011

Morning
Merciful and everliving God, Creator of heaven and earth, the crucified body of your Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy day. Grant that we may await with him the dawning of the third day and rise in newness of life, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen (UMBOW 367).

Invitatory Psalm 67

Psalms 141, 146

Daily Lectionary Reading, Job 14:1-14; Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16; 1 Peter 4:1-8; Matthew 27:57-66

Lectio Divina
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God (1 Peter 4:1-2).

Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me a strong fortress to save me. You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name's sake lead me and guide me (Psalm 31:2-3).

Prayers for Today:

O God, whose face shines upon us, we offer the prayers we carry deep in our hearts that those who need deliverance may know your steadfast love and salvation....

Merciful God, release us from the time of trial and oppression, that we may witness to the eternal hope of grief becoming joy and life rising from death. Amen.

Eternal God, rock and refuge... we wait for revival and release. Abide with us until we come alive in the sunrise of your glory. Amen.

(from RCL Prayers, Fortress Press).

Evening
Psalms 140, 142, 143

Holy Saturday

Here are two poems by Ann Weems that I will be reading during the Saturday vigil:

No Dances

There are no dances for dark days.
There is no music to bellow the pain.
The best we can do is to remain
still and silent
and try to remember the face of God...

and how to kneel

and how to pray.


Saturday Silence

The shadows shift and fly.
The
whole
long
day
the air trembles,
thick with silence,
until, finally,
the footsteps are heard
and the noise
of the voice of God
is upon us.
The Holy One
is not afraid
to walk
on unholy ground.
The Holy Work is done,
and the world awaits
the dawn of light.

Read these and others in her Kneeling in Jerusalem.

Readings for Good Friday: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42

Here's a repeat from Good Friday, 2009:
Lesson learned

In an essay about Good Friday, Virginia Stem Owens talks about how beautiful the spring trees are in her native Texas. But, one year, she found herself offended by them:
...I was driving to work in College Station on Good Friday through a miasma of dogwood and redbud and not feeling good about it at all. It was a sparkling, resplendent day. Thickets of wild plum thew up their dark arms in dreamy clouds of white. Primroses, tenderly pink and gold, filled up the ditches along the road.
I was not pleased. This was not a penitential landscape. Good Friday is not the time for beauty.
....
I drove along, vaguely offended by the fields of flowers in full cry and the hillsides spangled with Easter white. This is the week, I thought, the Savior of the world dies. This is the day when all that is good and true goes down to suffer death at the hands of the arrogant, those swollen with the pride of power. And what is the world doing? What is the earth, its own life threatened by those same enemies doing? Did it care? Was it grieving? No. It was shouldering aside the clouds and the husks of its dead self in order to break into life....
....
All week I had been reading the penitential Psalms and examining my sins. .... But now it was Good Friday. What did you do after you'd confessed all your sins and cleaned out all your closets? I took one last look around the bare cell of my heart for some forgotten fault, at the same time being careful to avoid the danger of manufacturing contrition for its own sake....
But what else was there to do on Good Friday? Already, on this spring morning, as I was descending the hills toward the river, Jesus was beginning his climb to Golgotha. What else was there to do? For the women who followed him, "Looking on arar off" (Mark 15:40KJV), for those standing beneath the cross, what was there left to do?
Nothing. Quite obviously just nothing....Because Good Friday is the day when you can do nothing. Bewailing and lamenting your manifold sins does not in itself make up for them. Scouring your soul in a frenzy of spring cleaning only sterilizes it; it does not give it life. On Good Friday, finally, we are all mourners and mockers alike.....Good Friday is the day when we can do nothing at all.
....
Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. His blood and his righteousness.
I passed the intersection at carlos with its one blinking, yellow light and crossed the bridge over the pipeling that carries the coal slurry to the plant a few miles further on. From there the road bent northward to cross the river.
As I broke out of the ines and into the fertile bottomand, the spring again assaulted me. The land below, emerging from the tendrils of morning fog, was a tangle of luxuriant fertility.
Clouds of pink and white, effulgent enough to inebriate the soberest soul, lured one's live of vision into the darkest trees. Acres of bluebonnets streaked up the red clay banks of the river. The earth, on this Good Friday, cast forth its life, heedless of the sacrifice that sustained it. Its callous, regardless life, sucked from the source it can never repay, never replenish. Continually drawing on the death of its Savior to live. Just like me.

Read the entire essay and many others in Epiphanies, edited by Eugene Peterson and Emilie Griffin, published by Baker Books.

Daily prayer, Good Friday, April 22, 2011

Morning
Invitatory Psalm 118

In this holy time, as we remember the sacrifice of the cross, we offer the prayers of our hearts, that through them we may be transformed to be servants of justice, love, and peace. Make us steadfast witnesses of our Savior's reign, that we may live in the pattern of Christ, who was faithful in all things, even death, and whose darkest hour gives light and hope. Amen. (from RCL Prayers, Fortress Press).

Psalms 131, 132, 133

Daily Lectionary Reading, Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42

Lectio Divina
Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22).

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord (Psalm 22:30).

Prayer for Today:
Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ was lifted high upon the cross so that he might draw the whole world to himself. Grant that we, who glory in this death for our salvation, may also glory in his call to take up our cross and follow him (UMBOW 362).

Midday Psalm 119:169-176

Evening
Psalms 137, 138, 139

Maundy Thursday, a Reflection on John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Here's an excerpt from 2009:
Preparation. Sacrifice. Redemption. Memory.
They're preparing to share the Passover meal.

The passage from Exodus reminds of the directions for the first Passover. The Lord had told them that on the night before they were to escape slavery in Egypt, the entire congregation of Israel was to assemble in order to slaughter lambs for a meal. Each household would have a lamb and include neighbors whose household was too small for its own lamb.

And the passage reminds of what is remembered as they continue to gather--their rescue. After the supper, a plague had come through Egypt striking down the first-borns. Only Israel had been saved.

Jesus knows that on this Passover, his hour has come. He knows of his upcoming death and of the betrayal by one close to him.

On this last Passover, with the memory of what happened on the first one and what has happened to his people since, Jesus chooses to wash the feet of his disciples.

Peter considers this unseemly, but Jesus insists, "You'll understand later."

We, the church, are living in the later. I'm wondering which is harder to understand--that I am to allow Jesus to stoop down and perform the work of a lowly servant, or, that Jesus is asking me to emulate him, that I'm expected to stoop down and perform servant work.

Jesus tells them how his disciples will be recognized. They will be the ones who have love for one another.

Daily Prayer, Maundy Thursday, April 21, 2011

Morning

Invitatory Psalm 150

Eternal God, in the sharing of a meal your Son established a new covenant for all people, and in the washing of feet he showed us the dignity of service. Grant that by the power of your Holy Spirit these signs of our life in faith may speak again to our hearts, feed our spirits, and refresh our bodies. Amen. (from RCL Prayers, Fortress Press).

Psalms 125, 126, 127, 128, 129

Daily Lectionary Reading, Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Lectio Divina
I give you a new covenant, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35).

Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live (Psalm 116:2).

Prayer for Today:
O God, by the example of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, you taught us the greatness of true humility, and call us to watch with him in his passion. Give us grace to serve one another in all lowliness, and to enter into the fellowship of his suffering; in his name and for his sake. Amen. UMBOW 349

Midday Psalm 119:161-168

Evening
Psalms 135, 136

Readings for Wednesday of Holy Week: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 70; Hebrews 12:1-3; John 13:21-32

Here's a repeat from previous year:
Betrayal by one very close

Here we are in Lent, that time set aside on the Christian calendar for reflection and repentance. Today, we read about the last meal that Jesus shared with his closest disciples before his crucifixion. His people, sharing a table, eating together. And one will betray him.

Jesus knows about the upcoming betrayal and knows the identity of the one who is to betray him. The others don't seem to have a clue. Jesus knows and he allows the betrayal to take place.

As you contemplate your own failings and the failings of your fellow Christians, consider the selection from the Epistle to the Hebrews:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.