Fourth Lenten Devotional

SCRIPTURE
Psalm 130

1Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. 2Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 3If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 5I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. 7O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

lentdevotions.png

DEVOTIONAL
In Christian tradition, Psalm 130 is one of the seven penitential psalms and is known by its first words in the Latin version: De Profundis, “Out of the Depths.” It is a personal prayer for help, a prayer for redemption, that is prayed from the depths, from the lowest points of life.

In a few weeks, we will observe Good Friday. We will remember the agony of the cross of Calvary and the darkest points of life. But then, for the rest of Friday and all day Saturday, we will wait. We will join the Hebrew poet who wrote Psalm 130 in declaring, “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”

We wait and we hope in the LORD because we know that out of the darkest depths of Good Friday there will emerge a new dawn on Easter morning, a new dawn of life and renewal.

PRAYER

Lord, we wait for you. During this Lenten season, out of the deepest and darkest depths of life, we hope in you. On Good Friday, as we remember Jesus’ suffering and death, we put our hope in you. For we look forward to the life and renewal that you give us on Easter. Amen.

— The Rev. Dr. Jim Durlesser
Lecturer in Biblical Languages, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

 

Third Sunday of Lent

Dear Friends in Christ –

 I just got word from ‘away’ at school that there’s a new favorite song –When Did Your Heart Go Missing?

Easy for me to comment from my ‘mature’ perch that it’s maudlin, predictable, bad music and poor performance, but truth is, it isn’t.
It’s just heartfelt young love gone away.

Sometimes I lift my head from the keyboard, turn my gaze from the screen, put down the phone and wonder the same thing – When did your/our/his/her/my/the heart go missing? What happened to the passion, the compassion, the grace, the empathy of our nation and our community?

We continue this Sunday clothing ourselves in God. Yes, our discussion emanates from first century Roman Legionaire’s armor. That’s something the oppressed Jewish community would have much too vivid a recognition of, so they understand when Paul co-opts the image. Paul appropriates it to demonstrate God’s protection and our opportunity and need to suit up!

The Breastplate of Righteousness protects the very seat of our lives—our hearts. This Sunday gird our loins and stand firm in the righteousness of God our Savior!

In great anticipation -

cresssig.png
 

Third Lenten Devotional

SCRIPTURE
Psalm 51

1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4Against 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. 5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. 6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins,  and blot out all my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.  11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. 13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. 15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 17The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

lentdevotions.png

DEVOTIONAL
David’s remorse provides us with a heavy read three weeks into Lent. After being confronted by Nathan, David pleads for God’s mercy. His sin? It was more than just adultery and murder. Rather, those acts, horrible in themselves, were the means by which he violated right relationship—with Bathsheba, with Uriah, with himself, and, ultimately, with God. Psalm 51 is his response to Nathan’s shattering revelation— “You are the man!” (2 Sam 12:7).

Self-disclosure is no stranger to us these days. #Nofilter, social media, calling-out culture, TSA scrutiny, medical tests—all plumb the depths of human bodies and behavior and dredge stuff up into the light of day for scrutiny, consumption, and judgment. But David’s remorse is different. It’s not self-disclosure— it’s self-examination within the context of a relationship with a God who judges . . . and whose primary attribute is mercy. As Pope Francis has said, “The mercy of our God is infinite and indescribable.” Indeed, the plumb line for God’s judgment of us is the degree to which we—created in God’s image and likeness—show mercy ourselves.  

As we engage in our own self-examination this Lenten season, let’s remember that we do so in the embrace of a God of mercy who calls us to extend the same to others (and ourselves, too).

PRAYER

God of mercy, we are not so different from David. We too go astray and find ourselves forgetting that you call us to be people of that same mercy—showing welcome to the stranger, compassion to the oppressed, forgiveness to others as imperfect as we are. Awaken in us the kind of self-awareness that brings us deeper into the experience of your infinite and indescribable love so that we can incarnate that love to those who need it most.

— Dr. Helen Blier
Director of Continuing Education, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

 

Vacation Bible School

I can hardly believe that it is time to start registering for Vacation Bible School. What an exciting time to be a part of Second Presbyterian! This idea of a community Vacation Bible School is something the Session and Christian Education Committee have dreamed and prayed about for a long time. This idea of inviting families on the east side of Charleston to be a part of our church family is exactly what God calls the church to be. God calls the church to reach outside of the comfort of our own walls and bring those in that might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the grace and love of Jesus Christ. I am excited to partner with each of you to create this meaningful opportunity for our church family and our community.

 
VBS.png
 

Vacation Bible School is a ministry of the whole church and we need you! You will find volunteer job descriptions attached as well as volunteer and participant registration forms. There are ways to be hands off as well as ways to be behind the scene. If you are not able to participate as a volunteer during the week of VBS (June 24th-28th) I would invite you to take a peek at the “Amazon Wish List.” We are in need of all of these supplies and through your generous donations we will be able to cut costs. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out.
 
Looking forward to a wonderful VBS this summer at Second!

liv sig.png
 

Second Sunday of Lent

Dear Friends in Christ –

The core of something may be defined as the central, most important part. Last week I gave an overview of Ephesians 6:10-19. The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that he feels the battle for the human soul– I would even say for the soul of humanity– is being waged on a cosmic scale. Not was waged, nor may be waged, but is being waged even in this moment. Can one doubt as each day we’re confronted with the real necessity of discerning what is real and what is fake?

In the aftermath of the shootings in Parkland, Florida, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School vented their grief and outrage as they mourned their friends and teachers. They called for change and within hours a YouTube video appeared claiming that these weren’t students at all, but actors. The video was a fabrication.

Where are we to find our compass to navigate these waters?

Paul lists the pieces of armor in the order a Roman soldier would put them on for battle:

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand firm, therefore, and having girded your loins with truth...”   

This is where we start– the core, central, most important part– God’s truth revealed in Jesus “so that you (we) will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, stand firm.”

I hope to see you in worship -

cresssig.png
 

Second Lenten Devotional

SCRIPTURE

Deuteronomy 9:13-21

13Furthermore the LORD said to me, “I have seen that this people is indeed a stubborn people. 14Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.” 15So I turned and went down from the mountain, while the mountain was ablaze; the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the LORD had commanded you. 17So I took hold of the two tablets and flung them from my two hands, smashing them before your eyes. 18Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the LORD by doing what was evil in his sight. 19For I was afraid that the anger that the LORD bore against you was so fierce that he would destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also. 20The LORD was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, but I interceded also on behalf of Aaron at that same time. 21Then I took the sinful thing you had made, the calf, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was reduced to dust; and I threw the dust of it into the stream that runs down the mountain.

lentdevotions.png

DEVOTIONAL

In our reading for today, Moses comes down from the mountain carrying the two tablets of the covenant, only to discover that the Israelites have built a golden calf and are worshiping it. Perhaps we can understand why the people have done so: they had been wandering in the wilderness for many years and their future probably felt very uncertain. When Moses, their leader, disappeared to go talk with God, their fear and anxiety likely overwhelmed them, and this feeling may be what convinced them to create something tangible in which to place their faith and trust. God becomes angry with the people not because they felt fearful and anxious, but because they dealt with those feelings by making an idol for themselves instead of trusting God’s promises. In this Lenten season of self-examination, we are challenged to look at our own lives and ask ourselves, When I am fearful and anxious, what idols am I tempted to worship? What statues do I need to destroy so that I can again place my faith in God alone?

PRAYER

Merciful God, we thank you that even when you become angry with us for our sinful ways, you do not destroy us or cast us away from your presence. Instead, you continue to love us and welcome us back each time we stray. Help us to recognize those places in our lives where we are trusting in the wrong things, and bring us back into right relationship with you. Amen

— The Rev. Dr. Leanna Fuller
Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

First Sunday of Lent

Dear Friends in Christ –

Words fail as yet another mass shooting claims the lives of innocents. Woe to us if we become inured, accustomed, accepting of continuing carnage. Yes, we will grieve with those who grieve.  We will pray. We will search our hearts and question the resolve of ours and others as well as the children quite rightly state, “We are children, you are the adults...” Implicit in that statement is a plea that surely there is something that can be done, so that more and more children and teachers’ and sisters’ and brothers’ lives aren’t snuffed in fits of rage or madness.

Just because we don’t know the answer now, does not mean that there isn’t one.

As people of the Word and of faith, we look to and lean into scripture.  It is neither our calling nor our task to be absent nor silent as violence becomes commonplace. Should we not speak we become complicit.

This Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent, we begin a series of sermons on Ephesians 6:10-19 – The Armor of God. In a different time one might have regarded this passage as archaic – “hopelessly first century, male-oriented, warrior mentality, apocalyptic hyperbole.” But in these times attention must be paid. Until we celebrate the victory of Christ’s resurrection, we will walk with him putting on the armor as it is offered.

This Sunday we fasten the Belt of Truth. Yours? Mine? The only one that matters – God’s Truth.

See you in worship -

cresssig.png
 

First Lenten Devotional

SCRIPTURE

Hebrews 12:1-14

1Therefore, 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, 2looking 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. 3Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children — “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; 6for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.” 7Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? 8If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. 9Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. 11Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. 14Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

lentdevotions.png

DEVOTIONAL

One particularly virulent Lenten temptation is to assume that we are solely responsible for the content and results of any program of spiritual discipline we undertake during this season. If we successfully refrain from indulging in chocolate, alcohol, or whatever we promised God we would avoid, or, in contrast, successfully engage in Bible reading, prayer, or other deeds we promised we would do, then by golly, we think we’ve had ourselves a pretty good Lent. The danger of a “successful” Lent lies in the growth of our ego rather than growth in humility from a faithful Lent. This passage reminds us that Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. We don’t initiate or continue this journey alone. A great cloud of witnesses surrounds us—saints who have trod a similar path, sometimes stumbling, sometimes falling flat on their faces—whose prayers and testimonies encourage us to persevere. Trials and difficulties will confront us over the next 40 days—all permitted and some perhaps designed by Christ—to help us develop the peaceful fruit of righteousness and resemble our Savior in his holiness. Let us not lose heart, but rather proceed faithfully, being strengthened and healed as we walk toward Easter.

PRAYER

Almighty and everlasting God, you have called into this holy season to journey with the cloud of faithful witnesses from generations past and present. Help us to follow with patience and persistence the path that Christ will set before us, trusting in His righteousness and not our own, that we may obtain the growth and transformation that you alone most desire and design in each of our lives, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

— The Rev. Dr. Cathy Brall
Director, Field Education, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary