Lenten Devotional: Easter

Christ has risen, he has risen indeed!

We have made it through the Lenten season and have come to an empty tomb and the good news: Christ has risen, he has risen indeed. I hope that you have found some time in the Lenten season and during Holy Week to slow down, breathe deeply, and draw nearer to God. Although Lent and Holy Week are more somber occasions in our liturgical year, they are ones we need. We need a season that urges us to slow down, to reconnect with God, and to remind us that if we allow ourselves to sit in the darkness, in the suffering and grief we can be more present in the celebration and to trust that we never sit in either suffering or celebration alone. 

I hope and pray at the end of this Lenten season you are able to lean fully into the joy and celebration that Easter brings. May you feel the presence of our Risen Lord and Savior near to you now and always.    

Christ has risen! He has risen indeed! Thanks be to God!

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

Margaret's ordination service will be held on April 18, 2021 in the sanctuary.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Lenten Devotional: To Be Patient and Wait for the Lord

To Be Patient and Wait for the Lord

It is hard to believe that we have already made it to Holy Week. Easter is coming upon us quickly, and yet, there is still so much that must happen before we celebrate a tomb empty and our Lord risen. The seasons of the liturgical year teach us a rhythm in which we can live our lives. Most of the seasons, I have found, urge us to slow down, sit still, be patient and wait for the Lord. I believe Holy Week is a special invitation to sit and wait for the Lord.

There is something powerful about sitting in the discomfort of Holy Week. Throughout the Lenten season, Rev. Darwin’s sermon series has guided us through Jesus’ final days and we have been practicing sitting with and learning from that journey alongside our Savior. I often think about the disciples and how scary, jarring, and heartbreaking the last few days must have been. Especially when Jesus dies.

For the past few years, it has become an important practice for me, personally, to try and sit in that discomfort of grief and darkness of Good Friday and the uncomfortable unknown of Saturday. Because I have learned time and time again that when I sit in the grief, suffering, and darkness of my pain or others’ I can more truly and fully join in the celebration, the brightness, and the joy. Let us accept the invitation to be with Jesus on this journey this week so we might be able to truly celebrate when Easter Sunday arrives.

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

Margaret's ordination service will be held on April 18, 2021 in the sanctuary.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Lenten Devotional: Vulnerable Prayers

Vulnerable Prayers

Becoming more human or allowing ourselves to get more fully in touch with our humanity has been a theme that has continuously been coming up for me in this season of Lent. Yesterday, I had the honor of preaching at Second and I preached on Mark 14:32-42, Jesus praying in Gethsemane, if it has been a while since you have read or heard this scripture, I urge you to give it another read. 

In the text Jesus is wrestling with God and praying what I believe is an incredibly human prayer: “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want” (Mark 14:36). I know I have prayed a similar prayer and I wonder, have you? I find that this text brings me comfort for many reasons, one being that Jesus is so human here as are his very sleepy disciples. I can’t help but see this text as an invitation; an invitation to allow God into our messes, even the ones we create ourselves. I have hope that when we pray raw and vulnerable prayers, like Jesus did in the garden, God honors them, hears them, and is present with us as we offer them—even if God doesn’t necessarily answer them in the ways we think God ought to or in the ways we might want. 

May we be renewed and strengthened by the love of God this week and always. May we take heart in knowing our Lord never falls asleep and is always awake. May we try and stay awake, but be willing to accept God’s grace when we inevitably fall asleep. 

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

Margaret's ordination service will be held on April 18, 2021 in the sanctuary.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Lenten Devotional: Suffering and Celebration

Suffering and Celebration

Last week, I wrote about how Lent is a time to do things that will draw us closer to God and in doing so we become more fully human. By acknowledging our reliance upon God and learning what it means to answer the call to follow Christ, we recognize not only our full humanity but the full humanity of others. In answering the call to follow Christ we are invited to move closer to people and their pain, to bear witness to their suffering and in learning to be present in the suffering we learn how to more fully celebrate in times of joy.

The society we live in offers us amazing ways to numb ourselves to the pain of this world—our pain and the pain of others. A few of my personal favorite numbing tools are scrolling through social media, store websites, and buying things I don’t need all in the search of a quick fix to alleviate pain or to make me happy. However, as I wake up to my full humanity by drawing closer to God—I learn that the numbing does not help but rather hinders real relationship. In this Lenten season I am personally being challenged to connect fully, without numbing, to my humanity and the humanity of others. It hurts, it is some of the hardest work we have to do—yet it is holy as it draws us closer to one another and to the One who created us all and calls us beloved.

As we enter into this week, may we do so as fully human. May we step into others’ pain and suffering and into their joy, laughter and love with our whole selves and may we find that Christ goes with us, Christ is already there, and that Christ surrounds us. 

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

Margaret will be preaching at Second Presbyterian Church on Sunday, March 21, 2021 and we are excited to host her ordination service on April 18, 2021.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Lenten Devotional: Being Human

Being Human

During the season of Lent, we practice intentionality. We intentionally give up things or put on a new practice in order to draw closer to Christ. I believe as we deliberately make space and time to become silent and draw closer to God, we are ultimately drawing closer to our own humanity. We learn more and more to rely on the One who created us and sustains us. 

The things we choose to give up or the practices we choose to put on are intended to keep pointing us back to God. Every time we desire that thing we gave up, we are faced with our humanity and the temptations that come with being human and we are met with our need for God’s grace, patience, and love, which God continues to freely give. Or perhaps we put on new practices and as we do them we draw closer to God and we sense more and more God’s presence of love in this big world and with each one of us. 

In this season of Lent, I hope and pray that as you are reminded of your full humanity you will feel God’s presence of love encompassing you, embracing you, loving you and sustaining you throughout this journey.

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Lenten Devotional: Treasured Things

Treasured Things

One of my favorite lines in scripture appears twice in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The first time it appears, is after the shepherds have come to visit the baby Messiah, Mary and Joseph and tell of the wonderful things they had heard of the child. After this, the text reads “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19) The next time Scripture states of Mary treasuring things in her heart is after she could not find the young boy Jesus, when he was in the temple (Luke 2:46-51). I can only imagine Mary’s absolute terror at not knowing where her beloved son is. The text tells us that after they discover him and reveal how worried they were, Jesus “was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.” 

I love that this line is used not once, but twice in the same chapter and it points to the utter love, hope, and concern Mary has for Jesus. I look at Mary and see a human many of us can relate to—proud and relieved, treasuring big and seemingly small things in our hearts and carrying them with us as sustenance for the journey of life.  I wonder if these are moments that helped sustain Mary when she eventually stood as a grief-stricken mother at the foot of the cross, heartbroken, scared, and hurting for her beloved son. 

I believe we are invited to pay attention to the big, in your face holy moments, and to the seemingly small but ever so sacred moments that this life has to offer. We should savor them and treasure them in our hearts, so that we remember Love is everlasting and God is ever present. Let us take some time this week to open ourselves up to the sacred happening all around us and treasure it in our hearts.

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Lenten Devotional: Known, Accepted, Loved

Known, Accepted, Loved

Recently, my husband, Will and I were able to safely catch up with good friends of ours. After spending quality time with our friends, I noticed that my heart felt peaceful and so full of love and joy. These friends of ours, they are the type of friends we can go months without speaking regularly with and we know and trust that as soon as we are able to reconnect it will be as if no time at all has passed. They are the type of people who know us fully; they know our shiny, successful bits and they know our messy, not quite as successful bits and they accept us and love us fully.

As I marveled at how lucky we are to have people in our lives who know us, accept and love us so fully—I cannot help but be in awe of how completely known, accepted and loved we all are by God. God sees our shiny bits and our not so shiny bits and still pursues us and loves us. When we mess up, God “offers us a path back into right relationship” as Rev. Darwin reminds us each week in worship as we prepare to confess.

This Lenten season, we are taking time to be still, to breathe deeply into our lives, and to listen to our hearts—to pay attention to what fills them up and to what drains them. May you take time this week to intentionally seek out (safe) connection with others, yourself, and our God. May you trust that you are fully known, accepted, and loved.

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Lenten Devotional: Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is one of my favorite services. It seems a bit odd, because it is often a somber service, a service where we are reminded of our mortality. I have stood in different churches and chapels over the past few years, heard those familiar words, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” and received ashes upon my forehead in the shape of the cross. I have cried every time I receive the ashes and hear those words because my favorite part about this somber service is that it is laced with a pure, loving hope. Hope that although this earthly body will not live forever, there is something much more. 

A few years ago, I was serving as a seminary intern at a PCUSA church. I provided pastoral care with one of our congregants during her final few weeks at a hospice house. I had the honor of praying with this wonderful, faithful woman and her family every day for two weeks. When she died, I was a wreck. I was new into this whole ministry thing and while I had experienced some death in my life—I had never experienced it from the standpoint of a pastoral caregiver. I was faced with the question, “What is it that you believe about death and God in the midst of death?”

As I spiritually grappled with her death and what I believe about death and after death, a pastor shared with me words that I will never forget, “God looks death straight in the eye and laughs, because it is not the end.” With Christ, we have everlasting life—this is the underlying hope that accompanies us throughout our life journey and it is the hope that roots Ash Wednesday. That same pastor in that same conversation said something else that has remained with me, “in death our baptism is made complete.” Because in life and in death, we belong to God.  

May this be the hope that we cling to now and always. Let us lean into today and the rest of the Lenten season, knowing that God is ever present, ever loving, and everlasting. 

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Lenten Devotional Introduction

Prepare our hearts for resurrection

Lent has always been the liturgical season that intimidates me. Growing up, I heard about people giving up chocolate for Lent and never quite understood why. Even now, after three years of seminary education, I had to look up what this season of Lent means and how Presbyterians practice it. 

In my preparation research for this series, I learned why some people feel called to give up things, like chocolate or social media, for Lent. It is not about the thing you are giving up so much as it is about the intention behind the giving up. Lent is an invitation to go against how society tells us to live and what society tells us is important in order to “prepare our hearts for resurrection” (“The give-and-take of Lent,” Presbyterians Today located on presbyterianmission.org). The things we give up, or the practices we might add on are intended to help draw us closer to God. The article I referenced above states “we give things up or take on practices because we need to learn again and again that we live and move and breathe and have our being in God.” 

As I opened my heart and prayed for this devotion, I kept hearing these words being whispered over and over: “stillness,” “silence,” “listen,” and “heart.” This Lenten season, let us answer the call to slow down, dwell in stillness, breathe deeply in the silence so we might listen and hear what God is whispering into our hearts. As Ash Wednesday draws near, I invite you to think of something you might want to give up or a practice you might want to take on setting the intention of drawing nearer to the One who created you, calls you by name, sustains you, and loves you with an everlasting love.  

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”