The Lenten Journey Day 9

Today’s essay by Thomas Merton builds on the thoughts of seeking Christ beyond suffering. Merton points out that seeking suffering just for suffering’s sake is dangerously self-centered. This is simple but so vitally important to avoiding the pitfalls of Lent in particular and Discipleship in general. The goal of living purposefully and passionately in Christ, is knowing Christ. This passage by Merton says it very well,

“To know the cross is to know that we are saved by the sufferings of Christ; more, it is to know the love of Christ who underwent suffering and death in order to save us. It is, then, to know Christ. For to know his love is not merely to know the story of his love, but to experience in our spirit that we are loved by him, and that in his love the Father manifests his own love for us, through his Spirit poured forth into our hearts…”

Christ is the embodiment of the Kingdom and He calls His follower to seek the kingdom first. Lent and discipleship are about seeking Christ.

The Lenten Journey Day 8

“Many will follow him as far as the breaking of bread, but few will remain to drink from his passion. Many are awed by his miracles, few accept the shame of His cross." Thomas a’ Kempis

a’ Kempis’ essay is entitled the “Royal Road” and he centers in on the necessity of the cross in our development of Christ likeness. I ask myself if choosing the cross means choosing shame. I finally landed on the promise that we are saved to live in Christ and for Christ. What we have to recognize is that shame and suffering may certainly be a part of that. What is incredible is that finding ourselves in Christ is worth it. Our salvation and God’s mission was worth it to him and whatever struggle we may have is worth knowing him fully. I think.

The Lenten Journey Day 7

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” Galatians 2:20

“These words mean the breaking of my own independence with my own hand and surrendering to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to the point three-hundred and sixty-five times a year, but he cannot put me through it. It means breaking the husk of my individual independence of God, and the emancipating of my personality into the oneness with himself, not for my own ideas, but for absolute loyalty to Jesus. There is no possibility of dispute when once I am there. Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ.” - Oswald Chambers

Where do my loyalties lie? This is a question of the depth of my surrender to Christ. One obstacle, among many, is what does loyalty to Christ really look like. Is it defending or opposing certain things? Is it the use of certain phrases and the abhorrence of cultural trends? Is loyalty to Christ aligning myself with a certain leader or group? The real problem is those are all the wrong questions. Loyalty to Christ is much more pointed and central than those other things. Loyalty is surrender, surrender is loyalty. It means bowing low at the cross and identifying with Christ, then letting go from there. Real independence, freedom is found in the freeing dependence on our relationship with God. There is sin in the areas of our lives where Christ wants to live, they have to go and He will come.

The Lenten Journey Day 6

Today’s reading comes for Jean-Pierre de Caussade, an 18th century Jesuit priest. He writes of complete surrender from us in light of God’s rich grace and mercy. He describes God’s love as “unalloyed".” Not an adjective I have ever heard attributed to the everlasting love of God and it really made me think a minute. The Oxford Dictionary has two definitions for “unalloyed.” One is when it speaks of metal and simply means pure. The other definition is said to be used typically when describing emotions and means “complete and unreserved.”

Though the Divine love is not exclusively emotional, the second definition really fits well. As we journey towards repentance, may we remember that God’s unalloyed love is “complete and unreserved.” It is without measure and never runs out. Now I think most of us know this in a sense but sometimes we live and look upon others lives as thought we or them are just one step away from God’s love running out. That is not possible, that is not an apt understanding of His love. It reminds me of a song I first learned at Cross Timbers with some of our UBC kids, “His love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me.”

The Lenten Journey- Day 5

I cannot decider whether Edna Hong’s short essay “A Look Inside” challenges me because it makes me uncomfortable or because I disagree with some of her wording and conclusion. It is probably a little bit of both. I am challenged by what she finally calls the “downward descent” where we truly find ourselves at the cross. Where we get past the superficial and into the sinful depth of ourselves, that our confidence in God may grow. However, I disagree with her use of guilt as leading to genuine contrition and forgiveness. It may just be semantics but I don’t see guilt as an apt description of how God truly, lovingly, graciously convicts us of our sin. There is much in the essay to challenge and that is where the focus should remain.

“Lent would indeed be a futile liturgical farce if the redeemed were henceforth sinless and if the tides of human nature were not always moving even the twice-born, who have not shed their human nature, in the direction of complacency and taking it all for granted”- Edna Wong. There is a legitimate risk we take in observing Lent that it actually leads to complacency instead of repentance, gratitude, and growth. We must allow our staring into the crucified face of Christ to have the full work of exposing our sin and making plain our need for forgiveness. This is necessary for the new believer and the seasoned saint.

As we make our “downward ascent” may we remember that humble Christ calls us heavenward through the same state of humility with which He lived and died.