The Resurrection of Our Lord

"You said, 'Let there be light!' and light exploded, shattering the darkness. Everything that has happened since are facets of one great story - the story of how you continue to shatter the darkness and draw every blessed thing into union with your love."

This is the story we celebrate tonight. Tonight we gather to tell the story of our faith - the story of light breaking into the darkest of darkness, bringing life to all it touches.

May you experience resurrection light bursting forth into your life this weekend.

Good Friday

"I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of God's love], and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.    - Ephesians 3:18-19

The event that we remember and celebrate today - the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus - reveals the truth at the very core of life:

God created us...
...in order to love us.

Maundy Thursday

Today's author writes, "I do not seek new ideas or concepts about you. They weary me. I seek only you, hoping to feel your love in my inmost soul enfolding and consoling my heart..."

That's what our journey during holy week that begins tonight is all about. Not learning about Jesus, but experiencing him. And what we find during this journey is the reality the author expresses:

"I fly on the wings of prayer into the soul of who I am and find you waiting there for me to arrive..."

What a beautiful way to express what we go through during this holy journey. Join us as that journey begins tonight.

Creation's Beating Heart

"The constant beat of your gracious heart sends your love coursing through all creation."

What a beautiful metaphor: God as the heart of all creation, pulsing to send God's love out as the lifeblood that sustains all things.

What resonates with you from today's verse or devotion?

Cocoons

Today's image is a striking one to me. The fullness of the union with God and one another expressed by Ephesians as the result of the gospel is not yet present in the world.  But at their best, churches can be little cocoons of what is to come; of what is God's will for this world.  Places where glimpses of that loving unity is witnessed and experienced, however incomplete, imperfect, and tenuous they may be.

God with us.

"Many people have come to believe through their contemplation that Jesus desires their friendship and companionship even more than they desire his." 

This is part of the quote from William A. Barry in today's devotion. I am one of those people. I believe that one of the main functions of the cross is that it is God's "wooing" of us. Through showing the great extent of his love for us in this way, Jesus shows us that he would go to any length to be with us. To me, that is the core of the gospel. God has always wanted to be with us, but sin stood in the way. And so Jesus died to deliver us from sin, so that he might dwell with us for all eternity.

God is dying to be in relationship with you. What do you think of that?

Radical Community

In Ephesians 2 Paul envisions a church where groups of people who were formerly divided along social, political, economic, and religious lines now form one community, united in the love that God has for them and they have for one another. The section finishes with Paul saying that this community is the new temple, "a dwelling place for God."

The author of today's devotion says that "we cannot create such a community." What a great insight. When this type of community happens, it is not because of our own methods or ingenuity. It can only happen as an act of God's grace, the result of a collection of individuals in whom God's spirit is at work; continually breaking down dividing walls by the cross of Christ.

May we be such a community, by the grace of God.