Morning Devotion for Lent
March 21, 2022
The Invitatory
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Come let us adore him
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Reading: Philippians 4:4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
Is Paul hopelessly naive, inattentive, optimistic or just unrealistic about life and human beings? Rejoice always! Do not worry about anything! How do these words sit with anyone two years into the pandemic or the Ukrainians caught in a war with Russia or the millions of refugees from Ukraine or any other country?
Paul directed this urgent message to Euodia and Syntyche, church co-leaders who seemed to be at odds with each other. He pleads with the church in Philippi to assist these women. And then he speaks directly and emphatically to the heart of the anguish and anxiety of that church and to us now in our anguish and anxiety: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice.”
In our anxious, utilitarian, spirituality seeking age we need to hear and heed God’s good news in this text. Childlike rejoicing in the Lord is the hallmark of the Christian life. It is the good news the Church has to offer to the world. Taking precedence over everything else on Redeemer’s calendar and in its news, joy is the command to all who know Jesus Christ. For Paul, joy and life beyond constant worry come not when one has mastered one or another spirituality or when joy arrives “special delivery” from God, but when we perceive God’s actions even amid difficulty and pain.
Rejoice in the Lord, always. It sounds so simple, yet this joy is profoundly countercultural in society today. We think of joy as a private overflow of good feeling in response to happy circumstances. For Paul, joy is shared, not individual; not an end in and of itself; a discipline, not a right; and here, a command, not an option. Joy is a sign of the presence of the risen Christ. We must work to seek it, to find it and to live in it. What a sign the church can and must give to the world.
Joy is a discipline of perception, not an emotion dependent on circumstances. In developing a deeper appreciation of God’s activity we develop a growing awareness that life must be a matter of sharp antagonisms. We shy away from this realization, as we want to have our tempers soothed, our emotions quieted. We want to be told that Christ gives us joy and peace. And he does. But we must know that the peace and joy that Christ gives does not bring freedom from struggle, but freedom from uncertainty in the struggle. Peace and joy do not lie in the absence of struggle, but in knowing on which side of the struggle we belong. Peace and joy do not lie in the assurance that there is only one side to a question, but in knowing on what side of the question we will stand.
To have joy and to rejoice, means we will want to find God’s will for us. Surely the will of God is this: in all things to live in the spirit of Christ. We may all find that. It requires that we desire to know God’s will and to loose ourselves from our own desires. We come to the realization that we are surely a part of something so much greater than ourselves. In that moment of God’s presence and our relationship to God there will be joy.
Rejoice in the Lord, always.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
