A, Post-Pentecost 24 Proper 27 - Matthew 25:1-13 "Expectation"

What do you expect from this day?  We all live with expectations everyday of our lives.  What are expectations and from where do they come?  To where do they lead?  Are your expectations healthy or unhealthy?

Expectations change from person to person, from place to place, and they vary in different times of life throughout the ages.

Our expectation for a meal, a bed in which to sleep tonight, an enjoyable day amongst likeminded folk, seems reasonable to us.  But, for those in war-ravaged places perhaps these expectations would lead to disappointment, resentment, and further hopelessness.  Our expectations might be quite trivial to those whose very existence hangs in the balance! 

The expectations we place on others can differ too.  What you expect of your parents or children changes over time.  Children learn to expect parents to care for them when young, but they expect to escape from their authority when they’re teenagers and young adults!  Likewise, parents expect to care for their children when young, and our mums and dads expect to be cared for, when they grow old!

Expectations are buried in our being from the time we’re born. 

Expectations remember the past, in the present, and furnish one’s future. 

Depending on the culture into which you’re born, will usually dictate the expectations you have of others, and yourself.   What you did and do, dictates what you will do.  Enjoying what you ate encourages what you will seek to eat.  Where you live, who you serve, who serves you, who and what you trust and don’t trust are learnt expectations.

Another word for expectations is wants!  Wants or expectations are fuelled by something deep within each of us.  Examining our inner wants and expectations can tell us a lot about ourselves.  Learning of another person’s wants, or a group’s expectations, can also help us discern much about the person or group.

For example, those who expect the world to continue to evolve into a better and better place, might have an expectation of society learning from its mistakes and not making them again.  There’s an expectation of humanity cycling round and round in an ever-rising series of events towards perfection.  On the other hand, those who expect the universe to one day spiral and explode into a chaotic oblivion will have very different expectations.  Both are expectations, both are not right, but they affect how humanity acts and reacts to events and other people.

So, what or who fuels your expectations?

Are your expectations, or wants, a false god?   Are your expectations premeditated resentments?  Setting yourself up, or others, for hurt and failure?

What do you expect of God?

What does God expect of you?  You might be surprised what God expects of you, written in his Word!

What fuel’s your expectations of God, and your understanding of his expectations of you?  It depends on whether your expectations submit to the Word of God, or you try to make God submit to your expectations and wants!

Ten virgins expect the coming of the bridegroom.  In this parable Jesus says five were wise and five were foolish.  The wise were those who have considered bringing extra fuel for their lamps.  The foolish have not thought things through and don’t have extra oil to fuel their lamps.

Jesus teaches the parable to prepare us for his coming and what we should expect.  So, what is the parable of the ten virgins teaching us to expect about Jesus’ return?

At the end of the parable Jesus says, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:13 ESV)  This sudden surprise is made explicit in the midst of the parable.  All ten virgins are asleep and startled when the cry comes for the bridegroom’s arrival.

Jesus previously says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”  (Matthew 24:36 ESV)  Not even Jesus knows, only the Father in heaven.  Obviously when Jesus is sent by the Father, he will know, but not beforehand.

Notice that in the parable all the virgins fall asleep, and they cannot lend their oil.  This is so, because when we fall asleep in death, what we believe and trust, is the fuel of our faith, and it’s this light that will expose us as followers of Christ.  What you believe, or what you expect when you die, cannot be changed when Christ returns.

When we think of lamps, we might assume that lamps were used to see the way.  They may have been, if the lamps were rags soaked in oil on sticks, but the parable tends to suggest a lamp that’s not a temporary torch to see the way, but a lamp made of clay with a reservoir to hold the fuel and a wick to draw the fuel and burn a flame.  Much like a candle would burn and produce a small amount of light.

This type of lamp is not for seeing the way, but for being seen.  Virgins walking in the evening moved about with lamps to illuminate their faces, so they could be plainly seen.  Women who moved around hidden within the cloak of darkness, were usually anything but virgins.  The virgins needed the fuel for their lamps, to be seen by the bridegroom on his arrival, not to see the way to the bridegroom. 

One cannot work their way to Jesus.  Just as he came the first time, he will come the second time.  We didn’t find him the first time, and neither will we find him when he returns.  What will be seen of you when he returns?

This is a key part of the parable because if one does not have the good oil, so to speak, when the bridegroom arrives, we cannot expect to bargain our way through the door of eternal life to be with Jesus.

Like the virgins who went to find oil and returned to begged to enter, Jesus also says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21, 23 ESV)

If we have an expectation that we can change our story on judgement day, Jesus clearly tells us it doesn’t work like that!  The fuel of faith we need when we die, is the fuel of doing God’s will, or what God expects and wants. 

He wants to see us waiting for him, illuminated by his presence, and not the back of us working, or changing, to get the good oil.  He wants to see the radiance and joy of our hopeful expectation in which we will enter the grave and will be woken at his coming.

So, what is this fuel?  The good oil of expectation!  It’s not an idol of our works, or a belief in a false image of God we’ve concocted in our hearts.

What is this fuel of faith that God expects to see in you?   It’s the fuelling trust in God’s Word, looking not to ourselves or finding our way to eternity.  It’s allowing the fire of the Holy Spirit to illuminate Christ’s death for our daily death of self.  This fuel of faith lets him shine his holiness in us.  So, when the Father sees us, our lamp of faith shows Jesus the bridegroom, shining for us, in his resurrection glory.

God expects you to be a sinner!  If he did not expect this, he would not have sent Jesus to be the only sacrifice for sin!  But God also expects you to be an enlightened repentant sinner, who despite knowing your sinfulness, willingly stands in his presence to confess, be forgiven, and forgive as Jesus has forgiven us in his death and resurrection.

Like the wise virgins whose faces are lit up with hope and joy at his coming, our wisdom is not so much about you or me, but about the wisdom of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, working and waking us with the Word of God.

God expects us humans to have doubts and troubles with faith.  Every day you can expect the old human self will seek its resurrection.  That, you can count on without a skerrick of doubt!   This is not a time to forget the oil reserve that is being deposited in you through God’s Word. 

When you have doubts, let the eternal resurrected bridegroom pour his Word into you with the Holy Spirit.  When you doubt, bash on God’s door in prayer for the Holy Spirit to open Godly expectations of his Word in you!  When you pray, trust the Holy Spirit to give you a desire and joy in God’s Word.  When you receive God’s Word as the good oil, expect this oil to be the oil to keep your lamps burning.

God wants your greatest expectation, to be of him. 

He wants your expectation of him alone.  

He expects you, to expect him, to be your God.  Amen.

A, Post-Pentecost 21 Proper 24 - 1 Thessalonians 1: 3 "Produced, Prompted, Inspired"

1 Thessalonians 1: 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The verse we have just heard, directs us to meditate on three things; faith, love, and hope.  These three are not uncommon to us from scripture.  We hear of them in many places throughout the New Testament.  But more on these three in a moment.

There are also another three things in this verse we can examine too; work, labour, and endurance.

Whether one works or not, all know what work is; all know what work they should be doing, whether they have done it or not.  Work here in this sense refers to one’s deeds or actions; to ‘do’ something. 

Then we hear of labour.  We might assume labour is the same as work, and when we labour at something we do work at it.  However, labour is more intense than work in the general sense.  Mothers, more than likely, have the greatest understanding of labour, as a more intense part of motherhood, over against the regular duties of a mother’s work.  So, labour here implies that there is hardship and difficulty, requiring commitment and passion, lest the labour not be finished.

The third word is endurance.  It too has something to do with work, as does labour.  However, with endurance we have the quality of constancy.  One might see endurance as something one has to keep at, grinding away bit by bit, until the outcome is realised.  Guts and dogged determination, stamina and inner strength are needed for endurance.  Patience, fortitude, steadfastness, and perseverance are what endurance is all about.

Saint Paul, on behalf of himself Timothy and Silas, writes to the church in Thessalonica after a hasty retreat from the multicultural trade route town.  The new converts are left to face verbal and physical persecution as a result of their newfound faith.  There’s concerned for the fledgling church as they work, labour, and endure amongst those who have rejected Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel.

So, he writes his first letter to the Thessalonians to encourage them in the troubles they’re facing.  We hear his encouragement for their work, labour, and endurance.  But specifically for their work produced by faith, their labour prompted by love, and their endurance inspired by hope.  The three-fold theme — faith, hope, and love — common in the New Testament is present here, but Paul now couples it with their deeds and lives amongst the transient community of Thessalonica.

In these days we too live in a transient and temporary society.  In communities where once everyone knew who was who, there was a consistent stability people could count on.  But no more!   Our world has gone and got itself a whole lot busier, and we have been caught up in the busyness of it too.  

Our society is changing in many ways.  We can now find out news from anywhere in the world with only a moment’s notice.  People are becoming migratory in search of the almighty dollar.  And those who stay put, can’t afford to sit still or they get left behind and buried under a pile of debt.

The church too faces this change and Christians within it face the very real pressures of the transient, live-for-the-moment desires of our age.  Once upon a time Christianity was the centre of most communities; you would see the who’s who of the district in a church somewhere.  And everyone made the commitment to be in church on Good Friday and Christmas day.  But today, friends and family are sadly missed from amongst the ranks.  The pews are empty; leaving us behind wondering if we should remain in something that seems like it might die.

The saddest thing though, is not that our society is changing, getting busier, or even becoming more and more heathen.  The Thessalonians came through it and so has the Christian church in other ages too.  No! The saddest thing is that as a result of these things we allow ourselves to backslide; producing less and less works, labouring in love is lost, and endurance becomes uninspired, bland, and boring. 

The saddest thing is we let the godlessness of our age have more power in our lives than our Father in heaven, fearing godlessness more than God, giving it greater and greater power in our hearts and minds. We see numerical decline and lose trust in God who has his plan for his church which he ultimately sustains through thick and thin. 

After the collection of the weekly offering, we pray for God to receive it for the sake of Jesus Christ.  We use various prayers, but usually they give thanks for what God has given us; ourselves, our time, and our possessions.  We go on to ask God to accept our offerings as a sign of his goodness and as a symbol of our love. 

The offering on the plate is a sign and a symbol, but it’s not the sum total of what we give!  And so we can ask ourselves, regardless of how much or how little we might put on the plate, “With what intention do I give?”

The state of our faith, hope, and love are quickly revealed when we match them next to the offering of ourselves, our time, and our possessions. 

Does the handling of our possessions speak well of our love, of God or of our neighbour?  What does our time management reveal of our daily, hourly, and momentary devotion and glorification of God Almighty?  And what type of faith do we radiate to others as a result of the faith we have received from God? 

Faith and ourselves, our time and our hope, our love, and our possessions; we ask ourselves, “What do they say about my intention towards God?”

Today, in the days of the Thessalonians, even back when the Israelites created the golden calf, and right the way back to Adam and Eve, humanity turns from the one true and living God to idols of one kind or another. 

Much work, labour, and endurance has evolved from the hearts and hands of humans to serve these idols we’ve fashioned.  But the question is; how do I turn from this habitual sin and idolatry back to the one true and living God, so faith in me produces work pleasing to God, I labour for the love of God prompted by the love of God, and I persevere, inspired with enduring hope of my eternal home, before those who seek heavenly moments in the fleeting pleasures of this world?

We could become better focused on our work, labour, and endurance; but that still would lead us on a path into idolatry.  Even if faith, hope, and love within are fed by work, labour, and endurance could we together build something special and great?  No! We couldn’t even make something as special or great as a golden calf or a tower of Babel, even if we tried really hard!  And we know what God thought of them!

Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians because they didn’t do that.  Rather they turned from their idolatry to serve the living and true God, waiting for his Son from heaven.  They looked to Jesus Christ and to him alone who chose them through the gospel, convicting them deeply by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God has chosen you and me.  Although the deep conviction to work, labour, and love might temp us to focus on these things and turn them into idols, it is the Holy Spirit’s intention with faith, hope, and love, to have us focus on Jesus Christ.  And in him we will be productive in faith works, prompted to love, and inspired by hope. 

You see faith, hope, and love are ours in Christ Jesus our Lord; we are in Christ because Christ is in us.  Faith, hope, and love are in us and can only come from us because they are in Christ and are of Christ as a result of the Holy Spirit.

So let us not even be tempted to run after these other things which might seem good, lest they lead us away from God into the idolatry of ourselves.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus and run after him, so that in him, he in us will produce prompt and inspire, faithful good works, labours of love, and enduring hope, to the glory of God — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

A, Pentecost Sunday - 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 "God Works Good Works"

1 Corinthians 12:1–13 (ESV) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.  You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.  Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.  For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

We live in an instant society.  If we want something we can get it immediately.  There is no need to wait for the time or season in a global community.  We can get it frozen or canned in the supermarket. 

When we want information, once one went to a book or a learned person.  Today, one goes to Google.  Letters no longer go through the post.  There is no six-month wait for the boat to arrive with mail from the other side of the world.  Instead, letters are emailed from one side of the planet to the other, instantaneously, with the click of a button.  One doesn’t even need to wait to go to a computer to send a message.  Email is even being superseded by quicker mobile communications; texting, video calls, Twitter tweets, and Tik Tok.

With all this immediacy comes an expectation of pleasure now, without waiting.  When the expectation is not immediately met, frustration floods in to fill the void made by the lack of instant gratification.

It’s no different in the church today!  We are all part of modern society and its pursuit of immediate pleasure.  We all love the feeling of immediate gratification!  It’s the modern addiction behind all the addictions one can imagine!

When one thinks of addiction, one tends to think of the things that are socially unacceptable, like substance, sexual, and alcohol abuse, tending not to associate addiction with pleasure.  But even simple seemingly innocent pleasures can lead one into addiction without even realising it.  Behind them all is the “expectation” for pleasure.

As with society outside the church, inside the church we struggle with the same frustrations.  When frustration occurs as a result of our expectation for pleasure, there is a very real desire to “get on with it” and “do what needs to be done”.

Paul wrestles with the Church in Corinth who, “wants to get on with it!”  Their expectation was driving them to work contrary to the Spirit of God.  This is because their expectation was their mute idol. 

He says to them in first Corinthians twelve, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.  You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.  Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:1–3 ESV)

Here Paul, first makes the point that one being led by the Holy Spirit is not going to speak against and curse Jesus Christ, but rather is going to believe and confess Jesus as Lord.

After making the point, that the Holy Spirit open’s one’s mouth to speak, Paul goes on to teach, that in the same way, the Holy Spirit wills one to work. 

Without the Holy Spirit doing the work through the worker, the work will fail.  The worker will not glorify God the Father or the work of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, the worker will glorify themselves and their own spirit of goodness, and the work done will be followed by ever-increasing confusion and chaos.

This is why there is so much confusion and chaos inside and outside the church today.  In our frustration and desire for instancy, there is no waiting for each other, let alone waiting for God!  Instead of waiting for God the Holy Spirit, a plethora of pleasures takes over and these spirits, competing for pleasure, battle for supremacy inside and outside the church.

At Pentecost, God the Father and God the Son sent the promised Holy Spirit.  The apostles, the other disciples, and the women were hiding in fear of what might happen to them.  But after Jesus’ resurrection he breathed the Holy Spirit into them.  God’s peace was with them, allowing them to wait, allowing them to act with one accord, and allowing them to be the one body of Jesus Christ.

They came out of hiding to boldly proclaim Christ, without fear, with one voice, calling for repentance.  The mega works of the Holy Spirit were done in and through them as they breathed forgiveness over sinners. 

As one they could stand together under Jesus Christ, reject rejoicing in sin by naming it, confess their own sin and call others to repent as well, ask for forgiveness as encouragement before others to do the same, and live as one under the breath of Jesus’ forgiveness.

Paul seeks to return the Church in Corinth to the oneness of the Holy Spirit and the pleasure of God from the confusion of spirits seeking pleasures in an evolving exacerbation of expectations.  Their expectations, and the confusion of human spirited desires that came from them, were mute idols made active and chaotic, only by the work of those who worshipped them.

Paul shows the people of Corinth that doing the work of God by their own effort without the Holy Spirit is as impossible as saying, “Jesus is Lord”, without the Holy Spirit!   In fact, without the Spirit of God their human spirited’ work was accusing and cursing the work of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and destroying the body of Christ in Corinth.

Paul says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”  (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 ESV)

In our baptism we are being resurrected into the one body or church of Christ!  Just as Jesus put aside his divinity and lived by the Holy Spirit while he walked to the cross, we too are called to put off our human spirits and walk as one in Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit’s power.  Just as Jesus lived by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God while he walked to the cross. 

Jesus put aside his divinity when he walked without sin to the cross.  But the difference for us is, we put off the sinfulness of our human spirit, that is, not trust ourselves.  But rather, trust the Holy Spirit, to give us, our activities, our ability to serve, our empowerment, and our works, as he chooses to apportion to each of us.

As Paul says, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities (works), but it is the same God who empowers (works) them all in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  All these are empowered (worked) by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:4–7,11 ESV)

The idols of pleasure are real in everyone’s lives today.  The spirit of this age is one of individualism.  Therefore, a multiplicity of spirits swirl in confusion, seeking a plethora of pleasures, only to produce pain!  The reality of the evolving ever-increasing confusion and chaos in our society, demonstrates the need for us as church to wait on the Holy Spirit, allowing the Word of God to be worked in those who wait in the Word of God, for the work of God.

God works good works, in those who allow God the pleasure to work in them, putting to death the idols and works of the human spirit in favour of the life-giving gifts and work of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

A, Ash Wednesday- Matthew 6:19-21 "The Litany of Jesus' Treasures"

Matthew 6:19–21  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Who is Jesus?  How do you explain Jesus to someone else?  Who is Jesus to you? What makes Jesus important to you, for you in your day-to-day life?

Jesus tells those who listen to his Sermon on the Mount, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasurers on earth… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In coming weeks, we will be examining a litany of Jesus’ life to see his treasure.  Then we can identify our treasure to gain a deeper understanding as to why and how Jesus gave up his divinity and served humanity through what he treasured.

Last Sunday we came to and from the Mountain of Transfiguration.  Now we travel with Jesus in remembrance to the Mountain of Calvary, to the cross, where the Gospel was nailed out for our deliverance from sin and death. 

We are being led to God’s kingdom, forgiven, and equipped to forgive.  Given what we need to walk the way of this wilderness through heartache and suffering.  But also, given it with hope in the great day of salvation, when Jesus will lead us through the Jordanian waters of death into the eternal land of milk and honey.

However, first we find ourselves on the mountain of teaching with Jesus as he opens up the Law to us in greater depth than the Old Testament, and with greater width than we can possibly fulfil during the length and breadth of our lives on earth.

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the beatitudes, “nine statements of blessedness”, then calls the hearer to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”. 

He explains that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfil them.  Then what would have surprised everyone he teaches, one’s righteousness needs to exceed that of the pharisees and scribes, to enter the kingdom of heaven.

He expounds the laws of murder and adultery to include, hatred and lust.  He teaches how to pray, giving them his prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, to turn meditation from themselves to God and his gifts.

What becomes apparent to all who listen with the right heart to his Sermon on the Mount, is that no one can fulfil what the law and the prophets have said.  And even more so!  Now, that Jesus has expanded the Commandments to include not glorifying the self, nor being anxious or worrying.  As well as increasing hating and calling one a fool into the same as murder, and likewise desiring with sexual hunger as the same as adultery. 

In the midst of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus focuses on what are one’s treasures.   A treasure is literally anything that you set aside as security for yourself.  He then focuses us on the greater treasures of heaven.  But the sting he leaves with us is this:  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What is your treasure, where is your heart?  What is your haven of heavenly treasure?

To work out firstly what your heaven might be, we can place ourselves in the shoes of the young man who came up to Jesus, enquiring…

“Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”  And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.  The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”  Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”  (Matthew 19:16-17, 20–22 ESV)

Jesus tells him to sell all his goods.  Or, to rid himself of all the things he deems good for his existence.

Now that you are in the shoes of this young man, how do you receive these words from Jesus?

This should rightfully make you feel uneasy.  With his word, Jesus cuts to the heart of every person’s treasure.  Or what we can rightfully call, goods or riches that have become idols or gods.

Jesus follows on, and says to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  (Matthew 19:23-24 ESV)

The disciples get the gist of Jesus’ word and on hearing, “they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”  But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:25-26 ESV)

God gives us what we need to live, but we take these things and they become treasures greater than the treasures of heaven.  But they perish, and once we’ve made them our gods, we too are in danger of perishing with them. 

Yes!  We all die!  However, these earthly treasures tempt us to trust them and lead us away from being saved.  One’s treasures can lead, not just to a physical death, but an eternal death!

The treasures of the kingdom of heaven are only possible through God.

So, what Jesus was teaching at his Sermon on the Mount is that getting the treasures of heaven is only possible through him.

In a moment we are going to receive the imposition of ashes and I will announce to you as I place an ash cross on your forehead, “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

We do this in full realisation that through humanity’s knowledge of good and evil, we lost access to God, and that we live under the curse of death.  But upon the knowledge of the law we live looking forward in faith in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

During the Lenten season we will examine just what this knowledge of Jesus Christ is.  After the imposition of ashes, we will pray the “Litany on the Life of Jesus” which will be the form of our five meditations. We will also learn of the activity of God the Holy Spirit as Jesus passively lived seeking treasures of his Father in Heaven, his name, his kingdom, and his will, as he walks to the cross for us.

In this Litany of Jesus’ treasures, the Holy Spirit will seek to give you a deeper understanding and teaching of…

1)   The prayers of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to pray.

2)   The gifts of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to give.

3)   The toils of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to work.

4)   By the love of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to love.

5)   By the cross of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to live. 

In allowing the Holy Spirit to rule in our hearts, bringing us to Jesus, we will be Holy Spirit prepared to tell others what the Gospel is.  How we are blessed by forgiveness.  Understand for ourselves God’s purpose for us, despite the curse of sin and death in our lives.  And therefore, show the compassionate steadfast love and generosity we receive, to others, who like us, need God’s forgiveness and salvation.  Amen.