Second Sunday in Lent: Seeing, Believing, Blessing

Look: The Promise, Renáta Fucíková 

Illustration from the book Stories from the Old Testament, published in France and the Czech Republic. - [H/T: Art & Theology]

Listen*: I Am Sure I  Shall See The Goodness Of The Lord, Taizé - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube 

Read**:  Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17 

Excerpts:

"Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran."

*

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. ...

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."

*

"For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist."

*

"Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

- Genesis 12:1-4 * Psalm 121:1-2, 7-8 * Romans 4:13-17 * John 3:9-17 (ESV)

Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Second Sunday in Lent

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Do: Today's a day to break your fast (at least partially). Enjoy something you've given up, giving thanks to Christ for the abundance we receive from his obedience and great love.

Spend a few moments preparing for the second week of Lent.

Meditations and practices for the coming week

The daily office lectionary for the Book of Common Prayer will lead us through most of Genesis chapters 41-43, 1 Corinthians, the rest of chapter 4 and chapters 5-7, and the Gospel of Mark chapters 3-5. We’ll continue in the saga of Joseph and his brothers. 

In the Gospel accounts, we follow Jesus as he models in word and deed what it means to live in a new kind of kingdom.  

Meanwhile, we'll continue in the seat of the Church at Corinth receiving candid exhortations from Paul about what it means to embody the Spirit of God. Each day the Psalms serve as a descant weaving throughout with reminders of God’s steadfast love even in the places of our deepest grief.

I’ve tried to suggest one practice a week that can fit along with whatever other fasts you may be undertaking this Lent. There’s merit in committing simply to one fast for the entire forty days. For example, we give up processed sugar and alcohol and then fast from one meal on Fridays. Traditionally, the Church sets aside Lenten Fridays, the weekday of Jesus’ crucifixion, to abstain from eating meat or to a partial (one meal) or whole fast (24 hours without solid food). You can read more about this tradition and its spiritual implications here, here, and here.

Sometimes we need a little help imagining what a fast can look like and how it might produce good fruit in our lives. Each week this Lent, I’ll share one specific suggestion for fasting one habit in order to feast on a corresponding practice. You might decide to stay with that fast for the entire forty days, or you might choose just one or two days to try what I’ve suggested.

This week we’ll fast replacement symbols for language - emojis and social media “likes” - and feast on the language of lament and amazement instead.

Pay attention, in particular, to the Psalms in each day’s post. Gather words of lament and amazement to use throughout the day. Consider the characters in the other Scripture passages each day. Pay attention to the verbal and non-verbal responses they use. You can even keep a thesaurus handy throughout the week. Whenever you’re tempted to use an emoji or social media symbol, stop and ask yourself the following question:

  • Where does the need to do this come from?

  • If this conversation was happening face to face, what is it I most want to say to this person?

If you discover that finding language (including silence and physical presence) especially difficult try this exercise:

Divide a piece of paper into four columns headed with the words “I’m sad with you”, “I’m amazed with you”, “I love this about you”, “I’m celebrating with you”. In each column write all the ways you know to convey each truth. Put this list where you can see it and revisit it. Intentionally use these words and phrases throughout the week.*

  • What do you notice about yourself and yourself and the way you relate to others in their experiences?

*Exercise adapted from Adele Ahlberg Calhoun’s chapter “Controlling the Tongue”, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook

May you seek rest and find peace today, friends. I'll be back with Daybook patrons tomorrow, with Lent Daybook 5. Will you join us?  

Each Sunday in Lent I’ll share a free Daybook devotional post at the Patreon page for everyone to enjoy. To receive notifications for the free public posts, click "follow" at the bottom of the profile page. The daily devotional posts will then be available to those who subscribe at the Daybook ($5 a month) level.

* Listen to my entire playlist on Spotify - Lent: Instrumental & Choral Classics. Add it to your account by clicking ‘Save to My Library.’

** Sunday Scripture readings are taken from the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the Book of Common Prayer (Year 2).