Photo by...Photo by Louise Sacré on Unsplash
I'm sharing this journal entry from one of our sheep / shepherds for your encouragement and invite you to share your stories to keep us connected David
Thursday April 2, 2020: A journal entry:
JESUS WEPT.
A Morning mist of low cloud wrapped soft around the hills.
I read John 6 and tried to ponder on Jesus the living bread. But the mist beckoned and drew me outside, quickly enfolding me in its clammy embrace.
There was no pausing to choose direction. I headed straight up the hill blanketed in the foggy stillness, only birdcall echoing the inner certainty – she’s coming to pray.
Pray up the hill. I haven’t prayed up there for a while. I’ve prayed. But not there on God’s hill, my place of retreat.
At the summit, as cloud drifted and lifted, it was my heart that rained out its anguished plea, the cry for help with COVID19: LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER. Help us Jesus.
That was it. No wordy waffle. I perched on the rim of the damp bench, poised in grief and need; heart, mind and spirit turned to God, “Yet still do I praise you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Living God.”
A lull then settled over me, like a mute button had been pressed to hush the turmoil of my distressed thoughts and wretched emotions concerning the plight of the world’s people. Wait. Be quiet!
Jesus wept. The words from last Sunday’s reading came to mind loud and clear.
33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Judaeans who had come with her crying, he was deeply stirred in his spirit, and very troubled. 34 ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Master,’ they said, ‘come and see.’ 35 Jesus burst into tears. (John 11:33-35 NTE)
I too burst into tears, and as I wept, there at the top of the hill, I knew he was weeping with me. Weeping with all the world. Weeping for us all.
Turn to me. And I, turning, vision all awash, could see clearly, he was there. Feed my sheep. To this I shook my head, and thought, I’m no pastor. You are a minister of my word. Therefore, speak my word to others. Speak my word to one another. And suddenly understanding dawned. “You aren’t just saying this to me, are you? It’s your call to all of us: Feed your sheep. The responsibility is ours collectively.” And I pictured the scattered sheep, isolated from one another but belonging together and needing creative new ways of being church and speaking grace and hope to one another and others.
I plunged, then, down the hill, not following the worn paths but winding down the steeper slope, weaving through knee high weeds, around rocky mounds and patches of slippery flattened grass, to emerge at the wider base track.
Now is the time to forge new paths. Jesus is still the Way, the “base track” of my faith remains the same. It’s the network of familiar paths that represent how we have lived out our faith, that have fallen away, not God’s word or his kingdom, or his love.
I am thankful for this love that comes to us where we are: scattered sheep weeping in the mist of uncertainty. I’m thankful that Jesus wept and that his way isn’t set in stone. That he comes and calls us to discover a new and living way, today and tomorrow and the next day. Hallelujah! This is a new day! And the Jesus who weeps with us in our distress will renew us and lead us on beyond COVID19.
JESUS WEPT.
The autumn sun filtered a pale ray through the drifting grey. A reminder that the God who weeps, also sheds light as well as tears.
Choices
by Ruth Olsen
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
… he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy (Titus 3:5a).
Read Titus 3:1–11
Recently, I have been reading from various sources about the history of the Lutheran Church in Australia. In the early years of settling in South Australia, people who had come from various parts of Germany, seeking freedom to live according to Lutheran teaching, established small communities with vegetable gardens and helped one another. They had a common goal. It is like Pastor August Kavel, as their leader, encouraged the living out of the first and second verses of our reading for today. Yes, difficulties and then splits came later – but that is always the challenge of life, isn’t it?
Today’s reading is another call to discipleship. Do you recognise and acknowledge your inclination to be selfish and self-centred? If we don’t, we are in trouble. But if we do, gratitude rises for the Lord’s mercy to us!
‘He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit …’ (Titus 3:5). Rebirth and renewal. What does that say to you? Is it a ‘once-off’ or ‘walking in it every day’ for you? Are you growing in trusting the Holy Spirit to lead, empower and enable you in the things of each day? To exercise patience, kindness, self-control and the other fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23)? Do you remember to ask for his help? In his mercy, he waits to help. Justified by Jesus’ grace, we are made heirs with him. It’s the ‘now, but not yet’ tension. In and through Jesus, we have received, and now we get to walk in what we have received. That changes our perspective.
What is unprofitable, and what is useful? We make these choices every day. Yet we are so easily distracted. As we mature, each of us is responsible for our choices. Are we doing what the Spirit says is good, or not?
Abba Father, by your Spirit, help us to grow in Jesus – to live in ways that honour him as he honoured you. Give us the courage to recognise anything in us that dishonours him. Change our hearts and renew our minds, day by day. Amen.
Ruth lives in Adelaide, South Australia, with her husband, Steen. Peritoneal dialysis at night is now their settled ‘new normal’. Ruth says, ‘It is in the challenges of life where we grow in recognising the Lord’s enabling and faithfulness. Like the psalmist, we grow in knowing the goodness of the Lord’s love and his great mercy. All praise be to him!’
Endure suffering
by Ruth Olsen
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
… keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the good news, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you (2 Timothy 4:5).
Read 2 Timothy 4:5–8
In the past few days, we have been thinking about the costs involved in being a disciple of Jesus – being willing to lay down your life, rather than clutching on to it, and surrendering to Jesus as central in your life. In this letter to Timothy, Paul says his time on earth for doing that is nearly finished.
Paul has experienced his share of suffering, enduring beatings, stoning and, amazingly, being enabled to continue on his journey in sharing the good news of Jesus, even in a prison cell.
Difficulties and troubles happen in life. That’s just how things are this side of heaven. But because we are in Christ, by focusing on him, we are enabled to endure beyond what we thought was possible, walking with Jesus by the power of his Spirit one day at a time, even one step at a time, one moment at a time.
Keeping a clear mind amid difficulties and hardships is not easy, but keeping our focus on Jesus and asking him to enable us to see the situation from his perspective can make a huge difference. It’s like the difference between seeing the cross as an instrument of torture or as the place of Jesus overcoming sin, death and the power of the devil – for us!
Paul knew he had done what the Lord had asked him to do. Have we? Do we? Being ‘poured out like a drink offering’ involved a deep commitment to walking by faith. Paul is now focused on that finishing line and receiving the crown of righteousness awaiting him. And he calls his mentee, Timothy, to do likewise.
Lord Jesus, help us walk in your Father’s plans and purposes, one day at a time. We desire to honour you in all that we are and do – for your name’s sake. Amen.
Ruth lives in Adelaide, South Australia, with her husband, Steen. Peritoneal dialysis at night is now their settled ‘new normal’. Ruth says, ‘It is in the challenges of life where we grow in recognising the Lord’s enabling and faithfulness. Like the psalmist, we grow in knowing the goodness of the Lord’s love and his great mercy. All praise be to him!’
The cost of being a disciple
by Ruth Olsen
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate [… their family] – yes, even their own life – such a person cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26).
Read Luke 14:25–35
Families are God’s idea and God’s creation. He has created us as social beings who need others. We are meant to help and encourage each other. When that happens, joy can flow. When it doesn’t, sorrow can flow.
Why would Jesus say we are to hate our family? That seems inconsistent, doesn’t it? Jesus loved his mum, Mary. He loved his siblings, though they may not have understood until later – likewise with his disciples.
To ‘hate’ one’s family is not about emotions but rather priorities. When we surrender to the lordship of Jesus, he becomes central and pivotal in our lives. As we yield to his ways of loving and caring, worked in us and through us by his Spirit, it flows to others and blesses them. He turns things the right way up for us as we learn to die to self, to yield to him, to honour him in all that we are and do. When we live in him and through him by the power of his Spirit, we are his disciples. Yes, that costs us too. After all, it cost Jesus everything, even his last breath, to open the way for us to be brought back into his Father’s family.
When family or our life is held on to more keenly than holding on to Jesus, things go wrong because we have put them in the place that rightly belongs to God. Once we awaken to this reality and say ‘Yes – thank you’ to Jesus and the life he gives, his peace can settle in our soul. This saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus is an ongoing daily choice. Then the focus is no longer on the cost of discipleship; instead, it is on him and our relationship with him, his presence with us each day to enable and empower us to be what he calls us to be. We thereby give him the glory. And we will grow in loving and caring as he works it in us and through us.
Lord Jesus, this sounds easy, but we can’t do it. By the power of your Spirit, continue to grow us in being your disciples. We bless you! Amen.
Ruth lives in Adelaide, South Australia, with her husband, Steen. Peritoneal dialysis at night is now their settled ‘new normal’. Ruth says, ‘It is in the challenges of life where we grow in recognising the Lord’s enabling and faithfulness. Like the psalmist, we grow in knowing the goodness of the Lord’s love and his great mercy. All praise be to him!’