Numbers 21:4-9
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

John 3:16 is one of the best-known Gospel passages. And for good reason – what a statement! God loved us so much that He His ultimate gift and sacrificed His Only Son, Jesus Christ, for us! Everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. We just have to accept it. Note that the qualification is “everyone who believes in Him” – that’s our responsibility. Each of us needs to make a personal decision to believe in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:10 says further: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God– not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

Although I grew up in a mainline Protestant church, I don’t recall talk of any responsibility on my part. That is until my 3rd-grade Sunday School teacher took me aside one day & asked if I would like to accept Jesus as my Savior. We prayed right then, and I came to know Jesus.

Did my life go on without problems? Hardly. Being problem-free is not part of God’s promise. In fact, it wasn’t long afterward that my father died unexpectedly, we moved to another state, and my whole world seemed to fall apart. But God didn’t leave. We had quite a few significant conversations with my asking the questions (Why?”) and God waiting patiently to reassure me that He had a good plan for the rest of my life. He did!

Lord, we give our thanks for your gift of your Son. Thank you for providing a way for each of us to know you during this life and in life after death.
-Barbara Cheyney

Hosea 6:1–6
Luke 18:9–14
Psalm 51:15–20

“The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit, A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” – Psalm 51:18

Many years ago, I had done something I could not forgive myself for. It was a heavy weight, and I was miserable. I was working in a Catholic school at the time, and one day I slipped into the chapel to once again talk to God about this. And once again I asked God for forgiveness. This time, however, I heard, “Penny, I LOVE you.” That was God’s answer. Not, “you are forgiven”, or “bless you, my child”, as I would have expected. God’s answer was so personal, so to the point. The bottom line was that God loved me. God did not despise my broken and contrite heart.

That seems to be the eternal message that God has been trying to get across all these years. God loves us. That is the bottom line, the basis for all else in life. God loves us.

Help us, O God, to daily remember that you are Love. You love us beyond our imagination or understanding. Help us to return that love to you and to all whom you have created. Amen.
-Penny Worrell

Hosea 14:1–9
Mark 12:28–34
Psalm 81:8–14

Hosea is a tough book to read. It starts out with the Lord telling Hosea to take a wife who is a prostitute and have children with her, all named things relating to God not being with the people. The book continues in this vein with the Lord calling Israel out on all the “infidelity” it committed by worshipping other gods. I have friends who cannot read it because their significant others have cheated on them in various relationships.

This specific chapter begs Israel to return to the Lord and talks about all the healing that can happen if they do. Forgiveness will be granted, their lands will bear fruit, and all shall be well. It stuns me how much grace the Lord is offering to Israel even after all the infidelity that occurred.

As I ponder these promises of healing, I cannot help but think of my practice of taking part in the sacrament of Reconciliation during Lent every year if I can. I do truly believe that God forgives my sins when I confess them in prayer but confessing to a priest using one of the rites in the Book of Common Prayer gives me emotional and mental benefits. It does truly help to get it into my head that my sins are forgiven, and God is faithful in this way.

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
-Jen McCabe

Jeremiah 7:23–28
Luke 11:14–23
Psalm 95:6–11

On Thursday, September 1, 1988, I set out from the rectory to carry out my first assignment as the new rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Warrenton, NC.; get the mail. A hot, muggy day I could feel the moisture beading up on the inside of my stiff new plastic clergy collar. As I rounded the corner of the church I could see a woman standing very primly on the top step of the post office. On this already uncomfortably warm day, she was wearing a hat and gloves, both hands holding her silvery pocketbook, her pastel blue suit complimenting her blue-gray hair curling out from under a veil. I smiled at her as I started past her into the lobby. Just then she turned towards me and began her speech. “My dear, I am here to welcome you to Warrenton and to tell you that we are so thankful that that Bishop of yours sent us a woman and not a black.”

How I wished I had the words that Jesus would say. People often told him to his face how deviant he was. “What good can come out of Nazareth?” “He casts out demons by Beelzebub.”

Clearly, the group who had sent this woman, whom I never saw again, labeled the Episcopal Church, the Bishop, members of the black race and women priests deviants.

Labels, stereotypes keep us distant and distrusting. Sometimes that seems to be what part of the larger community tries to teach us to do.

How often do I deny myself the gift and opportunity of knowing someone for their uniqueness because I lack the imagination and the empathy to make that discovery?

Gracious one, may our hearts not be hardened. Help us to listen for your voice. Amen.
-Vicki Wesen

Deuteronomy 4:1–2,5–9
Matthew 5:17–19
Psalm 78:1–6

As a Lutheran seminary student and then as a pastor’s wife, I used to hear “law and gospel” bandied about frequently. Lutherans are the “original gangstas” of Protestants so us cool kids had to teach the Zwinglians, Calvinists, and Anabaptists how it was done. A friend of mine, an LCMS pastor, even had a tie with clay tablets on it and I joked that he needed to add a tie pin in the shape of a cross to accurately reflect his views on this subject.

Back to the phrase “law and gospel”, it is the basis of our salvation. We couldn’t keep the Law, so Jesus had to come and die for us, which is the Gospel. Many of us would like to think that Christ’s death on the cross vacates our requirement to keep the Law, but it does not. We are still bound by the Ten Commandments, even if we may have relaxed some of the rules in Leviticus.

Today’s passages talk about the wisdom embodied in the Law and I agree. The Ten Commandments give us a basis for how to treat others ethically. The Book of Deuteronomy does an excellent job of rehashing where the Israelites have been to remind of where they are going as they cross into the Promised Land. Israel continually fouled it up and eventually faced exile. What Jesus is saying in the Gospel is that we still are held to that standard, but He came to fulfill its promises of a Messiah. The Law brought death, but the Gospel brings healing to us.

Help us, O Lord, to see the wisdom in your Law, that we might learn to treat others better because of it. Amen.
-Jen McCabe

Song of the Three Young Men 2–4,11–20a
Matthew 18:21–35
Psalm 25:3–10

These three young men had nothing to give as a sacrifice or offering to God. They were deeply humble, however, and asked God to accept and deliver them from their terrible ordeal. Their faith and love must have been tremendous!

Many times in my life, I have felt a desperate need of help, both physically and emotionally. Crying out to God, falling on bended knee, begging for help; God has always answered. Maybe the help didn’t arrive how or when I wanted but it always came. Looking back, I see the many times deliverance was freely given to me by God, even when I didn’t deserve it.

Dear Lord, You are so mighty, strong and good. You care for me in ways I cannot always understand but You always know what is best. I have no power of my own, it is only through You that I am saved. Amen.
-Sister Katherine