Daniel 3:14–20,24–28
John 8:31–42
Canticle [2] or 13

Today, as we read verses from the third chapter of Daniel, I am transported back to Sunday school when I was in the 5th grade. In my mind’s eye, I can still see the picture of four men surrounded by fire that headed the chapter which told the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I marveled at the strength of their faith and had lots of questions about how God helped them survive.

Years later, when my sons were about the same age, we learned the song written by Hugh Mitchell and sung by the Bill Gaither Trio.

Three good men lived very long ago,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
To an idol they would never bow
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

Into a fiery furnace they were therefore cast
Nebuchadnezzar thought they’d never last
But God was there He’d never let them go
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

I didn’t become an Episcopalian until I was in college, so the wonderful praise message of Canticle 13, Song of the Three Young Men, was new to me at that time and has become one of my favorite canticles. What a fitting response to being saved from that fiery furnace!

Stories and music have been and continue to be an important part of my faith formation. So, what do we do with these readings and how do we apply them to our daily lives? In the 8th chapter of John, Jesus tells the Jews who had believed in him that, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Dear God, help me to remain faithful to your word, to study and try to understand, and to praise you both with my words and my actions. Amen.
-Cathey Frederick

Numbers 21:4–9
John 8:21–30
Psalm 102:15–22

But the people became impatient on the way. (Numbers 21:4b)

So, how are you doing?

Here we are, some five weeks into Lent. All this reading and praying and discipline and reflection – it can be hard to maintain. What kind of journey is this? Can’t we just go back to the pancakes?!

Forty days of Lent (not including Sundays, which are always days of resurrection!) can get to be a bit much. People can become impatient.

How’re you doing?

The Israelites got a little bit daft. They forgot where they had been. “Why did you bring us out of slavery to die here?” “There’s no food or water. We hate this miserable food.” (Well, which is it, no food or miserable food? Logically, it can’t be both.) And what’s with the snakes?! It’s all getting kinda bizarre.

Even Jesus seems to be out of himself. “Where I am going, you cannot come” sure sounds different than just a few chapters later where he says “…I go and prepare a place for you…. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Whatsup widdat?!

Holy Week starts on Sunday – Palm Sunday. Change is in sight. Continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers!

Your discipline and prayer are gifts to God and to yourself. Hang in there. Keep it up. (And if you’ve not got anything to keep up, don’t worry, start where you are, here today. You’re not behind.) God will use what you give: the time, the study, the meditation, the intention. God will reach right into that exhausting, bizarre stuff of life and bless you in ways you can’t begin to imagine. How’re you doing?

Holy One, walk with me. Let me know if I am doing this right. It gets dreary. I want to serve you. Amen.
-Helen McPeak

2 Samuel 7:4,8-16
Romans 4:13-18
Luke 2:41-52
Psalm 89:1-29 or 89:1-4, 26-29

Have you ever lost a child? I am somewhat chagrined to admit (or confess) that I have. Barb and I went to see the WSU Cougars play a football game in Pullman. At that time our son David was about 3 years old. During the game, he and I had to take care of some personal (but necessary) business. He took care of his and I told him to wait a moment while I finished mine. When I turned back around, he was gone. Vanished! I zipped out of the lavatory and looked high and low for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. I went back to our seat to tell Barb I had lost our only begotten son – our beloved – when what to my wondering eyes did appear, but him sitting with her; I’d had nothing to fear!

He had not listened to my instructions, but he knew where he was and where he was going, so after he’d “gone” he went (so to speak). Knowing Mary and Joseph had lost Jesus gives me comfort knowing I wasn’t the first, and surely won’t be the last. Jesus knew where he was and where he was going. Joseph and Mary had to learn to trust him, as do we all.

Gracious God, you have made us guardians of your creation. We often mess it up. We often lose our way, and yet you are always there to bring us home, to clean up those messes we are unable or unwilling to face. Please watch over us and continue to guide and direct us so that we (and all those you love) may always find the way home into your loving embrace. Amen.
-Keith Axberg

Jeremiah 11:18–20
John 7:37–52
Psalm 7:6–11

“God is my shield and defense; he is the savior of the true in heart.” – Psalm 7:11

When I was writing my Senior Seminar paper in college, my subject was Celtic Christianity with a focus on how the Celtic saints like St. Patrick converted Ireland from paganism. One of the more fun legends I read about centered around his conversion of the pagan king Leoghaire. According to legend, the king sent henchmen to try and kill Patrick who was on his way to Slane to meet with Leoghaire, but the henchmen failed because Patrick passed by them in the form of a deer.

Why does this fit in with the verse I quoted above? Well, the prayer he allegedly prayed while avoiding these henchmen is called the “Breastplate of St. Patrick”, also known as “The Cry of the Deer”. (The full version can be found here.)

I arise today, through
God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.
-Jen McCabe

Bonus: There is a beautiful hymn based on the prayer which can be found below.

Wisdom 2:1a,12–24
John 7:1–2,10,25–30
Psalm 34:15–22

John’s passage tells of a chaotic scene where Jesus rebukes people in Jerusalem. Although some pushed for Jesus’ arrest after the public uproar, the Scripture passage says no one touched Jesus, for “His hour had not yet come.”

This passage strikes me to my core. When will my hour come? When will yours? Does this thought empower you or cause you to fear? Do you live a little more or a little less when you think of your mortality?

O God, you have given us the Good News of your abounding love in your Son Jesus Christ: So fill our hearts with thankfulness that we may rejoice to proclaim the good tidings we have received; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
-Ashley Sweeney

Exodus 32:7–14
John 5:30–47
Psalm 106:6–7, 19–23

Israel screwed up.

Moses was up on the mountain speaking with the Lord and receiving the Ten Commandments, which left Israel in the hands of Aaron, and Aaron jumped the gun. The people asked him to make gods for them to worship because Moses was still up on the mountain and they had no idea if he was ever coming down. Aaron lacked a spine and allowed it, so a golden calf was made and the people worshipped it.

Given that the first two commandments Moses received were about not having any gods but the God of Israel and not to bow down to idols, Israel was in deep trouble. The Lord was all ready to consume them and blot them out for this, choosing to make a nation of Moses’s descendants.

Moses does something quite amazing: he tells the Lord off for this and brings up the promise made to Abraham and Isaac and Israel to multiply their descendants like the stars in the sky. The Lord changes course and chooses not to blot out the nation of Israel.

The Exodus passage is a reminder to me of both the folly of making hasty decisions (making the golden calf because they did not know when/if Moses was coming back down) and the folly of making decisions when angry (blotting out the nation). Some of the worst decisions in my life have been ones when I have been forced to decide without ample time to think it over, or when I am angry enough that I jump the gun and make a decision that does not need to be made. There is wisdom to be found in praying things over and discerning a reasonable path forward.

Help us, O Lord, to weigh our choices and to seek your will in what we do, lest we make a decision in haste that is not in our best interest.
-Jen McCabe