Third Sunday in Lent 2020

Back To The Bible comments on Deuteronomy 4:35, 39  "To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him, knows therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other."

"We might read these verses and think, Well, it was easier to see the hand of God at work in Old Testament times with the burning bushes and the parting of the Red Sea and all the plagues, but what about now? Where are the signs that show the almighty, awesome God in the here and now? The truth is, though, God shows us His presence every day, through signs and wonders big and small. But in the tumult of our fast-paced days, we don't slow down long enough to glimpse His work. We don't stop long enough to quiet the cacophony of iPods and iPhones, televisions, radios, and the internet to hear the whispers God intends just for us. Our Almighty God is with us --we simply need to open our ears to hear and our eyes to see."
They suggest the following prayer: "Lord, I am always on the go, moving at frenetic pace with my eyes focused on accomplishing the next thing. Help me slow down so that I can see and hear You. I want to experience Your awesome presence in my daily life. Amen."
You could use a notebook to keep a simple record of the blessings and gifts God lavishes on you every day. Keep your eyes and ears open for the presence of God in your daily living and jot these occurrences in your book. It could be as simple as enjoying a favorite snack, receiving a hug from a spouse, child or friend, smelling a flower, hearing a bird sing or taking a walk.

From a Prayer for the Day, March 29, "My Father, may I also work for Your kingdom. Prevent me from working against You. Make me a servant of Jesus Christ. Amen"

"You are as Young as your faith or as old as your doubt."

"God has everything under control!"  (including the coronavirus pandemic)

"Be kind for everyone you meet carries a heavy burden." Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful."

A "word" from the lectionary lessons for March 23-29.
Ezekiel 37: 1-14     dry bones
Psalm 130               redeem
Romans 8:6-11       dwells
John 11:1-16           illness
John 11:17-37         knelt
John 11:38-45         unbind
Jeremiah 5               senseless

In The Spiritual Formation Bible there are the following two notations for the John 11 passage which is the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from death.
1. Jesus is the "resurrection and the life." Is your perception of the future determined by the certainty of your death or by your faith in Jesus? Is your life determined by the ability to make life "happen" or by the power of Jesus' presence within you to give you life?

Bible trivia enthusiasts know John 11:35 as the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept."

2. Jesus wept too. The Word made flesh knows the pain and the loss that death causes us. He does not minimize our feelings. He knows about our grief and is with us in the midst of it. In our grieving with people pray for Jesus to bring his resurrection and life to the support of those in sorrow. Just as Mary and Martha trusted him to know what to do, you trust him too."

Joseph Cooke in his book Free For The Taking gives us the following description of our heritage in Jesus Christ.
"This is the wonder of the Christian message: that God loves me with a love that is not turned off by my sins, my failures, my inadequacies, my insignificance. I am not a stranger in a terrifying universe. I am not an anomalous disease crawling on the face of an insignificant speck in the vast emptiness of space. I am not a nameless insect waiting to be crushed by an impersonal boot. I am not a miserable offender cowering under the glare of an angry deity. I am a [person] beloved by God. I have touched the very heart of the universe, and have found his name to be love. And that love has reached me, not because I have merited God's favor, not because I have anything to boast about, but because of what God is, and because of what Christ has done for me in the Father's name. And I can believe this about God (and therefore about myself) because Christ has come from the Father, and has revealed by His teaching, by His life, by His death, by His very person that this is what God is like: God is "full of grace."

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."  (I John 4:10-11)