Author: Erin White

Readings for this week May 1 – 5
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings

Day 1 – What is Worship?

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Romans 12:1

One of the central things that marked the Israelites out from all of the surrounding nations was their worship of one god – the One God. They were to have no other gods before him. The only thing they were to worship – ever – was God. To worship God means to be completely devoted to him and to make him the focus of your life. Our lives are God’s. We are his—our time, energy, actions, thoughts, resources, hopes and dreams—everything.

Paul reinforces this idea with his use of the phrase ‘living sacrifice’. What does he mean by ‘living sacrifice’? Unlike other sacrifices which are a one-off event, a living sacrifice is ongoing. When we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, we give God our ordinary walking-around existence. We are his to use however he wants. This is worship. This is the worship that God called the Israelites to offer and the worship we are called to offer too.

It can be easy to think that worship only includes the times when we are consciously ‘worshipping’, perhaps singing songs in a service, praying, or serving people around us. Those times specifically set aside for worship are definitely important, but worship is so much more. It is our whole lives offered continually to God. He wants everything we do to be done because we love him.

Questions to Consider
How is your whole life an act of worship to God? How are you a ‘living sacrifice’?

Prayer
Lord God, help me lay more of myself down before you. In my waking and sleeping, my walking and sitting, my silence and talking, may I always honour and worship you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 2 – Honest Worship

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Isaiah 6:1-7

What does a worship encounter with God look like? It’s all very well for God to call a people to himself and proclaim them to be his people and he to be their God and to worship him only. But what does a worship encounter between God and someone actually look like? Today we read about someone who found out.

In the Ten Commandments, God very clearly ruled out worshipping other gods, and making idols and graven images for this purpose. We cannot make our own gods. And just as much, we cannot dream up our own picture of what God is like and worship that made-up image. For example, if we think we can approach God without owning up to our sin, we are just kidding ourselves. Worship requires us to be real before God, it’s not just a ‘feel good’ experience. We must be real about who the God we worship is, and real about who we are as worshippers. When Isaiah met God face-to-face, he ended up flat on the ground begging for forgiveness. There’s not much ‘feel good’ about that! But it was real.

We need to approach God humbly aware of our sin, but also knowing he loves us. He will neither abandon us nor ignore our worship. If we feel God’s presence, it is not because we somehow rise up to him, but because he chooses to come down to us. When we worship God without trying to cover up who we really are, we see ourselves clearly and can also see God as he is.

Questions to Consider
The Bible is full of different pictures of God—creator, lover, comforter, teacher, judge, provider, protector… What is your image of God? Why?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, may my worship and my life be wholly yours in all their messiness and humanity, given with all my love and honesty. Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 3 – The Name of the Lord

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 20:7

To those who follow the way of Jesus, the words ‘God’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ have special meaning: they are the names of the God we love, follow, emulate and obey. In Jesus we see the embodiment of the Creator God, the one who loves us and gave himself for us. These names are not random names representing a concept or an idea, or some sort of generic life principle. They are the names of the God we have a relationship with, and who offers himself in relationship with us.

The commandment not to take God’s name in vain uses a Hebrew verb that means ‘bear’, as in the taking of an oath or in the making of a pledge or vow – in other words, not to use the name of God falsely or lightly. For much of modern society the name of God is an expletive, an exclamation of pain or frustration or anger, a verbal expression of unhappiness or disgust about something. In these instances it is usually a pointer towards a person’s internal state of mind – if they are really thinking at all about what they are saying, which they usually are not. Our use of God’s name shows how we really think about him and about ourselves as his children.

If we love God, his name will pass our lips in the form of praise and worship and love. Even in the hard times when we cry out to him in pain or anger, his name should still be the name on our lips, even if we are struggling to see where he is in the circumstances of our lives.

Questions to Consider
Why is God’s name a swear word for so many people these days? What should our response to these situations be?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, may I always treat your blessed name with the reverence and love you deserve, even in those times when I am at my weakest. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 4 – Holy Sabbath

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 20:8-9

For many people today, the concept of the Sabbath is completely alien to them. The idea of a day off is nothing strange, but for a lot of people that concept has simply merged into the idea of ‘the weekend’ – a couple of days where perhaps they don’t go to work or school, or they don’t follow whatever regular rhythms of life they have during the week. And there are many for whom the idea of even a regular day off is unknown. In this increasingly busy world of 24/7 everything, and the never sleeping global village, and rostered-on-and-off shift-work, sometimes a day off is just the day you actually get to sleep before getting up and continuing with the next week.

But God commanded that we observe the Sabbath, that we have one day a week where we stop and remember him – and remember ourselves as finite created beings dependent on him. Human beings need to spend time – ‘slow’ unhurried time – in rest and in worship each week. Doing so shows how important God is to us.

Did God need a day off, did he need to rest after his creative exertions? No, but he knew we would. He set the model for us to follow, a model that was given with love and understanding of what we would need in order to live fruitfully and creatively in relationships with him, ourselves and each other.

Questions to Consider
What is the Sabbath to you? What does it mean? What does your Sabbath day consist of? Why?

Prayer
Lord God, thank you for the Sabbath. Thank you for knowing what we would need in order to best be your people. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 5 – The Day of Rest

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 20:10-11

This particular commandment to keep the seventh day as a Sabbath day to the Lord, would have had special resonance for the newly freed people of Israel. They had just spent 430 years in the land of Egypt, most of those years spent as slaves. They had been beaten, abused and driven hard by their slave masters. Several times their treatment by Pharaoh had involved being on the receiving end of his explicit instructions to his slave drivers to work the Israelites harder, to increase their work load and to deliberately make their living and working conditions worse. To have their God specifically institute a day of rest would not only be a sign of God’s love and care for them, but also a reminder of the blessings of freedom and of no longer being slaves in Egypt. The stipulation that the Sabbath day was also to apply to the Israelites’ own male and female slaves was a further reminder of God’s goodness to and concern for all.

The Sabbath day is a day of rest, a reminder to the people of the situation they had just been rescued from by God – and it is also therefore a day set aside for the worship of this loving, almighty, miracle-working God. Observing the Sabbath reminds us of God’s creation of the world (as verse 11 says) and therefore of God as Creator – and as our Creator. But it also reminds us of the God of history, who works in and through the events and people of the world for his glory.

Questions to Consider
How is the call to keep the Sabbath day holy enacted in your life? What makes this day of worship different to the worship we offer each day as living sacrifices?

Prayer
Creator God, we praise you for who you are as Creator, and for all you have done for us as our God. May we always be thankful for all you are and all you have done. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Readings for this week April 24 – 28
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings

Day 1 – The Passion of God

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Isaiah 9:1-7

Easter is the culmination of the love story about God’s mission to reconcile all things to himself and all people to each other. To redeem broken humanity and a broken world. The passion of Jesus Christ shows us the extent of God’s love for us and for creation. Easter shows us God’s passion for his people.

God’s passion is the foundation of all our best passions. God’s zeal, God’s passion is what has given rise to the Incarnation of himself among us. We see his passion on the cross and that same cross is what makes it possible for that same passion of God to grow in us.

What God wants to do he will do and he will put that passion in us too. He wants his passion for his mission to be ours. He wants his people to share in his outrage and passion for his hurting world. He came and lived among us—whatever it took was what he was prepared to do. And he gives us a share in the variety of his passions so that we’ll get involved – become incarnate – in new situations to fulfil his mission. He wants us to be just as passionate and outraged as he is and wants our passion to overflow into loving action in the world. He wants our passion to lead us into deep involvement with and commitment to his creation.

Questions to Consider
What passion has been growing in you this Easter? How has God been shaping your heart to be passionate about what he is passionate about?

Prayer
Lord God, thank you for the passion of Christ on the cross. Thank you for your passion for us; please grow in me the same passion for people that you have shown. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 2 – The Four Relationships

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Genesis 2:8-25

We are all involved in four key relationships: with God, with ourselves, with each other, and with the world. God created the world and everything in it; his creation was good. In the beginning people were in direct relationship with God. They knew them­selves only as God knew them. They were able to love and serve each other, and enjoy a mutually sustaining relation­ship with the world around them. Then sin entered the world, and everything changed. The four relationships were shattered.

The journey of discipleship is about the restoration and transformation of these four key relationships—with God, ourselves, each other, and the world. Jesus’ death on the cross makes this transformation possible. Picture, if you will, the two bars of the cross. The vertical bar symbolises Jesus bridging the gap between people and God, restoring the relationship that God originally created. The horizontal bar symbolises this restored relationship extended outwards to other followers of Jesus and the world at large. All our rela­tionships are held together by the cross.

But the calling of Israel to be his chosen people was the beginning of this restorative process. God called a people to be his people, to be his representatives, his hope for the world. Through the calling of a people and the giving of the law God began the process of restoring all four relationships. Discipleship is a journey we make together, so that together we become the redemptive community we dream of being.

Question to Consider
How have your four key relationships being growing so far this year? How is your discipleship journey progressing?

Prayer
Loving Father, thank you for never giving up on us, for reaching out to us to draw us all back to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 3 – Our Creator God

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Genesis 2:4-7

The Bible makes it clear that God is the creator. The earth, the heavens, and everything they contain are the result of his highly skilled design. He created each of us, shaping us before we were born, and giving us life. We are not a random collection of atoms but the personal handiwork of God. More than that, people are his best work, the ‘crowning glory’ of creation. We are the only creatures made in God’s own image and the only ones designed specifically to enjoy a close, loving relationship with him. God is love, and it’s his intention that we receive love from him, and that we love him in return.

In the beginning, people enjoyed an honest, undamaged relationship with God. There was nothing to block that inti­macy. The Bible says that God looked at his creation and pronounced it ‘good.’ He set the universe up the way he wanted it to be—a place of immense variety and wonder, and a place where people could enjoy life experiencing all the benefits of a loving relationship with their creator.

Even after humanity turned away from God in rebellion, he still graciously offered us a concrete expression of his desire to know us and love us. In the Ten Commandments we see, especially and explicitly in the first three, how important it is to God himself that we have the opportunity to still enter into and experience a relationship with him – the most important relationship we will ever have. The relationship we were made for.

Questions to Consider
What is the point of the Ten Commandments? What relevance do they have for us today?

Prayer
Almighty God, may I see your Ten Commandments as not a set of arbitrary rules but as a sign of your love for all people. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 4 – No Other Gods Before Me

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 20:2

As we have heard over the last couple of months, God had just rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Once safely rescued, God had a few things he wanted to say to the Israelites, and a gift he wanted to give them. But first, there was something he needed to make sure they understood.

Egypt was a land of many gods. There was seemingly a god for everything, and so therefore someone wanting to increase the amount of blessings in their life would need to worship several different gods in order to ‘cover all the bases’ as it were. Each god represented a different aspect of life and so someone looking for blessing or remedy or redress in that part of their life would need to pray to the deity responsible for it.
So for God to tell his people that they were to worship him was nothing new for them. They came from a land where they were surrounded by gods – God was just another one that they could add to the mix. But when God said they were to worship him only – ‘no other gods before me’ – well, that was different. That was a bit more difficult than just viewing him as one more god to choose from. He had shown the Israelites how much he loved them and what he was prepared to do to rescue them from danger. He was calling them his own. But in order to actually be his people, they needed to acknowledge him as the one true God.

Questions to Consider
What are the signs that God might have slipped from being our number one love? How do we stop this from happening?

Prayer
Lord God, you are the holy one, you are the only true god and I thank you for your refusal to compromise and let yourself be supplanted in our lives. May I be as faithful and as dependable as you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 5 – Complete Devotion

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 20:3-6

We all worship something. Despite the many voices that call us, God will accept only our complete dedication to him. In the words of Robert Alter, “God does not tolerate rivals to the hearts of His people” (The Five Books of Moses, p.430).

Because worship requires our complete love and loyalty, it is impossible to worship more than one thing. Worshipping nothing isn’t an option either. In the famous words of Bob Dylan, ‘You gotta serve somebody.’ And we all do.

We can choose who or what we serve. There is a Maori proverb that says, ‘Mehema koe ka tuoho, meinga ki te maunga tetei.’ (If you should bow to greatness, let it be to a lofty mountain.) Family and friends, enjoying life, looking good, having money and status, stuff we own or want, being well-known or having influence—none of these can have a stronger pull on us than God. God says we are to worship and serve him only.

In choosing to follow God, we let all other loyalties die. God doesn’t demand this from us because he suffers from jealousy or low self-esteem, he just doesn’t want us to misplace our love. We were created to love him, not for his sake, but for ours.

Question to Consider
Take another look at the things that call us away from worshipping God—family, friends, enjoying life, looking good, having money and status, stuff we own or want, being well-known, having influence… Which of these has a significant hold on you?

Prayer
Holy God, help me make you the only one in my heart and be true to you – only to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Readings for this week April 17 – 21
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings

Day 1  – No Going Back

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – John 21:1-6

Peter, never one to just sit still, announces “I’m going out to fish.” He has made bold claims about sticking with Jesus even if all the others fell away. Then in a moment of fear and weakness he claimed not to know Jesus whatsoever. Despite the reality of the empty tomb, and Jesus appearing to the disciples more than once, this failure and sense of betrayal must have weighed heavy on Peter’s shoulders. Even so, he seems to remain a leader in the small band of disciples for at least six of them follow Peter out to the boats, back to the task of fishing.

As morning approaches and not a thing has been caught, it must have added to their sense of un-ease. What was life to be now that Jesus was not with them day in and day out? When a figure from the shore suggests they throw their nets on the other side, we can imagine there may well have been some grumbles and complaints. Yet obedience brought a miraculous catch. Did memories come flooding back of another miraculous catch when Jesus had first called them to follow him and become fishers of men? It is as if the invitation comes again.

Having once kept company with Jesus, been privy to his heart and a companion in his ministry, there can have been no going back to the ordinary. Peter tried to return to what was familiar and comfortable. But in some ways it was empty now. He had been called and had responded; now he is being called again.

Questions to Ponder
Do you think Peter’s return to fishing is a positive or a negative? What drove him? Have you ever left something, then after some time tried to go back to it? Was it the same?
Has God called you to something that hasn’t worked out as you expected? Can you trust him to call you again?

Prayer
Jesus, you probably call to me far more often than I think. Show me where disappointments have stopped me hearing your invitation to trust you again. Give me something of Peter’s passion that despite failures refused to simply lie down and give up, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 2  – Breakfast Beckons

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God  (2 min)

Scripture Reading – John 21:7- 15

Suddenly they recognise it is Jesus on the shore. At least they know it and yet they seem to have questions. Jesus is real, and yet different. Peter is the first to run to Jesus; to restore connection, to find reassurance of relationship. Jesus has breakfast already prepared, yet he asks Peter to bring some of the amazing catch. This could be breakfast for the whole village! Such an abundant catch in Jewish thought would have been a sign of God’s favour and blessing. As the disciples have seen before there is a generosity and exuberance in what Jesus freely offers. Some have come up with complex meanings for the 153 fish (after all, John has a meaning in all he records). Others see it as the task of the church; bringing in people from every nation, all sorts, for there is plenty of room in God’s kingdom (the nets do not break).

It is so easy for us to be diligent about God’s work; organising, telling, changing the world – as if it all depends on us. But God is always at work in the world, and his invitation is for us to join him. Jesus welcomes Peter’s catch, but he doesn’t ‘need’ it. Jesus is offering Peter forgiveness, but he does it by giving him a task. He is invited again to fish for people and then be a shepherd to them. But it must be on Jesus’ terms not his own. Going his own way was not going to work. Going Jesus’ way may well involve sacrifice and suffering, but it was the only way to the intimacy we see pictured in this shoreline conversation, and the only way to the miraculous ‘catch’ Jesus had just illustrated. Peter was up for the challenge.

Questions to Ponder
Why do you think Jesus doesn’t directly point out Peter’s failure?
Why choose someone as shepherd to the fledgling church as volatile as Peter?
When has someone shown confidence in you?
How could you build someone up by showing confidence in them?

Prayer
Loving God, of magnificent meals and abundant provision, I choose today to join you in your work, recognising that the ability required is through your Spirit, the direction is through listening for your voice, and the results are left in your hands and for your glory, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 3  – What About Him?

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – John 21:20-25

Reading the stories of Peter has to make you smile. He so often gets it wrong, yet at the same time so often gets it right! He has just been given the most poignant and tender reassurance of forgiveness, followed by a daunting task and responsibility, then a cryptic word about his future which points to a martyr’s death. He can hardly have had time to take it all in when he has to ask, “what about him?”

The “him” in question is John; not such a dramatic character as Peter, more of a deep thinker and observer, yet just as passionate in his own way. Peter was to become the shepherd and leader of the church. John’s task was as seer and witness. Two very different men, each with different tasks, but both devoted to their Lord and Saviour.

Few of us seem immune from the tendency to compare ourselves with others. It’s as if we can’t be content or secure in our role until we know how it stacks up against our neighbour. We might say it’s very natural, human. But Jesus knows how destructive and undermining comparison can be. “What is that to you?” Jesus replies. “You must follow me.” Peter was not to define his path by comparing it to John’s. Time and again we see Jesus dealing with people on a very individual basis, knowing just how to reach, correct, teach, encourage, and challenge. Our security will only come when we develop the ability to stay attuned to what Jesus is asking of us. It may be in line with those around us. It may be very different. Trust the voice of the one who conquered death and offers new and abundant life. And trust others to hear that voice for themselves.

Questions to Consider
Why are we so quick to make comparisons – so often negatively?
If this is a problem, talk with God about it.
How do you most often sense God’s direction?

Prayer
Almighty God, thank you for your gentle and gracious dealings with me. Help me value the way you have made me and keep me from unhealthy comparisons.  Help me listen to your still small voice so I may follow what you ask of me, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 4  –  When Hope Departs

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Luke 24:13-27

This is one of the most beautifully depicted encounters in the gospels – and should be one of the most encouraging to us. How often are we weighed down and overwhelmed by the troubles in the world. It is so much easier to see all that is wrong with the world rather than all the potential good. Such was the journey for these two discouraged and deeply troubled disciples. They had hoped for so much, believed for so much, only to see their hopes nailed to a Roman cross.

Again Jesus is encountered but not recognised. This is the writer’s way of alerting us to something qualitatively different in post-resurrection reality. Can you sense a quiet smile on Jesus’ face as he invites them to describe all the things that have been happening, to pour out their sorrow and confusion? They think he is gone, when he is actually right beside them. Then beginning with Moses and the prophets Jesus begins to teach and explain, showing how all the scriptures are really pointing to himself. These disciples would have been raised with the Law and the prophets, probably memorized large chunks of scripture. Yet it only becomes alive with Jesus as their teacher. What they assumed was the end of hope was actually its beginning.

God’s Word can appear daunting and difficult to read and understand. We, no less than the disciples on the road to Emmaus, need Jesus to bring it to life in us. “Careful study of the bible is meant to bring together both heart and mind, understanding and excited application” NT Wright. As you read, pray for the presence of Jesus to be real for you, as teacher and guide.

Questions to Consider
Do I most often approach the Bible with heart or mind?
How might it be different if I expected the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, to be helping me understand and apply what he has written?

Prayer
Jesus, be my teacher and my guide as I spend time reading the Bible. Help me meet you in its pages. Thank you for your reassuring presence even in dark times, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 5 – Burning Passion

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Luke 24:28-35

We see here the courtesy of God. Jesus looks like he will walk on, but the disciples urge him to come in and share a meal. While God extends an invitation to us, he will patiently wait for our willingness to welcome him in.

While the scene of Jesus breaking bread may cause us to think of the Last Supper, this is actually just a common meal; the place of fellowship. It is in the middle of the ordinary stuff of life that suddenly the two disciples recognise Jesus. What a moment of elation and astonishment! Luke is echoing the first meal in the Genesis 3 where “their eyes were opened.” Here is the first meal of a new creation; a new way of living, a new reality that burned in their hearts. Something of truth, explained by Jesus as he opened the scriptures to them, set alight a passion within them that resulted in the immediate need to share it with others. It is a seven mile hike back to Jerusalem, but a journey they gladly took.

We often tend to look for God in the unusual, the spectacular, and the mountaintop experiences. How different might our lives be if we routinely expected to encounter him in the mundane and ordinary, everyday moments? William Barclay comments, “The Christian lives always and everywhere in a Christ filled world.”

Questions to Ponder
Think carefully: where do I think God “is”?
Do I desire to be a passionate disciple? Talk with God about this.

Prayer
Father God, I thank you for revealing yourself through your Word and through the life and death and resurrection of your Son Jesus. Bring alive a new passion in me to follow you all the days of my life, to seek to recognise you in all moments and in all places. May my life glorify you. In Jesus name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Readings for this week April 10 – 14
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings

Day 1 – Peter’s Denial

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Luke 22:54-62

This is one of the most famous episodes in the Gospels, hinted at during the last supper when Jesus made a very explicit prediction, hotly denied by Peter, that he (Peter) would deny three times he even knew Jesus. And yet here, over a period of a couple of hours, at the moment when Jesus would have been longing for someone – a friend perhaps – to stay near him and stand up for him, Peter very loudly and publicly denies Jesus. This was a defining moment for Peter, one of deepest sorrow for him. But, as we know, this was not the end of the story for Peter.

Maybe our betrayals are small ones, a moment here, a thought there, an action (or inaction) that we almost don’t think about at the time. Maybe we have no big, easily identifiable moment like Peter does, of the type that is accompanied in our mind by some sort of internal signpost marked “BETRAYAL”. However passionate we may be – just like Peter was – we will also stumble in our walk and mess up – just like Peter did. But Jesus knew Peter, knew he would deny him, and loved him all the same. Peter’s denial was not the last chapter in the story of his relationship with Jesus – they would spend much time together post-resurrection, and a BBQ on the beach would involve a reconciling conversation between the two of them. It is the same for us too. Our struggles, sins and failings are never the last word in our relationship with Jesus, no matter how irreversible they may seem to us at the time.

Question to Consider
What do you think would have been going through Peter’s mind between his denial and the resurrection?

Prayer
Father God, thank you for your forgiveness and for always seeing the larger picture of who I am and what I can be for you. Your love makes all things possible. Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 2 – “Save Yourself”

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Luke 23:32-37

They called out to him “Save yourself”. That is what someone with divine power should easily be able to do. If Jesus was God – and therefore almighty – surely he would have the power to save himself from his current situation. Maybe that’s why he was on the cross in the first place: what greater show of strength and power than to rescue himself from the toughest, most dangerous situation imaginable? People saw kingship and rule in terms of power, in terms of the ability to control and determine events through the exercise of a strong, indomitable will. What better way to show that than to “save yourself”?

But Jesus was not interested in saving himself. That was not why he was hanging there, nailed to the cross. He was there to save us – all of us. His will was directed elsewhere, not towards an expression of Almighty force, but towards a place of Almighty sacrifice, displaying a power of a completely different kind. He was there to show us the lengths to which he would go in order to save, restore and protect his people and his creation.

Saving himself was not what Jesus was doing, no matter how much the human pain and suffering he was experiencing may have made him want to. He was doing for us what we could not do for ourselves, experiencing for himself judgement he did not deserve to save those for whom judgement would otherwise destroy.

Questions to Consider
What does this tell us about the love we are to show to others, especially our enemies? How can we exhibit such love?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, I am humbled before such love, it is almost incomprehensible that you would do this. All I can do is kneel before you and praise your name, and your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 3 – The Problem with the Resurrection

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – John 20:1-2

There are two problems that people have with the resurrection of Jesus. At the centre of our faith is a moment that is never seen, and that moment, on the face of it, is completely ridiculous and rather hard to believe. There were no eyewitnesses to the moment of the resurrection itself. The very moment when Jesus was raised to life is lost to us. And everyone knows the dead, once dead, stay dead.

In an age where people only believe what they can see and verify for themselves, the idea that the instant of the resurrection was unobserved by anyone might seem problematic. The age of proof (which seems to be different for each individual these days) requires full verification. But there is really no problem here. The gospel writers were very comfortable with simply recording the events and stories of those who saw the resurrected Jesus, spent time with him and talked to him. And as anyone who genuinely wants to have a relationship with the living Christ can do so, people can find out for themselves.

The second issue is that dead people do not come back to life. This is true. Anyone claiming that the normal course of human events involves people coming back to life is wrong. They don’t. It is not common human experience for this to happen. We all do (and will) die. The resurrection is ridiculous; it is something unusual and unexpected.  It is completely new, unprecedented and, as unbelievable and outrageous as it is, real.

Question to Consider
How do you explain the resurrection to those who don’t believe it?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for all that you are. Thank you for Easter and for your son. My words are inadequate – may my response be my life, given back to you in gratitude for your son. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 4 – An Uncertain Hope

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – John 20:3-9

This is the moment it all begins to change for the disciples, for Peter and John especially. They have watched their friend and teacher be arrested, tortured, crucified, and buried. They have been living, even if only for one day, in a world of pain and hopelessness, all their dreams and hopes – and the person at the centre of their lives – dead and gone.

The woman’s story was unbelievable. Literally. The dead do not rise and they were certainly not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead – after all they hadn’t been expecting him to die in the first place! But even the faintest possibility of the idea of Jesus back from the dead was enough for John and Peter to go running to see and find out for themselves. They found a small glimmer of uncertain, anxious hope: maybe, just maybe…

They found an empty tomb, some grave clothes….and no Jesus. Still no certainty about the woman’s story, but nevertheless there was still the possibility that Jesus was alive again. Where before there was only devastation and loss, now there is a small flicker of hope.

Sometimes it seems like there is no hope, that what we yearn for is impossible. Sometimes our hope wavers; sometimes when we want just a little sign or a little encouraging proof that what we hope for is still possible, we receive nothing, other than the vague, unsatisfying feeling of hope itself. But our God is the God of the impossible, the God of the type of hope that can never be discounted.

Question to Consider
How is hope shown daily in your life with others?

Prayer
God of glory, thank you for the hope that you offer us, even in times of greatest darkness. Help me to be a hope-filled person at all times. Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 5 – The Consequences of No Resurrection

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

If there is no resurrection, then the overwhelming majority of lives lived have been lives lived in vain and in irredeemable pain. If there is no resurrection, and the here and now is all there is, then maybe God’s desire that ‘none should perish’ is just a lie or, at best, the wishful thinking of an ineffectual, deluded fool.

If there is no resurrection, then there is no hope for parents to be reunited with children gone too soon, no fulfilment of other lives cut horribly short, no chance for wrongs to be righted, no justice for any other than those with money and power to buy comfort and protection here and now. If there is no resurrection, then there is no judgement other than the judgement meted out in this life, in which case most people have been judged harshly and condemned unjustly and have only experienced justice without mercy which is not justice.

If there is no resurrection, then God is a liar and a cheat whose promises are worth nothing and who cannot be believed in for anything – no eternal life, no new creation, no promise of all things put right under the sovereign lordship of the Creator God. For if there is no resurrection, then all that we believe is founded upon a lie, and all that we preach, speak, act, and live is founded upon the same lie. The resurrection is promise, is hope, the revelation of the heart of God’s plan for the whole of creation. It is the other side to the crucifixion, his character revealed and promised to us.

Questions to Consider
How would your life be different without the reality of the resurrection? How does the resurrection play out in your daily life?

Prayer
Sovereign Lord, thank you for the promise of the resurrection. Thank you that you are a God of promise, offering hope and life for all people. Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Readings for this week April 3 – 7
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings

Day 1  – Opportunities Lost

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Luke 19:28-44

As we journey with Jesus towards Jerusalem and his death on the cross, this time which is often called his Passion, we’ll stop to ponder the strength of emotions and motivations wrapped up in the story. In many ways this is the climax of the gospel, the culmination of all Jesus came to teach and to do.

Jesus approaches Jerusalem on a donkey, the arrival of a victorious king fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. There is clamour and uproar from the common people; shouts of honour and acts of homage. But this passion is fleeting, fickle. Jesus’ reaction comes in tears. The Saviour came to the city but the city would not come to him. Here is deep sorrow, not for himself, but for an opportunity lost. The king who would bring peace knows that this city who will reject him will face devastation and death, in ignoring the life he offers, and the impending threat of Roman siege and destruction.

What would Jesus weep over today? What opportunities are lost because our eyes are not open? What if we were to view our world through Jesus’ tears?

One Who Weeps  – Anselm Grün
Scripture tells twice of your weeping,
But undoubtedly there were other times
Besides your tears for a friend entombed
And a heartless city swept up in selfishness.
Surely your tender tears continue to emerge
As you look upon this hurting planet today.
Tears for children who are brutally betrayed
And every person’s wrenching desolation,
Tears for the world’s greed and plunder
And the careless way we treat one another.
Today: I renew my endeavour to be compassionate.

Prayer
Jesus, you show us the heart of your Father. May your compassion for the world you love become ours also. May our tears become seeds for change, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 2  – Cry Out

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 min)

Scripture Reading – Luke 19:40, Habakkuk 2:9-14

Throughout his ministry Jesus seems to have discouraged demonstrations of acclaim. Yet here, as he enters Jerusalem for the last time, the king long awaited and hailed as Yahweh’s own, it is only right and proper that truth be proclaimed. Those religious leaders, who should have been the first to recognise God at work and lead the rejoicing, instead try to quell the praise and stifle the passion of the people. Jesus’ tacit rebuke is to acknowledge the need and fitting place of passion poured into praise to God; if not from people then from the creation itself. This may be a reference to Habakkuk where the prophet rebukes those profiting from plunder and unjust practices. He says that the stones of the walls will cry out against dishonesty and exploitation.

While these passages are proverbial in nature, that is to say that it is unlikely that God would make stones capable of actual speech, it suggests that the whole world is created to recognise and honour God and his good works. Praise is appropriate, passion is needful. Some may fear excess, but we are in greater danger of suffering from lack. Habakkuk looks far into the future and sees that the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Let’s be people willing to fill our world with the praises of God.

Holy One – Joyce Rupp
Holy One, how distant some have placed you,
Apart and out of reach from our ordinariness.
Yet, your presence breathes life into creation,
Brings to birth the most common of things
You are the Holy One, familiar with earthiness.
Your touch of life-giving, creative artistry
Assigns the sacred to every facet of existence.
You gaze upon what composes each particle
And choose to call it good. Bow to you, I will.
But set you at a distance? That I refuse to do.
Today: I find the Holy One in the ordinary.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 3  – Overflowing Passion

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Matthew 26:6-13

Those who came close to Jesus, who really began to understand who he was, often responded with lavish passion. To touch the heart of love that Jesus came to share with the world, was to have one’s own heart exposed and changed. The result of gazing on the one worthy of worship is that you become a worshipper.

The woman (identified in John’s gospel as Mary, sister of Lazarus) brings what is probably the most precious belonging she owns, a jar of very expensive perfume. Anointing a person was customary at a feast (Psalm 23:5) but in this case the woman anticipates the anointing of a body before burial. A criminal would receive no such treatment so Jesus accepts this tribute ahead of his death.

As mentioned yesterday, God does not seem worried by excessive expressions of worship and adoration. In fact many of the complaints that come through the prophets are of God charging his people with stinginess, aloofness and apathy in relating to him. Love is something that must be generously poured out, mirroring God’s own loving self-expression to us. Like the story of this woman’s offering, love’s aroma and influence will spread well beyond its initial giving.

Anointed One – Joyce Rupp
It was women who anointed you.
One uses expensive, fragrant oil
To pour forth freely over your head.
Another bathed your feet with tears
And touched them with her sorrow.
Each one’s action a silent message
Of devoted love, a recognition
That your heart was soft enough,
Humble enough, exposed enough,
To receive from both saint and sinner.
Today: I anoint all I meet with my kindness.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 4  – Do Not Weep For Me

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Luke 23:27-31, Philippians 2:5-11

Jesus – betrayed, bound, beaten, condemned, is now lead away for crucifixion. He has represented his Father, performed signs and wonders that point to the kingdom that he himself will rule. But now he is emptied out, all has been given – the one last thing to offer is his very life’s breath. As he stumbles bloody and beaten towards the place of execution, when one might forgive him for being absorbed with his own shame and disgrace, pain and fear, he turns outward again to offer himself to others. Women are following, weeping. Jesus’ last message to them is not to weep for him. There is greater suffering coming for Jerusalem than they can possibly imagine. People will beg to die rather than watch their children suffer at the merciless hands of the Romans. His sorrow is that he was present as a green tree, the perfect representation of the Father, yet most missed it. What will happen in the dry times, when he is gone?

The Emptied One – Joyce Rupp
You often emptied yourself within ministry,
Giving of yourself fully for the sake of others.
You also suffered degradation and mockery,
Accepting the burden of the bloodied cross,
And made your way resolutely to Calvary.
Why did you not cling to your divine power?
Why allow your humanity to have full reign?
What kept you from running away from it all?
Were you teaching us, even through your dying,
That emptying out of self is part of the giving?
Today: I act out of love for the sake of others.

Question to Consider
God’s passion, through Jesus, was for people to recognise him. Do we carry this same passion?

Prayer
Jesus, you are my example. You modelled the truth of life coming through death, of victory coming through sacrifice. Strengthen me to follow you, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 5 – Father, Forgive

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Luke 23: 32-34

Luke is sparing in his description of Jesus’ crucifixion. Instead he focuses on Jesus’ last words for the people he came to save – the very people whose actions led to his suffering and death. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Jewish rabbis have reflected that never was Jesus more thoroughly Jewish than in this statement. He echoes the words used by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. They are words of intercession for people who are misguided, people who are sinful.

NT Wright notes that in Jesus coming he pronounced God’s judgement on the Temple and its system, which more often than not kept people from God rather than represented God. Wright concludes, “Jesus does seem to have believed that it was part of his role to take into himself the task of Temple and Priest together…He would be the place where, and the means by which, God would meet with his people in grace and forgiveness.”

This is Passover, a time to remember Israel’s history in Egypt when blood was spread on wooden posts to identify those within the house as belonging to God. The sign of blood averted judgement and led to freedom. So too, at this Passover blood is spilled, judgement taken by one who was guilty of no sin, and freedom for all people was secured.

Forgiver – BD
How could your last thought have been for me?
The one who ignores, who doubts,
who wounds, who turns away.
Your final plea to your Father was like the last ounce of compassion
Poured out on hard dry ground.
Only some saw, only some wept; but all were offered hope
And all were extended forgiveness.

Prayer
Father God, thank you for answering the prayer of your Son. I am so grateful for your forgiveness. Thank you for the freedom you offer me. May I be a person who extends forgiveness and hope to others, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Readings for this week March 27 – 31
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings

Day 1 – Singing God’s Praises

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 15:1-12

The people of God often sang and danced in their worship of God. So it should come as no surprise that here, on the occasion of God miraculously freeing the Israelites after centuries of slavery, the greatest event in the history of God’s people, their natural response as a people was to sing praises to God. Their love for God and for what he had just accomplished overflowed into singing and dancing. Much like David many centuries later, they couldn’t help themselves—they were so grateful that music and praise just spilled out.

Songs, playing instruments and dancing are all great ways of showing our love for God. They also help us express our faith in him. Later on when the Israelites went into battle, they always put the singers and musicians in the front lines to show how serious they were about putting God first. Our worship reflects what matters most to us. When we sing worship songs we show our love for God and proclaim his power, majesty and love for his creation – and we show that he matters most to us.

True worship springs from the relationship between God and his people. God’s freeing of his people from slavery was a massive reaffirmation of the relationship between him and the family of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. If our relationship with God stays strong, we will do much more than just sing. Our worship will lead to justice for the victimised, healing for the sick, and standing alongside the poor.

Questions to Consider
If you were going to ‘sing to the Lord a new song’ today, what would it be about? Why?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, you are what matters most. At all times, in all moments, help me worship you with my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 2 – Sing for Freedom

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 15:13-21

This is the moment when freedom is gained. Although the Israelites had been on the move and had been released by the Egyptians, once Pharaoh had (yet again) changed his mind and decided not to let them go, they had been pursued by the Egyptian army. Their safety and freedom had not yet been achieved.

But thanks to the (yet again) miraculous intervention of their God and his faithful servant Moses, the pursuing Egyptians were destroyed, the threat was removed and the Israelites were now free. And the natural response of Moses and the Israelites was to burst into song in praise of God.

This should be our response to the freedom that God brings people, especially the poor, oppressed and enslaved of the world. That is the freedom that God gave the Israelites and it is the freedom he longs to give everyone. But how can we celebrate the freeing of the slaves and the poor of the world unless we know about it? And how can we know about it unless we ourselves are actively journeying alongside the poor and oppressed in solidarity and love and working towards their freedom? How can we not truly praise our awesome and miracle-working God, who loves all people and who, through Christ especially, works to set them free, if we are doing what he has called us to? How can we not be joining with the helpless and imprisoned in order to see them set free, and thus be able to raise our voices in fulsome praise of his mighty, saving love?

Questions to Consider
How are you joined in solidarity with the poor of this world? How are you helping to bring them freedom and to celebrate it too?

Prayer
Lord God, help me remember the poor, and help me live a life that in every way is a life of solidarity with them. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 3 – A Few Problems to Deal With

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 15:22-27

The Israelites had cause to grumble, to a certain extent at least. In today’s passage we find them complaining about the undrinkable water at Marah. Later, in the Desert of Sin, they voice their anger and frustration at the lack of food and the imminent threat of starvation. And there was an element of truth in what they were complaining about. They needed food and water to survive. God freed them and led them into the desert, so it is only natural that they would be expecting God to, at the very least, understand the human need for food and drink. Their grumbling is understandable.

So their complaining isn’t necessarily the problem. We all complain about things, and sometimes our complaints are justified. The problem is what they did with their frustration. Thousands of years before the Da Vinci code, they sensed a conspiracy and took it out on Moses. In a classic case of shooting the messenger because they didn’t like the message (or the way the message was suddenly playing out), the Israelites started grumbling against Moses, as if all their current troubles were the fault of the one who had faithfully followed his God and helped rescue them from slavery. So frustrated was he with their behaviour that God even had to remind them that it was his commands they were obeying and his voice they were ultimately following. Times may have been tough, food and water in short supply, but angrily lashing out at Moses was not the answer. Patient, faithful trust in God and his plan was.

Questions to Consider
How would you rephrase the Israelites’ grumbles? How would you/do you articulate your ‘grumbles’ with God?

Prayer
Loving Father, help me keep my eyes on you and your purposes, rather than on myself and my grumbles about what you’re doing. I know you love me, and have a place for me in your plan. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 4 – A Desire to Go Back

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 16:1-3

It didn’t take the Israelites long to start grumbling. Grateful to God for his delivering them from their Egyptian slave masters, they were very quick to complain that things weren’t going the way they thought they should. They already seem to have forgotten the miraculous manner in which God rescued them; the faithful, wonder-working God of their fathers who heard their cries and rescued them is basically accused of abandoning them already, of rescuing them only to disappear again. Why else would the Israelites, after all that God has already done, be yearning for a return to Egypt and slavery? Surely a God of miraculous rescue should be a God of miraculous provision too?

When things got tough for the Israelites, they longed for a return to the way things used to be, to what they knew, what they were familiar with, even if that was a longing to return to a place of bondage or oppression. They didn’t trust God enough yet, to believe that he was still with them and would be with them and look after them. It’s enough to make you wonder just what their expectations of God were. Did they think he would render them immune from all possible misfortune or hardship? Did they expect him to answer their every whim? Where was their trust?

Questions to Consider
When things got tough, have you ever longed for a return to the “old ways and old days,” even though those days had been tough or bad or harmful? How did you get through? What did God do?

Prayer
Sovereign Lord, help me keep my focus on you and not returning to the past and the places and events you have rescued me from. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 5 – Trusting God

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 16:4-36

We’ve seen how the Israelites seemed to be suffering from memory loss with regard to their amazing rescue at the hands of God and were grumbling against their new situation. But some of them also seemed to still have trouble trusting God, and believing what he was telling them.

God was going to provide food for them. Instructions were passed down about how this was going to happen. And the instructions were very clear and explicit and largely boiled down to just two items. Firstly, only gather enough food that you need to eat for the day; do not try and store it for later. So, of course, some of the Israelites took food and tried to store it, only to discover the food was writhing with maggots the next day. And secondly, on the sixth day, gather twice as much as you would normally, to last two days, because there wouldn’t be any food provided on the Sabbath. And yet there were still some people went out on the Sabbath to collect food, only to find that, as God has said, there was none.

We often pay lip service to trusting God, but then quietly implement our own plans, our own ways of making sure we have some sort of insurance policy in our back pocket for when we think God won’t keep his promises or act in accordance with what we know of his character. It can be scary sometimes, but God can be trusted – if we will only step up and try. He will be with us when we do.

Questions to Consider
In what areas of your life do you find it hard to trust God? Why? How can you learn to trust him more?

Prayer
Lord God, I can always trust you more, I can always throw myself deeper into your love and step out further and more often in what I do for you and others. Help me do so. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Readings for this week March 20 – 24
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings

Day 1  – I AM the Lord

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 12:1-28

It might seem odd to us that on the very brink of a miraculous saving act on behalf of his people, God seems to stop to give some fairly detailed instructions about festivals, rituals, calendar months and so on. But everything God does has purpose, and his purpose here is to mark not just freedom for slaves but the creation of a nation who were to be his people. This was to be the event from the past that would shape the present for the Jewish people. It was to mark the beginning of the year, coinciding with spring, and symbolising a new life as a new people.

Each household was to sacrifice a lamb. Yet this was not merely private, but a community activity, for no one was to be left out and sharing was encouraged so that all were covered. The animal was to be without defect – the very best is owed to God. The blood spread on the doorposts was a sign for the people and for God to see as he passed over. Didn’t God know who lived in each house? Yes, and yet it appears that rather than rely on omniscience he prefers to “look and see.” It is a sign to proclaim their identity as Israelites. Additional symbolism may come from within the culture, for excavations in Amarna, Egypt, discovered that aristocrats painted their doorposts and lintels with brightly coloured hieroglyphs to advertise their ownership. God is signalling in this terrible final plague that Israel is his own possession. This is the only time the gods of Egypt are mentioned. All that is happening is judgement on them for the treatment of Israel. This is an exercise of authority and power by which it is clear to all that Yahweh is the one true and all powerful God.

Questions to Consider
Why might God have asked his people to participate in some action before he brought judgement on Egypt?
What does it mean to know that God exercises ownership over his people?

Prayer
Almighty God, you act in ways that demonstrate your care for, and your authority over your people. Help me to remember that you are the God who acts for and with us. May your name be honoured in my household, in my neighbourhood, and in our land, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 2  – The Exodus

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God  (2 min)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 12:29-50

Pharaoh had killed the Israelite babies, then enslaved and abused God’s people. Here is retribution and a decisive statement of the power of Yahweh. Pharaoh finally capitulates and releases Moses and his people. Yet even in this he adds, “And also bless me.” Self interest is still alive and well.

All the way through this story it is the Lord who is firmly in control of events. He is the one who hardened Pharaoh’s heart and made the Egyptians favourably disposed to the people. God is the main player here. The language is that of victory for the Israelites “plundered the Egyptians.”  “The Israelites march out of Egypt through the front door, with dignity – not like dogs crawling though the back fence, but as God’s people” Peter Enns.  This was no small feat, thousands upon thousands of people and livestock, all under the watchful eye of their God.

While Israel is a chosen, particular people, named as God’s own, we see signs of inclusion here. “Many other people went up with them.” Perhaps these were other slaves, and possibly even Egyptians who decided to throw their lot in with Israel and their God. These people are accepted, but it is ‘all in’ if they want to live as Israelites. They must fully identify with God’s laws and requirements if they want to be covered by the Passover as God’s own.

Questions to Consider
How do we identify ourselves as the people of God?
Do we need ways of remembering our identity and our allegiance?

Prayer
Loving Father, after all the harshness and violence of the life in Egypt and the judgement through successive plagues, there is tenderness and attention in the fact that you kept vigil all through the night as the people left Egypt. May I be aware of your tender care and watchfulness over my life, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 3  – Remember

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 13

These detailed rituals are all part of defining Jewish self-identity. We often steer away from formality and ritual, thinking that it is just dead and formulaic. But Peter Enns writes “Ritual breeds familiarity. It seeps into one’s subconscious and however subtly begins to exert a formative influence… Repetition and familiarity work. What is repeated becomes familiar, and this becomes a part of us.”

We should think long and hard before dismissing rituals because they are one of the key vehicles God has chosen to connect with his people. The Exodus story has strong links back to the Genesis story. There is a new beginning, a ‘recreating’. Israel is rescued from Egypt not because they are deserving, but because God is continuing the promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The particulars of the Passover Festival culminate in a learning opportunity for future generations. “When your children ask…” This is the importance of testimony; repeating the faithfulness of God to encourage those who come after us.

Just as future generations of Israel celebrated Passover and commemorated God’s saving work, counting themselves as being part of the brought out people, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we think of ourselves as “participating” in Christ and his saving work on the cross. In remembering we have a sense of “being there” – not physically in time and space or even just in imagination, but more powerfully in a theological sense. “Ritual affects us on a deeper level than other things can” Enns. In communion we remember bloodshed, bread, suffering, victory, death and new life, inclusion, allegiance; that God is for us.

Questions to Consider
Do I need to rethink the value of rituals? Can I establish some that have special meaning for me?
Next time we celebrate communion look again at God’s faithfulness.
Consider allegiance. How might this play out for you right now?

Prayer
Father God, help me not to despise or ignore the various pictures and pathways that you have instigated to help us remember and value our relationship with you. Help me reaffirm my allegiance to you and grow in trusting you, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 4  – Which Way!

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 14:1-14

You walk away from your captors outfitted with their gold and silver, are guided and protected by a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. Wouldn’t you think it would be impossible to ever doubt God again? Yes, its full steam ahead to the Promised Land. Yet surprisingly God doesn’t choose the fastest route. Instead Israel ends up hard against the sea with the might of Egypt’s army bearing down on them. They cry out to Moses and to God. They can only see two options: slavery in Egypt or death in the desert. Their reaction is more of a temper tantrum than a true cry for help. “They still have not learned that God’s purpose for bringing them out of Egypt is not simply to save them, but to maintain his covenant tie to all his people, past, present and future. They have still not learned that their circumstances are not the final statement on which to view the work of God” Enns. Unfortunately murmuring and complaining is going to become a recurring theme in the Exodus journey despite provision being made again and again.

Moses’ reply is perhaps best rendered by The Message. It is not so much a word of comfort, as a terse command. “God will fight the battle for you. And you? You keep your mouths shut!” We are not immune from looking at our circumstances and judging God’s way as faulty. How often do we look around us, or within ourselves, and elevate our own experience above the Word of God? Our circumstances and our feelings go up and down but God’s Word remains constant. His promises are Yes, and Amen 2 Cor 1:20. Will we trust him?

Questions to Consider
What did God achieve by taking the circuitous route?
Do you think seeing more miracles makes it easier to trust God?
When have I been swayed by circumstances instead of what God has said?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, I am so often painfully aware of the challenges around me and lose sight of what you have promised. Teach me when to stand firm and see what you will do. Thank you that you are both a powerful and loving God, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 5 – Life and Death

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 14:15-31

In Jewish thought the sea represented destruction and death. God makes a way through the middle of the sea, leading his people to life. But for the Egyptians, they are drowned, symbolically swallowed up by death. The miraculous parting of the Red Sea was not just for Israel’s benefit, but was a sign to Egypt that they might finally recognise Yahweh’s supremacy.

Chariots were a fearful symbol of Egyptian power. Yet God derails them. God is pictured as the divine warrior – a motif that will recur throughout the Old Testament. So the Exodus becomes a picture of salvation. Again and again it is alluded to; Joshua 3-4 where Israel prepares to cross the Jordan River, in Isaiah where deliverance from Babylon becomes another ‘Exodus’. So too in the new Testament the Apostle John records Jesus speaking of those who would believe his words and received eternal life, “we have crossed over from death to life” John 5:24.

While still being a historical event “Israel’s liberation from Egypt was a religious statement; God was claiming his right over Israel, to take his people out from under Pharaoh’s rule and put them under his own rule…The Exodus story is not so much something that we apply to our lives, as it is that Exodus is applied to us” Enns. Neither is it merely to teach us that God will win our battles for us, as though each trial we face can be equated to slavery in Egypt. No, rather its message is that God has won the battle. Victory is past, present and future.

Questions to Consider
Egypt is a symbol for all that opposes God. What are the voices of Egypt that would seek to have power over you today?
The picture of ‘crossing over’ seems to indicate that to enter the new, the old must be left behind. What significance does this have for you right now?

Prayer
Loving God, thank you for always offering me the choice of moving from bondage to liberty. Give me courage to leave behind all the things that pull me away from you, and determination to follow wherever you lead, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Readings for this week March 13 – 17
Click here for a pdf of this week’s readings

Day 1 – The Plagues

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 7

God has heard the cry of his people, he has promised to free them from their enslavement, and he has provided leaders through whom he will accomplish the Israelites’ freedom. Now, in our readings for this week, he really gets down to business, rolling up his sleeves, flexing his muscles, getting his hands dirty. The series of plagues about to be unleashed upon the Egyptian people and their land is a particularly famous sequence of events that culminates in the people of God escaping their captors and journeying to the new land God has promised them.

There are several reasons given for these spectacular plagues, these mighty signs of God’s power and majesty, both in these passages and in later Old Testament texts. God shows himself to be far more powerful than the false gods of Egypt, offering a definitive judgement against them (Ex 12:12) while also answering Pharaoh’s earlier question “Who is the Lord?” God shows his power through Moses (Ex 9:16); he gives the future children of Israel testimony through which to remember God’s mighty acts (Ex 10:2); and these events will stand as a warning to all other nations of the power of Israel’s God (1 Sam 4:8). But these events will also carry with them many questions. We will witness a God who acts to save his people, but some of these actions will seem strange and others perhaps downright disturbing and distressing. But this is the Bible; this is part of God’s word to us, a word we must continually grapple with.

Questions to Consider
Why do you think God set about freeing the Israelites this way? How do you think the Israelites felt about these events before final rescue arrived?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, you do not always answer our prayers and cries the way we might wish or expect, but you do hear us. Help us be patient, yet expectant, when we wait. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 2 – No Compromise

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 8

The first plague (the Nile turning to blood) affected the very existence of the Egyptian people. These next three plagues – frogs, gnats (or possibly lice) and the ‘horde’ (usually designated as flies) are designed to make the Egyptians’ lives as uncomfortable as possible. They do not present a direct threat to people’s lives, they just seem designed to make them squirm. The physical discomfort of the insects, not to mention the stench that piles of dead frogs (added to the stink of all the dead fish in the Nile) would make for a horrible living environment.

Pharaoh’s reaction to all of this is: compromise. He tells Moses the Israelites can go and sacrifice to their God – but only if they do it here, rather than leaving for the wilderness as God had commanded. Do what your God asked of you – but do it here on my terms. Pharaoh wanted some sort of solution to his people’s problems, but one that didn’t involve having to give up his pretence of power or that threatened his (self-perceived) position as greater than God. So he offered a compromise.

But we cannot compromise with God. He is sovereign. What he commands is non-negotiable. Often we want to compromise, and usually it’s because we fear what God is asking of us, or we fear the consequences of obedience. But this is to forget that God is Lord and he knows best, and also that he loves his people – all people – and wants what is best for them.

Questions to Consider
What makes us want to try and make deals with God? Why is this foolish?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, you desire the best for all people. You are love. You are gracious. I need not fear what you will ask of me, no matter how hard it may be. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 3 – Proclaiming His Name and His Glory

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 9

Now the plagues, as bad as they have been, start to increase in intensity. The firstborn of all Egyptian livestock dies. Boils (the Hebrew refers to some sort of burning skin rash) break out on everyone’s skin. These two plagues combine the threat to life and the creation of severe discomfort.

But now a third element is added. The plague of hail signals a move from plagues that seem to materialise out of the very air or water to a plague that seems to come from the heavens above, as if signalling that there really is no escape, no matter where they might want to look for help.

In verse 16 we read of the rationale for this whole series of plagues and their intensification: God is a God who acts in history and he is acting now in order to free his oppressed people and therefore establish his credentials as a powerful, unrivalled, almighty, compassionate God, so that his name and his deeds will be told “through all the earth”, not just Egypt. He is not weak or absent or uncaring or inactive. He sees, he acts – and when he acts he does so in a way that establishes beyond any doubt his power and glory. No matter how dire the situation of the Israelites seems, God is acting to free them and to demonstrate the true character of who he is and what he stands for.

Questions to Consider
Have there been times in your life when it seems that God has taken overly long to respond to your cry, and yet when his response came it was more than you hoped for? What happened? How did it change your relationship?

Prayer
Sovereign Lord, when you seem inactive and distant, when you seem deaf and uninvolved, help me remember that you are not. I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 4 – “I Will Harden Pharaoh’s Heart”

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 10

Wouldn’t it have been much easier for everyone concerned if God had softened Pharaoh’s heart and made him feel more well-disposed towards the Israelites? Wouldn’t Pharaoh have then freed them from their slavery and let them go on their way, avoiding needless suffering and pain – and also avoiding what God ends up doing next…?

Many commentators have offered many ideas about what they think God ‘hardening’ Pharaoh’s heart actually means. Yes, we know the reason why: as stated, it was so that, through his mighty deeds of redemption his people would be rescued and the Egyptians would know without doubt that God has caused these things to be in order to rescue them. But what did God do to and in Pharaoh’s heart? Did he merely step aside and let Pharaoh’s natural selfishness and spite have unfettered reign and take over all of his decision-making – just letting Pharaoh be Pharaoh? Or did God actively twist Pharaoh’s heart and will, directing it in the way that God wanted, regardless of what Pharaoh’s actual inclination may have been? Or something else, somewhere in between?

This hardening of Pharaoh’s heart plays a major role in all that is happening; it is specifically spelled out so many times in the narrative that it is hard to miss. Whatever it means, whatever God did or did not do, God’s proclamations that he will harden Pharaoh’s heart place God right at the centre of these events in a capacity that is, at best, ambivalent.

Questions to Consider
What do you think God meant when he said he would harden Pharaoh’s heart? Do you think it was worth it? Why or why not?

Prayer
Lord God, make me not like Pharaoh. Make my heart soft and loving and yielding to you and your will for your people. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)

Day 5 – A Genocidal Maniac?

Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)

Scripture Reading – Exodus 11

Is God a genocidal maniac? It seems like a facetious question, and many have asked it facetiously, but it is a deeply serious and deeply disturbing question. Scripture is not necessarily easy or nice. It does not raise only easy questions with easy answers. It presents humanity in all its variety of good and evil. And it presents God in all his seeming ‘otherness’ and contradiction and perplexity. We cannot shy away from these questions. God promises to kill all the firstborn in Egypt (something that, in the next chapter, he follows through on, doing the deed himself).

Passages like this one can seem grossly unfair and deeply horrific. They challenge our notions of God and raise questions about his character. Passages like this – and others already discussed like God wanting to kill Moses, and God seemingly working against his own purposes by hardening Pharaoh’s heart – are difficult passages to read and to stomach. They do not pose easy questions and they certainly do not offer easy answers. Often they do not give us any answers at all, or at least not to the questions we urgently want to ask. Usually we come away with more questions: why would God do this? Why kill innocent children? Why cause so much suffering? Why harden Pharaoh’s heart if it’s only going to lead to this? Are you really like this God? What does this tell us about your love? What are we to do with this? These are hard questions and we cannot avoid them. But, if asked honestly and courageously, if followed wherever they lead, they can take us deeper into the mystery that is God.

Question to Consider
What is your response to this passage and to what God promises to do?

Prayer
Loving Father, there are times when I do not understand you and what you do and what happens in your world. But I am still here and I will wait upon you in hope. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)