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Multimedia Lent Devotional – Saturday of the First Week of Lent

March 14, 2025

2025:

Saturday of the First Week of Lent:

  • Scripture (Scott Mayhue) – Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
  • Reflection (Karen Sculley)
  • Prayer (Bart Parker)
  • Videos: Matthew 5:43-48
  • Music: “Yet I Will Praise” (Melissa Boraski) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hujNAmtA0c

Reflection on Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8 – “Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart … You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! … I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous ordinances. I will observe your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.”

The very first Hebrew word in Psalm 119 is esher, which means blessedness or happiness. It comes from a word meaning to go straight, to advance. Being blessed and happy is not about eating bonbons on the couch and bingeing our favorite show. We are created to participate with God in the eternal dance of joy and love as we adventure together with God and others. Being blessed and happy is not our goal, but as we follow Jesus together on the way of love, we get foretastes of blessedness and happiness. God does not promise us a trouble-free existence. There will be problems. There will be suffering. There will be pain. There will be sorrow. What God does promise us is eternal joy. And along the way, God matches our suffering with joy.

Our job is to allow ourselves to live in the embrace of God, the one who loves us with everlasting love. As we abide in God’s eternal embrace, we are to go straight and advance with that same kind of self-giving love for God and for everyone and every part of God’s good creation. We’re not great at figuring that out on our own, so God has given us all that we need to help us.

Walking in the law of the Lord is no longer about woodenly following legalistic precepts, statutes, or ordinances. Those words can trip us up. Jesus came as the source and center and fulfillment of all life. Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated the good news of the kingdom of God. Following Jesus is about entering, experiencing, and embodying the kingdom of God. And as we do so, we become Christians, little Christs who actually become part of the good news! Let us not pursue blessings or happiness. Rather, let us seek God with our whole heart, as we go straight and advance, grounded in scripture, guided by tradition, expressed by reason, experienced through the Holy Spirit, and powered by love.

2024:

Saturday of the First Week of Lent:

Matthew 5:43-48 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

What does Jesus mean by saying, “be perfect?” The word he chooses here can also mean “complete,” “whole,” and even “merciful.” This concept is best understood by the image of a telescoping cylinder that can be extended one stage at a time until it’s at its maximum length and peak effectiveness. It carries with it the idea of going through necessary stages and a necessary process in order to reach maturity. To be clear, Jesus is not saying that we need to act, speak, pray, or think perfectly. Jesus is encouraging us to persevere, to keep going, to take the next step in our spiritual journey. And he tells us just how to do that – by acting, speaking, praying, and thinking in such a way that we are motivated by love and mercy for others, even the ones who do not love us in return. Easier said than done, right? When someone hurts us, it can be tempting to get revenge by inflicting hurt or harm back on them. We can clearly see God’s mercy since God makes the sun rise on everyone, no matter who they are or how they act, and since God sends rain on everyone, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. I’m no meteorologist, but it seems to me that there’s either some precipitation or no precipitation. The sun is always shining, whether it’s blazing down on us or hidden from our sight. In essence, Jesus is saying, be loving and merciful and keep growing in love and mercy until there’s no more room for growth in you. If we’re honest, we realize we still have a long way to go.

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea.

There’s a kindness in God’s justice, which is more than liberty.

There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good.

There is mercy with the Savior, there is healing in his blood.

But we make God’s love too narrow by false limits of our own,

and we magnify its strictness with a zeal God will not own.

For the love of God is broader than the measures of the mind,

and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.

If our love were but more simple, we should rest upon God’s word,

and our lives would be illumined by the presence of our Lord.

2023:

Saturday of the First Week of Lent:

  • Scripture (Jake Keener) – Matthew 5:43-48
  • Reflection (Karen Sculley)
  • Prayer (Nancy Penton)
  • Videos: Matthew
  • Music: “Love Your Enemies” (Kyle Sigmon)

Matthew 5:43-48 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Love your neighbor – that sounds pretty doable. Love your enemies – harder, but still within reach. Pray for those who persecute you – harder still, but we might be able to attempt that. Be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect – what? Impossible!

Jesus told us to be perfect, but not in the sense that we often assume. The word he used here has nothing to do with flawlessness. It has to do with completeness or wholeness and includes the nuance of being merciful. Picture one of those extendable nautical telescopes. Being perfect is about aiming towards God and gazing at him. The more we extend our focus and our hearts towards God, the more he transforms us into his likeness, one stage at a time. As we gaze upon God, we become more like him. Jesus is appealing to us to be merciful by loving even those who hate us, by praying for even those who actively persecute us. I want to offer here a quote from the 16th century founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola: “The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit. All the things in this world are gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily . . . everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God. Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening his life in me.”

Each short Multimedia Lent Devotional is an invitation to set aside time each day during the season preceding Easter. Lent is a solemn 40-day period we observe as we seek to draw near to God prior to the great celebration of Easter. During Lent,

  • we intentionally practice sober reflection, serious repentance, and sincere restitution, in which we more fully recognize our brokenness as humans, looking always to Jesus Christ as our Savior and sanctifier;
  • we seek to live lives marked by simplicity, self-denial, and surrender, in imitation of Christ Jesus, who fasted for 40 days in the wilderness before He began His public ministry;
  • we look for ways in which we express love for neighbors and nations in need in practical ways through generously giving of our time, talents, and treasures.

This collaboration is brought to you by Liberty Vineyard Church

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