Sin is a loaded word. For those outside the faith, it’s a funny and dated religious term. For Christians, we repeat it so often that it loses its bite. Scripture reveals that sin is worse than we know. Jesus is so serious about it that he says, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.” What is it about sin that’s so fatal it would require Jesus to go to the cross?
This Lent we do a soul examination, studying all the ways God describes the complex of sin. Lawlessness, adultery, rebellion . . . The cancerous nature of sin means that we need to go deeper than surface confession. The problem is worse than we know, which makes our Savior greater than we can imagine.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord, you know the evil that comes when we are alone. You prayed in the Garden while your friends were asleep. You faced the agony of death and evil alone. Do not leave or forsake us in our isolation. Draw near in the dark of night when no one else is around. Have mercy, O Lord, Amen.
Word
Joel 2:13 “…Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”
Meditation: Return by Susan Becher Schultz
In this season of life, I am beginning to slow down after a massive series of changes. Last August, I started graduate school. In September, I was promoted to a new position at work. This January and into February, as many of you know, my husband was called as a permanent pastor at Reliant and Christ Memorial. While all of these changes are exciting and wonderful, it has been overwhelming nonetheless. As these huge waves of transition crest and break, they’ve often taken me under, leaving me gasping for air. There has been little calm. Little time to catch my breath.
The summer of 2021, I spent a lot of time at the pool. My favorite thing to do was sit on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water, watching as people swam laps back and forth. I’ve never been a strong swimmer. In all actuality I hated swimming as a kid. But as I watched these swimmers it brought me peace of mind. They were so focused on their bodies moving through water, the rest of the world didn’t exist. That’s all I wanted for myself that year. To forget about the pain in my body and the pain Nathan and I had experienced in our first call. I wanted to put my head in the water and think of nothing else.
Fast forward a year and a half later, I signed up for swim classes at my local YMCA. I felt pretty goofy at first, I’ll be honest. My first laps I attempted I was gasping for air. I could barely swim a single length of the pool. But my progress has been much faster than I anticipated. My strength is building, slowly but surely, as I practice freestyle and backstroke. Now I’m able to slow down and swim further, endurance building, as my instructor likes to call it.
In these past couple weeks, as my swimming gets stronger, I can feel these big changes turn into a smoother flow. A return to a steady rhythm of life.
“…Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”
In this calmer space, I’ve been able to step back and view the big picture. One that goes back to when my husband and I first met, two young twenty-somethings in 2013 at a Reliant community group. I see how we’ve been shaped and taught, how we’ve grown and overcome. From the west coast to the east coast, we have now returned to the church community we began in. In the midst of what we viewed as disaster, God found a way to shape us through it. Even as the waves crashed, he was teaching us how to endure, so that we might return fully equipped for this new season of life.
Dear Lord, we recognize the lack of control we have over changes, both exciting and disastrous. Thank you for shaping us through these experiences, and for reminding us of the importance of returning to you in all seasons of life. Amen.
Sending
In the face of evil, may God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ fill you with every spiritual blessing. Go in his name, Amen.