Stations of the Cross: Station 4 - Jesus Meets His Mother

"Simon said to Mary, His mother: This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that all will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed .  And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Luke 2:34

 I can only imagine

Your Mother’s deep love for You, Lord

and imagine her grief at

watching You suffer and die. But it

 is beyond my imagination,

beyond comprehension,

  to contemplate her realization

 that You were her Lord and

 Savior, and the unspeakable

joy of witnessing Your glorious

resurrection.

Art by Lindsey Leigh - 2006

Lenten Reflections: Unrealistic

"...Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things...and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." - Matthew 16:21

Reality has become relative.

Voyeurism has created a reality that is not real at all. 

Expectations become unrealistic when realty is twisted and warped. 

In a culture inundated with reality TV and social media, reality has become more unrealistic. So much of life is lived with an unrealistic view that when faced with actual reality, we reject it as false. 

Reality was unrealistic to Jesus' disciples. 

Messiah was not a warrior with a sword, but a servant to all.

The Savior of the world was not a King with a crown of Gold, but a poor man, rejected by many.

Redemption did not come with war, but defeat.

Salvation was not found with prestige, but with rejection and isolation.

Freedom did not come from the spilling of the blood of enemies, but in loving them, and treating them better than yourself. 

Reality is sometimes more unrealistic than what we perceive as real. 

What is real is sometimes more abstract than what is clear. 

Lent can seem very unrealistic as we journey through it. We find ourselves walking a dark path, filled with the dirt and filth that is our life, only to be confronted with the light of resurrection. Death leads to life. Sin leads to salvation. Rejection leads to redemption. Darkness leads to light. 

"But take heart!  

We're almost there!  The unrealistic will become reality!

Lord, as we make our way through Lent, we see that much of our lives are lived in the clouds of an unrealistic perspective. What we think is reality is sometimes not real at all. But in You, there is nothing but reality, truth and clarity. Enable us to see life more clearly and more realistic, knowing that it may mean for us to see life more abstract and unrealistic. Amen        

   

Stations of the Cross - Jesus Falls

Station 3

Jesus Falls

He “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross.”

Philippians 2:7 & 8

How strange to see You fall

as anyone does who cannot go on.

When we feel that we cannot take another step.

And yet You rise again,

to take the few steps more that You can.

Jesus,

give Your grace to me

when I fall and

cannot rise on my own.

Lift me to my feet

That I make walk beside You again

Art by Lindsey Leigh - 2006 

 

Lenten Reflections: Expectations

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." - Matthew 5:48 

Do we expect to be perfect? Or is this an unrealistic expectation from God?

It's not even 9am, and I've already blown this concept. How about you? How are you IMperfect today?

Greed? Lust? Selfishness? Anger? Hatred? Bitterness? ___________?

Our sense of entitlement can lead to negative expectations.

Negative expectations don't make us better, they make us flawed. Negative expectations put the focus on ourselves, not others. Not God. Not the Kingdom.  Positive expecting makes us perfect.    


"God, I expect you to do this for me!  I deserve it!" = SELF

or

 "God, I expect You to do this! Because You are good!" = GOD

"I expect you to make me happy! I deserve to be happy, dammit!" = SELF

or

"I expect you to make me happy! Because of who you are!" = OTHERS

Expectations, or demands? Joyful anticipation, or selfish lingering?

Negative expectations are an inner driven motivator. Real expectation comes from the external goodness of God and the world around us. 


What we think we deserve and what we come to expect, from ourselves and from others, can easily become one and the same thing.

Fair? 

Right? 

Healthy? 

When we feel entitled, the natural progression is to expect that which we feel entitled to. This becomes unfair to ourselves and others. It's not right. And it's unhealthy to our relationships.

As selfishness is the motivator for entitlement, arrogance breeds expectations.

Lent is the perfect time to meditate on the concept of negative expectations, because it opens the door for us to see just how arrogant we can be.

As we move closer to Easter, let's commit to negatively expect nothing from others, but to EXPECT the best IN others. Let's refuse to negatively expect God to change us because we are entitled, but EXPECT God to transform us because of who He is.

Lord, we expect an awful lot from You and others. Not all of our expectations are positive, in fact, most of them arise from a selfish arrogance. Help us to learn to expect from an outside perspective, not inner. Help us to expect because of the goodness in others and You, not selfishness. Amen. 

Stations of the Cross - Jesus Carries His Cross

Station 2 

Jesus Carries His Cross  

“So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.  Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgatha).”

John 19:16 & 17

Led to Calvary,

carrying the cross

By Yourself.

Alone.

Abandon. 

Yet was the cross only Yours,

or was it mine to carry as well?

Jesus, by Your cross

make me strong and able

to take up the cross that I

 must bear each day.

I meditate on the wood.

The weight.

The pain.

I carry it with you, Lord.

I won’t let go.

Art by Lindsey Leigh - 2006