Greetings to you…fragrance of Christ…in the beautiful, powerful, and wonderful name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Savior! Wow! another lovely morning in the Kingdom as Spring continues to invade our world. Let us take a few moments to “rejoice and be glad” in the presence of the Lord, who made this day for us. I trust that you are enjoying these days as you “patiently” wait for the Spring marathon of preparing for home and garden Spring clean-up. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to use these next few days to refresh you in body, mind, and spirit as He leads you beside still waters.
I cannot remember when it was or who it was that introduced the concept to me…but I have adopted a double-edge approach to handling the Scriptures when preaching or teaching or encouraging. We all become comfortable with certain passages and as good as that may be there is a danger to consider…two, actually. First, since the passage is familiar to us, we think that we know more about it than we do…and second, because we have looked at the scene in the passage so many times, we don’t give it the attention that it deserves and we can miss new perspectives.
Since we are drawing close to the completion of our Lenten journey and visiting scenes that are very familiar to us…so don’t rush past them assuming there is nothing new to learn. In the Catholic tradition they employ an approach called the “Stations of the Cross”, where the take time t absorb specific moments and the feelings. Perhaps we need to take time with the events of the Lenten journey to pause and like Moses at the burning bush – move in close to see what is happening. I like to take time and pretend I am “walking into the scene” — watching, listening, smelling, tasting, and touching–and when I do, there always seems to be something that I had not noticed before.
It is important, of course, to look at the words of each Gospel, for they are records of what four different people experienced in the scenes they found themselves. Perhaps this Easter you will discover an unexpected insight or a new understanding that will a freshness to your faith.
Something to think about…have a blessed day!