Lent Devotion: Serve

Written by Pastor Becca McCary

Introduction:

God wants to meet with you this Lent. He wants to come into the ordinary times and places in your life in a holy way, transforming your life. This week’s ordinary space transformation challenge is: Serve.

Scripture Reflection:

Philippians 2:3-5 (NLT)

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.

Challenge:

Write down or paint the word "serve" on a rock or piece of paper as your holy reminder. Then choose an ordinary space in your life where you are going to focus on serving. Try to practice serving one time in that ordinary space your life this week. Then, watch God transform this ordinary space into a holy space for you.

Practice:

Put the word "serve" in an area of your life- like the place you eat, your toolbox, or your cell phone charger.

Then, this week, as you eat, clear away someone else's plate. When you fix something, try to fix something for someone else. Or when you go to charge your phone, text someone, offering to help them with something specific that you know they might need.

As you serve others you will remember the ways that God serves you. Thank Christ for all he has done for you.

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Lent Devotion: Listen

Written by Pastor Becca McCary

Introduction:

God wants to meet with you this Lent. He wants to come into the ordinary times and places in your life in a holy way, transforming your life. This week’s ordinary space transformation challenge is: Listen.

Scripture Reflection:

James 1:19 (NLT)

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

Challenge:

Write down or paint the word “Listen” on a rock or piece of paper as your holy reminder. Then choose an ordinary space in your life where you are going to focus on listening. Try to practice listening one time in that ordinary space your life this week. Then, watch God transform this ordinary space into a holy space for you.

Practice:

Put the word “Listen” in an area of your life like your kitchen table, car, or backpack. When you are sitting at your table as a family, in the car on a ride to school, or in your backpack as you settle into school for the day, look for an opportunity to listen to those around you.

The people in your life, your friends, and family (especially those who annoy you) are not mere happenstance. God wants to speak to you through the people in your life. Listen to God’s voice encouraging and challenging you through the people in your life.

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If Only

Written by Pastor Tim White  Statisticians say that the average 80 year has said “if only” an average of 24.7 times a day their lifetime. That’s a lot of wasted time.   A famous statistician once said, that it is proven that 87.8% of all statistics quoted are made up on the spot.

Ba dum dum tisk!

That would be my way of telling a joke. The point is that when we study Samson’s life in Judges 13-16, you can’t help but think ‘wow he had so much potential but he kept making the same stupid mistakes over and over again.’ His whole life was an “if only.”

But there was another judge in Scripture that pastor Ben McCary is preaching on this week. His name is Samuel and he lived his entire life with integrity. At the end of his life he stood before the nation and asked, “Does anyone have anything they can say negatively about me?” The people, many of whom Samuel had rebuked for their actions, had to admit that there was nothing in his life where he had stepped out of integrity.

But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit.    Jude 1:20 (NLT)

Just by looking at these two Judges of Israel for many centuries ago we see the importance of moving from think “If only” to challenging ourselves with “Next Time, Boldly”. Instead of dwelling on the mistakes and being caught in the quick sand of the poison of our sinfulness, let God lift us to next time boldly.

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Samson: A man of much strength... and weakness

Written by Fiona Monaghan What an interesting man. Anger, strength and arrogance reign in him…but he still is God’s chosen one as a Judge for Israel.

Samson is one of those heroes in the Bible that for every strength he had, there was an equal and opposite weakness. He is seen doing a good thing and then making a terrible decision in the next action. Moving from one catastrophe to the next- leaving chaos and heartbreak in their wake. Why would he do this? He should have known better. He was raised with good morals and a dedicated family. Why this immaturity housed in a physically daunting body. Samson’s life truly reads like a bad movie…

He chooses to be with a Philistine woman. This choice leads to a dramatic storyline in which he ends up slaughtering 30 men for their clothes to pay back a debt! A debt he incurred because the Philistine woman was forced to tell a bunch of Philistine men the answer to a riddle Samson arrogantly posed to them. He then finds out that his “to be” father-in-law married the woman off to Samson’s best man. Samson is so angry he lashes out in revenge. He catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together, sets them on fire and lets them go into the Philistine fields. In retaliation, those men burn the house of Samson’s not quite father-in-law and ex- bride to be. Again, responding with wrath, Samson finds the men responsible and massacres them.

Now it’s the Philistines turn. They come into Judah and want to wreak havoc on those people because of what Samson has done. They demand the Israelites turn Samson over… Samson acquiesces; he is tied up and handed over to the Philistines. However, as they approach, the ropes fall away and he takes the jawbone of a donkey and kills all the Philistines. A similar cycle continues throughout Samson’s life.

What comes through loud and clear after reading all of the ups and downs of this man’s life is that even in all that he did wrong and his questionable motives, God still chose him to be his champion against the Philistines. His anger and arrogance is funneled into that of Protector and Judge for the Israelites at this time in history, and he fulfilled the role of Judge for 20 years. God had set Samson apart to be used and God knew what strengths and weaknesses Samson would have and he chose to use him regardless.

So remember when you lose your temper, make bad judgment calls, fall back to old ways when you should know better, that nothing is irredeemable when God is in the mix. He can use us no matter our disposition and character. He will take those traits we have, both good and bad, and engineer circumstances so that when we seek Him we will reach those higher goals. We all have failings and strengths and the story of Samson shows us that even in these God can use us.

Take time today to pray about your weaknesses, the chinks in your armor. Ask God to take them and use them for his will. It is hard to know the wonders God will work through us when we seek his will. So don’t be discouraged by your failings but look to him in all aspects of your life- He has a mighty plan for you.

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Lent Devotion: Clean

Written by Pastor Becca McCary

Introduction:

God wants to meet with you this Lent. He wants to come into the ordinary times and places in your life in a holy way, transforming your life. This week’s ordinary space transformation challenge is: Clean

Scripture Reflection:

Psalm 51:1-2 (NLT)

¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

² Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Challenge:

Write down or paint the word "Clean" on a rock or piece of paper as your holy reminder. Then choose an ordinary space (your bedroom, the kitchen, the closet under the stairs) in your life where you are going to focus on cleaning. Try to practice cleaning one time in that ordinary space your life this week. Then, watch God transform this ordinary space into a holy space for you.

Practice:

-Put the word "Clean" in an area of your life like your kitchen, car, desk, or bathroom. Take a moment this week to clean that area of your life. As you are literally scrubbing, organizing, and simplifying, consider what areas of your life God wants to clean out. God want to clean out our hearts, make us new, refreshing our spirits.

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Bittersweet News

Rey and Elise met while studying missiology at Fuller Theological Seminary. Eventually Rey received his doctorate in Intercultural Studies with a focus on children at risk. Together, Rey and Elise moved to Honduras to help build the Amor, Fe, y Esperanza project alongside the Honduran leaders. They were critical in the growth of the project from a few children under the trees to the amazing community development project it is today servicing a nursery, k-12, college grads, adult education, clinic, cafeteria, and church. On their return to Washington, Rey continued developing the program along with consulting with many other projects in Honduras, Central America, Kenya, Haiti, and India. T4T has grown working with over 40 churches and non-profits around the United States.

For the past two years, Rey has technically worked part-time as a pastor and part time at Together 4 Transformation, our church’s mission program. His heart has been torn between the needs of the church and the needs of the programs around the world. And he feels it’s an unsustainable solution.

After about two years of praying and processing, Rey has decided to transition into fulltime global orphan care. Although it is with a very heavy heart, they feel this will be the best use of their time, energy and resources. Most importantly, they feel God is calling them to focus on children at risk. At Orphan Outreach, Rey will be able to direct all his focus on global orphan care. The transition will take place at the end of June. As part of his new role at Orphan Outreach, he has the flexibility to continue leading Together 4 Transformation along with the team.

Washington Cathedral is proud of Rey and Elise. We have always measured the success of our church as the success of our people. Success is not in size or fame or anything like that form of measurement. Success is when our people find God’s will and pursue it. Since our inception we have sent people all around to follow God’s plan for their lives. We are a sending church because we are out to build the greatest caring network the world has ever seen.

We have a great core of young leaders at Washington Cathedral that will continue serving our church and community including Pastor Ben, Pastor Becca, and Pastor Josh. We are also searching for a pastor to bring onto our team that will take over many of the responsibilities Rey was taking care of.

Washington Cathedral has a bright future as God continues to bring young leaders into the church.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x4XxhHPjiU

Nehemiah - the Prayer Warrior

Written by Fiona Monaghan One of the things that we are encouraged to do when there seems to be nothing else to do is pray. It sounds like a less than auspicious thing to do. We say, so glibly, “I will pray for you.” However, if we could catch the power and authority behind it; if we could really see what happens in the heavens when we pray I think we would be amazed the power it holds.

We find Nehemiah in exile from his homeland, Judah (possibly being of the tribe of Judah,) and working for the Persian king, Artaxerxes. His served the king as a cupbearer which would have been quite a high position allowing him access to communicate directly with the king.

Nehemiah’s brother comes to him and tells him of the suffering of those living in Jerusalem under foreign rule. The city itself is in ruins and provides no protection for the people. Nehemiah decides it’s time to re-establish Jerusalem back to the great city it had been. Rebuild the walls that had been brought down. Re-construct the gates had been burned. Return the people back to worshipping their One True God-Jehovah. No small task.

He must have made a good impression on King Artaxerxes because when he asked the king if he could be allowed to return and rebuild the walls he was given permission. Not only that, he made Nehemiah provincial governor and gave him letters for safe passage. He even provided the means to procure timber for the rebuilding.

However, before he was given all these amazing provisions, Nehemiah did one thing. He prayed. He wept, mourned and fasted before God. In his prayer he brought up all the things he and the people had done wrong before God. He accounted the many times God had intervened on their behalf and then how the people would return to their old ways. He held nothing back.

Nehemiah 1:5-11

⁵I said, ‘O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments; ⁶let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for your servants the people of Israel, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Both I and my family have sinned. ⁷We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses. ⁸Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; ⁹but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place at which I have chosen to establish my name.” ¹⁰They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great power and your strong hand. ¹¹O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man!’

God is all powerful, He can do anything he wants. He is the Supreme Ruler and Creator. This world does not exist without his permission. So I think what happens when we pray is that we get aligned with God’s purpose and plan. We are willing to lay everything out before him, we hold nothing back. We recognize He is Number One. We confess anything that gets between us and His plan for us. Clear the decks. For His part, He is able to move and shift circumstances when we are willing to be part of his plan.

Nehemiah had a heart for Jerusalem and really, really, really, wanted to rebuild it and restore the Israelites. I think he had connected to God’s heart in this too. He had time and time again rescued the Israelites from their oppressors and hardships. Despite their wandering attention and seemingly fickle love, He loved them and did not want them to suffer.

So prayer is seeking God’s heart and perspective in the situation we are praying about and then coming alongside Him to make it happen. Sometimes it will be in physical work like rebuilding walls, sometimes it will be emotional work like rebuilding trust and relationships. Remember, God is all about rebuilding. It is on every page of the Bible - Reconciliation and Rebuilding. Clear out all the old stuff, confess any sin and shortcoming. Make a fresh start in your heart and mind and move on from there.

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Are there areas in your life that need rebuilding: a relationship that is in need of attention? Finances needed to pay off debt, healing for a sick body? Align your desires with God’s will so that you are in agreement. Ask for clarity of mind to see what needs to be done. Like Nehemiah, the way will open up and the means will be provided.

Lent Devotion: Pray

Written by Pastor Becca McCary

Introduction:

God wants to meet with you this Lent. He wants to come into the ordinary times and places in your life in a holy way, transforming your life. This week’s ordinary space transformation challenge is: Prayer.

Scripture Reflection:

Matthew 6:5-7 (NLT)

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words

Challenge:

Write down or paint the word "Pray" on a rock or piece of paper as your holy reminder. Then choose an ordinary space in your life where you are going to focus on prayer. Try to practice prayer one time in that ordinary space your life this week. Then, watch God transform this ordinary space into a holy space for you.

Practices:

-As a family, put the word "Prayer" on your dinning room table. Take five minutes before dinner to pray together as a family.

-As a parent, you might want to put the word "Prayer" on your fridge. As you prepare meals for your family, take that time to pray to God on their behalf.

-As a child, you might want to put the word "Prayer" on your shoes, so that as you walk to your bus stop you can pray for your friends at school.

-As a single person, put the word "Prayer" on your coffee pot as a reminder to begin your day with prayer.

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The Rest of the Story... Gideon: “Oh mighty warrior of God”

Written by Fiona Monaghan I love the humanness of Gideon in his dialogue with God’s Angel and being directed to ‘man up’ and take on the Midianites.

Judges begins Gideon’s story with him threshing wheat in a winepress – why would Gideon be separating the edible grain from the inedible chaff in a place used to make wine? Threshing wheat in a winepress conveys the idea of someone hiding and doing something in a place unexpected because usually threshing wheat would be done out in the open. Well, during this time the Israelites were being hounded by the Midianites (because once again they had turned from the Lord) who would rampage through the area, steal their food, their livestock and terrorizing everyone. So Gideon was hiding his crop from the Midianites hoping that it would be spared from pillaging.

Gideon’s life is completely changing when Angel of God comes to him saying, “God is with you, O mighty warrior!” Can’t you just hear Gideon saying, ‘What! Who me? I am just the runt of the litter of the weakest of the tribes of Israel.’’ He responds by questioning that God even cares about the Israelites that He has let them be taken over by the Midianites.

Gideon knew the history of his people coming out of Egypt with Moses; of being in the desert and being rescued and all the miracles God had performed for the people of Israel. However, he seemed to forget was that over and over again the Israelites had been told by prophets to “shape up and follow their One and Only God” and time and time again they had turned to worship the local gods of their neighbors.

In an interesting twist in the story when Gideon is questioning the angel, God himself speaks to Gideon and tells him that He can be depended upon. Not only that, but Gideon will be used to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites.

Then the Lord turned to him and said, "Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!"    Judges 6:14 (NLT)

Before Gideon is ready to take on the Midianites he is given a couple of projects to do first. Could this be to build his confidence or test his mettle? Remember, he sees himself as a runt.

He is directed to destroy the altar to Baal in his own father’s house and take down the Asherah fertility pole next to the altar. Then, make an offering of his dad’s prize bull on an altar with the wood from the fertility pole. He decides to do this at night with 10 servants to help. The next morning everyone in town is aghast! “Who did this thing?” They want his head on a stick. Funnily enough, his dad Joash steps up and states, “What is all the fuss about? What kind of god is Baal if he needs defending, let him fight his own battles!” Score 1 for Gideon!

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In our lives, we don’t have ‘gods’ like Baal. But anything that makes us question our faith in God or in ourselves, or makes us feel weak and ineffective needs to be addressed. There are many verses in the Bible that tell us that God is for us!

He does not want us kowtowing to anything or anyone who makes us feel inferior and weak. He wants to be our Defender and Protector in anything that life throws at us. By us getting to know God personally, we then have the confidence to face those life situations that challenge us.

Each opportunity Gideon was presented with, allowed him to gain confidence and strength for the next one. This story shows we can ask God those questions when things don’t add up. Gideon asked for signs and he stated how he felt about things. In that, God showed Himself faithful and patient and could be depended upon in these smaller tasks, so that Gideon had no question in his mind where his success would come from in the bigger battle yet to come.

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What questions do you have for God?

What is pulling you away from Him? Take 15 minutes today and write down a prayer to God, ask him your questions, and identify what is pulling you away from God. Ask Him how you can tear those things down and replace them with actions/friends/places that will glorify Him.

Photo Credit: Wheat & Dear God

Lent Devotion: Reconcile

Written by Pastor Becca McCary Washington Cathedral is taking the season of Lent to help families practice their faith together, transforming ordinary times and spaces into sacred times and spaces, a chance to go deeper in their faith. Over the next seven weeks of lent, as a church and as a family, we will focus on a spiritual practice to help us connect with God and those around us. Our seven spiritual practices will be: reconciling, prayer, cleaning, listening, serving, worship, and study.

Week 1: Reconcile  

Introduction:

God wants to meet with you this Lent. He wants to come into the ordinary times and places in your life in a holy way, transforming your life. This week’s ordinary space transformation challenge is: Reconciliation.

Scripture Reflection:

Matthew 5:23-24 (NLT)

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

 Challenge:

Write down or paint the word "Reconciliation" on a rock or piece of paper as your holy reminder. Then choose an ordinary space in your life where you are going to focus on reconciliation. Try to practice reconciliation one time in that ordinary space your life this week. Then, watch God transform this ordinary space into a holy Space for you.

Practices:

-As a spouse, you might want to put the word "Reconciliation" on your pillow. Then when you are going to bed, you will look for a chance to reconnect with your spouse. Say you're sorry, make things right, and put your relationship first as a priority.

-As a child, you might want to put the word "Reconciliation" by your toothbrush. When you are getting ready for bed, look for an opportunity to apologize to your sibling for any time you may have hurt their feelings that day. Say you you're sorry, make things right, and put your relationship first as a priority.

-As a single person, put the word "Reconciliation" by your tablet or computer. Look for an opportunity to apologize to someone on social media. Say you you're sorry, make things right, and put your relationship first as a priority.

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