Mary's Response

As I had written before, I am inspired to read through and study Luke. Luke begins with Mary, the conception of Jesus, and her visit to Elizabeth. I focused on one simple verse.

"And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to Your will.' " Luke 1:38

Wow! What powerful words. First Mary proclaims that she is the Lord's handmaid. I want to be the Lord's handmaid. I want to serve Him in whatever way He needs me to serve. It's not about me. It's not about what I think I can do or what I want to do. It's what about He needs and what His church needs. That's when I will be blessed.

Second Mary says, "let it be done to me according to Your will." Now, I don't think my circumstances will ever be like hers - no angel will come to me and ask me to carry the Savior of the World in my womb. However, I can use this in every situation of my life. Kyle deployed - it's not my will by any stretch of the imagination. However, it's God's will and I must trust and be content without him by my side (although hard at times). If He needs me to work full time next year (not ideal), then I must know that it is His will and not mine. We moved to KY and although it wasn't our first choice, it has turned out to be marvelous because it is His will.

Together with serving Him and following His will, He can bless us more than we'll ever know.

Psalm 42

I was so excited when today's readings included Psalm 42. It's a Psalm that I have loved since High School because of a simple song using parts of the Psalm. As soon as my eyes fell upon the first words of this Psalm, I simply closed my eyes and sang the song (no one was around to hear me - so all ears were safe). ;) I listened to the words and let them soak into my heart. They are beautiful and each of them true for me in my life. I will share those lyrics with you now.

Lyrics:

As the deer panteth for the water So my soul longeth after thee You alone are my hearts desire And I long to worship thee Chorus You alone are my strength my shield To You alone may my spirit yield You alone are my hearts desire And I long to worship thee You're my friend and You are my brother, Even though you are a king. I love you more thank any other, So much more than anything. I want You more than gold or silver, Only You can satisfy. You alone are the real joy Giver, And the apple of my eye.

Road to Emmaus

I've recently been inspired to read the book of Luke again. Luke ends his gospel with three stories of the risen Christ. It's as if he's saying, "I've saved the best for last! Get ready people - here's the good stuff!!" I read the Road to Emmaus this morning and my eyes were opened and it was neat. This gospel was written about 40-50 years after Christ was resurrected and yet we see the basic outline of a Christian church service (most denominations I've been to follow this basic pattern). I will try to include experiences from both Protestant and Catholic denominations.

Luke 24:13 - the journey begins. Emmaus is 7 miles from Jerusalem.

• 7 miles = 7 days a week?? This could be showing us that we should be encountering Jesus every day. Our life is a journey and we need to be walking with other Christians (as these men were) and Jesus (as they are about to do) each and every day.

Luke 24:15 - Jesus drew near to them.

• I believe that Jesus draws himself especially close to us when we gather to praise His name, open His scriptures, and remember Him in Eucharist/Communion.

Luke 24:17-24 - Jesus begins conversing with the men.

• In the Catholic church we call this the Introductory Rite. It's the time where people are preparing their hearts. It's a time that we sing, pray, confess sins - all of which is conversing with God. This is also seen in Protestant churches, but I don't think this part of the service has a name. In Protestant churches there is usually more music to help us prepare our hearts and commune with God in conversation. Prayers are lifted up to God and everyone is preparing their hearts for the next part of the service.

Luke 24:25-27 - Jesus explains the scriptures to the men.

• Think about your own church service. What is next to follow? SCRIPTURE and an explanation. In the Catholic Church we call this the Liturgy of the Word. Again, we're still preparing our hearts for the next step.

Luke 24:30-31 - Jesus blesses the bread, breaks the bread, and then men's eyes are opened they realize that they have been walking with the risen Lord.

• I've never been to a Christian service that has the Eucharist/Communion before scripture. It's as if we need the conversing time with Jesus to prepare our hearts for scripture. We need the preparation of the scripture and the explanation of the scripture to prepare our hearts to receive Christ and remember Him in the bread and wine. This is the pinnacle of the service. This is when the men's eyes were being opened. This is where we experience Jesus most of all - in a more intimate way - for we are remembering and experiencing His ultimate sacrifice and our ultimate gift.

Luke 24:32 - "They said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?'"

• I love this verse for its simplicity. I know it's an old phrase, but it's true. Hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure these men felt foolish for telling the risen Christ about "jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people" ... "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel." (v19-21) How many times have we felt foolish for things we did wrong and realize the entire time Jesus was there tugging at our hearts and trying to guide us. He was there with us the whole time and yet our eyes were not opened to see Him.