March 30, 2020

Romans 8:8 Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. The Message Bible

This was the last Sunday of Lent. Next Sunday we hurry off to Jesus entering Jerusalem, spend a few hectic days at the temple and with his closest friends, being tried and executed, then unexpectedly coming out of his tomb alive. Lent has as it’s goal our preparation to encounter and engage all of this. It is a time of coming to grips with the ways we prefer our personal stories over God’s story and our role in it; perhaps prefer our story to the exclusion of God’s story. Life has slowed down this past week for most and even ground to a halt for some. Has the change of pace made us more self-focused; concerned with our discomforts and distress? Or has it opened space to focus on God? It is still Lent. How can you prepare your heart for the story of what God did in that first Holy Week and what God is doing in this Holy Week? “God isn’t pleased at being ignored.”