Stretching out Thy divine hands upon the Cross,
Thou hast joined together
that which before was divided,
and by Thy mediation
Thou hast offered as a gift to the Father
the nature of mortal man,
that was under condemnation.
Therefore we sing the praises
of Thy sinless Crucifixion.
St. Joseph the Studite
Lenten Quote, Day 18
In the long and difficult effort of spiritual recovery, the Church does not separate the body from the soul. The whole man has fallen away from God; the whole man is to be restored, the whole man is to return. –Alexander Schmemann
Lenten Quote, Day 17
We must insist upon the positiveness of the divine life in us. The Christian spirit is a positive and aggressive force in the world. It is not on the defensive. It is not a mere shrinking from evil and abstinence from wrong-doing. It is the shedding of a new light into the world. It is a triumphant marching onward in the Name and faith of Christ. It is a confident, joyful challenge to the armies of unrighteousness. It expels bad passion by introducing true love. It conquers the disease of sin by increasing the amount and improving the quality of vigorous righteousness. It overcomes evil with good. –Thomas F. Gaylor; from his article, Lent: Not Negative, but Positive.
Exhortation: Dying in Christ
The Lenten Season causes us to consider that not everything is made right; that relationships are broken; that restoration is difficult. And this is why we live as walking dead. We walk in truth, but we walk knowing that we have died in Christ. So, we do not walk arrogantly; we do not walk expecting everything to go our way. We should walk expecting that only God’s way of doing things is the best way and that our only expectation is in the Christ who was crucified; our only hope is to walk as men who have died in Christ.
But though this Season offers us a sober look at who we are and how we are to walk, we must never forget that our deaths in Christ is followed by our being raised with Him. Though we do not walk boastfully, we walk hopeful that the Christ who died has begun to make all things right at his resurrection and will continue to right the wrongs of this world until it is all made new.
As Pastor Rich Lusk observes:
But having already died in Christ, we can approach our bodily death with hope, knowing that while death remains a foe, it is a defeated foe, and now serves our ultimate good. Death has defeated death, so, dying we live.
Lenten Quote, Day 16
Every Christian knows, that without a sense of his sins and his sinfulness, he can have no just appreciation for His Master’s cross. No sane man can stand before the cross of Christ, our Lord, and admire or praise his own righteousness. It would shock the moral sense, and seem the veriest mockery. And every man who humble himself before the Cross knows that there…every fiber of his heart is enriched by the sense of God’s eternal love, and Christ redeeming Sacrifice. –Ellison Capers
Lenten Quote, Day 15
Fasting looks like an enemy to life, but the opposite is true. We live abundantly only if we know how to fast—which is to say, only if we are disciplined to wait until the feast is ready. Lent trains us to be a people of patience and restraint, a people who rejoices in a God who has time and gives us time and makes us wait for the treasures He gives. Lent trains us to follow the Master who kept the fast. We must learn the lessons of Lent and the fast if we are going to be the people of the new Adam and not just another variation on the old. –Peter Leithart
Lenten Quote, Day 14
Use Lent to systematically “put off” the deeds of the flesh, so that you can enter into Easter by “putting on” the fruits of the Spirit. –Peter Leithart
Lenten Collect
Almighty God,
give us such a vision of your purpose
and such an assurance of your love and power,
that we may ever hold fast the hope
which is in Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive with with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen
A Lenten Hymn
We will be singing this beautiful Lenten hymn this Sunday at Providence. Here is my brief recording of it.
Stricken, Smitten, Afflicted
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
‘Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
‘Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
By His Son, God now has spoken:
‘Tis the true and faithful Word.
Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting His distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him,
Was the stroke that Justice gave.
Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
‘Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.
Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ’s the Rock of our salvation,
His the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.
Lenten Quote, Day 13
How does one become humble? The answer, for a Christian, is simple: by contemplating Jesus, humility incarnate, the One in whom God has revealed once and for all His glory as humility and his humility as glory.–Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent