Daily Lenten Devotions - Ash Wednesday

Daily Lenten Devotions throughout Lent 2017.  

(from "free indeed", Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, 2017)

March 1 - Ash Wednesday

The First Commandment:
"You shall have no other gods.

What is this? or What does this mean?We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.

To ponder:"O God - please give him back! I shall keep asking You."
-John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany

God is God:
John's best friend, Owen, dies and over the course of many years John's prayer stays the same: give him back! 
There are people I love as much as John loves Owen Meany: people I pray could come back from death; and, people I desperately do not want to die.

A pastor once told a group I was in to write down the thing we most feared losing. We did. "That's your god," he said. I looked down at the name of my idol and felt helpless. I knew I would continue to be afraid. But, I also knew: no human being can or should bear the burden of being a god. It's not fair. No one can carry that weight. Furthermore, Jesus already has.

I'm still like John, praying for Owen Meany to come back. I'm still afraid of losing the people I love. I'm still sad when loved ones die and I wish they could still be with me, here. I'm also grateful that God is God, and I am not. That God is God, and my husband and children are not. We can keep praying, we can keep asking, as John does, because God is God, and God is love.

Prayer:
God, you alone are God. You are love, and you are trustworthy. Thank you for being able to carry the weight of all of creation's hopes, dreams, fears, sorrows, and most heartfelt prayers. Be with us when we are afraid of losing what we love. Make all of our relationships as healthy as they can be. We will keep praying; we will keep asking you. In Jesus' name. Amen.