Lent 2014
March 15, 2014
Read Scripture: Luke 7:1-10
‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’ When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.’ When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.—Luke 7:6b-10
Yesterday’s scripture encouraged us to step out in faith; today’s describes how one non-Jew, a Centurion in the Roman army, did just that. He had a servant who was ill and the Centurion had recognized Jesus’ healing power. This story is included in Luke, I believe, to give us a concrete example of living ones faith wherever we are on our life’s journey.
A little over 20 years ago a group of business people, politicians, public employees, and early childhood experts came together in Oklahoma to prepare a better learning blueprint for our children. This was accompanied by the federal government considering the whole arena of improving the quality of all child care and child development programs. One of the results was a major push toward providing quality preschool education for all children in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has been acknowledged as one of the bright stars in the area of early childhood education throughout this period. We, however, are now losing ground. While we continue to meet nine of the ten benchmarks for quality preschool, we reduced state funding for the program in both 2011 and 2012.[1]
I do not know what happened to the Centurion in our scripture today. Did he become a Christian or was this a one-time event in his life? Did he become a follower of the Way taking his faith to the ends of the earth? Was Oklahoma’s dedication to quality preschool a one-time commitment or are we still persevering toward a brighter future for all children?
Prayer: Holy One, help us to persevere in our faith journey so that we do not lose ground. Amen.
[1] The State of Preschool 2012: State Profiles, National Institute for Early Education Research. See at http://nieer.org/sites/nieer/files/Oklahoma_0.pdf
The identities of students, families, or staff in stories that are shared in the devotions have been altered to protect their privacy. Any similarities between these stories and the experience of others are coincidental. No stories about students, families of students, or staff from Putnam Heights Elementary School are included in any of these devotions.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.