Lord of All

Lent

April 8, 2022

Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

Therefore God also highly exalted him
   and gave him the name
   that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
   every knee should bend,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
   that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father. –Philippians 2:9-11

The word “Lord”, written with a capital “L” and often with small caps for the rest of the word, means God, the ruler of the universe*. The act of taking a knee is considered the ultimate act of acknowledging the status of God as the ruler of the universe, except when Colin Kaepernick took a knee to express his concern about racism. God is not a personal possession that no one else can turn to in times of trouble, not an idol that we wear like a badge of honor. We are all God’s creations.

In the scripture above Paul is exclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, the glory of his father. I took a class a few years ago where the professor went through all the various triangles to explain the idea of the trinity and other theological definitions of the Supreme Being. I am probably a heretic for this but throughout that segment of the class, I kept thinking we cannot ever put the Lord God in a box or a triangle, and that is a good thing. I like being loved by One who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and always present without having to define that One. My big challenge is learning how to love like Jesus Christ, the Lord.

Prayer:

Thank You Lord for saving my soul
Thank You Lord for making me whole
Thank You Lord for giving to me
Thy great salvation so rich and free**. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/2962.htm

**Chorus from the hymn Thank You Lord by Seth Sykes, Bessie Sykes. See at https://digitalsongsandhymns.com/songs/5739

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 America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.