Lent
March 15, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Open to me the gates of righteousness,
   that I may enter through them
   and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
   the righteous shall enter through it. –Psalm 118:19-20

I stretched out the piece of purple felt, smoothed it down, and set a wooden piece at the end that had a back and two sides but not a front and definitely no gate. As I started the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem during Holy Week, I said, “This is the temple” and place my hand on the wooden piece and started to roll out the beige felt that represented the path Jesus would take. One of the students said, “That cannot be the temple. It doesn’t have a gate.” He was right, of course, and I quickly said, “Well let’s pretend it has a gate for our story today.” He nodded OK and our story continued.

The student was right in another way. We do have to open ourselves to the righteousness of God. It does not come naturally. Self-righteousness does not require a guideline of any kind except what feels good to us. The plumb line, Amos describes in chapter seven, indicates that God’s way acts as a tool against which we can compare our ways to determine, if we are aligned with God’s way. Jesus came as an example for us all. He is our plumb line and though it may be a little worn that phrase, “What would Jesus do?” has substance.

Lent is an appropriate time to seek God’s ways in the life of Jesus and test them against our own ways. Do we love like Jesus?

Prayer: Lord, pour forth your spirit upon us during this time of Lent to prepare us for walking in your way, your truth, and your life. Amen.

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.