Daily Devotions

Throughout the season of Lent our daily devotions have been written by members of the Faith Lutheran community. Our theme this Lent is “Jesus Our Healer.” Today’s devotion comes from Pastor Kerry Nelson.

While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Mark 14:22-25

Jesus stands at the center of the Christian faith, at a table, where a meal is spread, to which all people are invited. At this table we are fully engaged – our hearts filled with gratitude and the free flow of our emotions, our souls at peace in the presence of God, our minds freed for clear thinking and wisdom, and our bodies nourished with all the good things that sustain us.

This image – to be at one with God and one another – is what the Hebrews called “shalom” and what Christians know as the peace of God that passes understanding.

This sense of connectedness to God is freely available to everyone, everywhere, all the time. We catch a glimpse of it every time we gather in a room with other broken people, bearing witness through our presence and our words that we do trust that God is, in fact, our healer. Jesus, our Healer, gathers us in the same room, around a table, to do His healing work in our lives. To give us this day our daily bread. To give us a foretaste of the feast to come.

I have come to really love our annual tradition of providing Lenten devotions. As I have read each devotion, and shared them with others on the Internet, I see the faces of each writer. I know these people. It is so rewarding to me to see how the faith is landing in their lives and their willingness to give voice to the love of God within them.

Now we come to this day, as the whole Christian church gathers around the table. Thank you for sharing the faith with us through this Lenten season.

Let us pray: Jesus, our Healer, thank you for inviting us and including us around your table of grace. May our lives be flooded with the healing power of your love, that we might carry that message into the lives of all we meet through our witness and service. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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