WEEK SIX INTRODUCTION
ACQUIRING PEACE OF SOUL
March 29 - April 4
As we approach Holy Week, we come to the concluding rungs on the ladder of ascent--rungs for the spiritually mature that we all long to climb. Seraphim of Sarov, a beloved 19th century Russian monk once mused  “Acquire the spirit of peace and thousands around you will find their salvation.” Peace is a dynamic force and the most perfect of blessings. The wholeness and well-being characteristic of peace is a central theme in the Bible. Psalm 34:14 instructs the reader to “Seek peace and pursue it.” Christ IS Peace and the peace that He offers has been brought about through His sacrifice on the cross. On the evening of His resurrection Christ entered the upper room and greeted His followers with the words, “Peace to all.” Theologian and author Kallistos Ware writes, “Peace is directly linked to love. They are inseparable. Peace turns us into apostles and missionaries, healers of the sick and servants of the poor. Peace is dynamic and creative, an active force for far reaching change in our world.”

What has come to be known as “the prayer of the heart” or “the Jesus Prayer” is deeply connected with the virtue of peace. It was developed by the early Christians as a way to focus their attention on Christ and remain in constant prayer as Paul advises four times in the New Testament: “Pray without ceasing.” John Climacus writes about contemplative prayer based on Jesus’ injunction in Matthew 6, “But when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” This prayer starts in the head and works it’s way down into the heart. By repeating the prayer over and over  (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner”)  the words eventually become part of one’s character, as an inner sense of the presence of Christ is cultivated. Psalm 1 talks about this kind of praying, describing the believer who delights in the “law of the Lord” on which he“meditates day and night (no doubt through memorization and repetition) as “blessed.” 

 “Jesus! I am resting, resting In the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart. Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, And Thy beauty fills my soul, For, by Thy transforming power, Thou hast made me whole.”

Day 33 - Sunday, March 29
Hymn of Supplication: Sweet Jesus Christ, Jesus long-suffering, heal the wounds of my soul, O Jesus, and sweeten my heart, I pray, merciful Jesus my Savior, that being saved I may magnify You. O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed are You great Peacemaker, unto ages of ages.
Amen.
Scriptures: John 14:23; John 15:16; Isaiah 40:31
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Poetry:      
Bible Study
by Tony Hoagland

Who would have imagined that I would have to go
a million miles away from the place where I was born
to find people who would love me?
And that I would go that distance and that I would find those people?

In the dream JoAnne was showing me how much arm to amputate
if your hand gets trapped in the gears of the machine;
if you acted fast, she said, you could save everything above the wrist.
You want to keep a really sharp blade close by, she said.

Now I raise that hand to scratch one of those nasty little
scabs on the back of my head, and we sit outside and watch
the sun go down, inflamed as an appendicitis
over western Illinois — which then subsides and cools into a smooth gray sea.

Who knows, this might be the last good night of summer.
My broken nose is forming an idea of what’s for supper.
Hard to believe that death is just around the corner.
What kind of idiot would think he even had a destiny?

I was on the road for so long by myself,
I took to reading motel Bibles just for company.
Lying on the chintz bedspread before going to sleep,
still feeling the motion of the car inside my body,
I thought some wrongness in myself had made me that alone.

And God said, You are worth more to me
than one hundred sparrows.
And when I read that, I wept.
And God said, Whom have I blessed more than I have blessed you?

And I looked at the mini bar 
and the bad abstract hotel art on the wall
and the dark TV set watching like a deacon.

And God said, Survive. And carry my perfume among the perishing.

PEACE OF SOUL

Lent is always a time to remember death.

“From dust you have come, and to dust you shall return.”

In these moments we have, flitting like dragonflies around us, beautiful and mysterious, but unable to be caught, how do we find peace? Christianity has always been a religion of hope. Our hope sustains us today, because we believe in a tomorrow. Hope is a funny thing, because the fullness of the hoped-for is what drives us forward to finally find the prize.

But hope can be hard to hold. “Hard to believe that death is just around the corner./ What kind of idiot would think he even had a destiny?” In our secular age, nihilism is a difficult hurdle to jump. “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” Death is the Nietzschean void we all fear. Who among us has not thought now and again that it would be better to live hedonistically for a couple years, or just a little while, so we can experience life to it fullest. Is this rooted in the fear of the unknown? Death is the dark glass through which we look at the face of Jesus, and sometimes we’re not sure it’s him on the other side.

And yet, hope remains.

Today, hope lives inside our beings as we keep Jesus’ words. Our confidence in hope lies in the fact that he chose us. His act of choosing created the reality in which we could choose him in return. Therein lies our peace. Therein lies our motivation to deny the lusts of the flesh and to keep Jesus’ words. Maybe we’ve missed the point in our debates about faith and works. It seems like they feed one another. Jesus calls; Jesus creates. We choose; we act. All is grace. All is faith. All is love. It is through God’s love for us, and through our love shown to him in obedience that he and Jesus comes to abide in us by the Holy Spirit. Faith, works, and love are a trinitarian reality that create a space for the indwelling of the Trinity inside our bodies.

Through that abiding presence of God within, through the hope we experience as we look beyond today into tomorrow, we find peace and rest. Maha Rukab’s painting reminds me of an estuary, where different ecologies meet to form a new, nutrient-rich ecosystem. In a similar way, the divine river of the Trinity mingles with our lives, and creates a new world full of life and possibility. Full of love.

As we approach the Resurrection, may we remember the hope set before us. May we remember that by his death, Jesus transformed the void of death into a door of hope, through which we will see him face to face.

Prayer:
Father, I commit myself to you through the death and resurrection of Jesus. When it feels like it would be better to indulge the lusts of the flesh, remind me there is a reward waiting for me on the other side of death. Remind me that you presently live inside my frame. As I press on toward Easter, help me to embrace your death so I might experience your life.
Amen.

Joshua Bocanegra
Pastoral of Community Life Create Church KC
Kansas City, Missouri

For more information about the artwork, music, poetry, and devotional writer selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
To learn more about the themes of this year’s Lent Project, please go to:
https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2020/#day-feb-25