Delafield Presbyterian Church

Phone: 262-646-2323

	Mail Us:	P.O. Box 180315
		Delafield, WI 53018

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Lenten Devotional

Sunday, March 23, 200

3rd Sunday in Lent

Scripture:Psalm119:105-112

"Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path."
--Psalm 119:105

We are told at the beginning of John's Gospel that the Word is eternal (1:1), that it has been with God and a part of God from the very beginning. We are also told that the Word became flesh (1:14) in the person of Jesus, the Christ.

We also recognize that from the earliest of times, God's people have collected the writings they have deemed holy, and in a process that is certainly mysterious, but just as certainly God-led by the power of the Holy Spirit, those writing were written, transmitted, collected, and saved in the words of the Holy Bible. The Bible is, in fact, the Word of God for us.

In this sacred book, there are really 66 books containing all kinds of literature -- poetry, story, history, prophecy, apocalypse (end time writing). Here we find the wondrous stories of Jesus. Here we find God reaching out to humanity over the centuries, crying out in each era for relationship with the people God had made, establishing an everlasting covenant with us. Here we find God's gracious mercy and salvation that claims each of us.

And yet, its always seemed odd to me that the Bible has been long considered "the greatest best seller, yet least read book of all time." It has always seemed incomplete to me that many Christians will never personally learn how to make the Bible God's Word to them. Its like trying to be a patriotic citizen without knowing anything of our American heritage or civics. Its like trying to eat cherry pie without the filling -- all you've got is crust!

The Word of God is God's gift to us. We Presbyterians have long lifted it up as the rule of our life and faith. Take the time to get familiar with it -- bit by bit, day by day, month by month, year by year.

It is the prime way we have to let Christ, the "Light of the World," shine in and illuminate our lives.

Prayer:

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

When I feel afraid, think I've lost my way, still you're there right beside me.

And nothing will I fear as long as you are near, please be near me to the end.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Amen.

-- Lift Up Your Hearts Presbyterian Songbook (1999), #85

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