Tuesday of Holy Week 7 April

DAILY BYTE – Authentic Worship – Offering

In this Holy Week, we are offered the greatest gift humankind has ever been given: God’s own self sacrificed on a cross. It is freely given to us, we people who often cry out like the Psalmist, “I am poor and needy; hasten to me!” We beg for God’s offering to be known and real to us, as we so easily forget what has been given and the offering that we have the free will to receive.

We weigh ourselves down by focusing on the needs that we have instead of the sustenance that we have been given. We question what our purpose is, and what we are supposed to be offering the world. We forget that everything that we have to offer is made possible because of the salvation that has already been offered to us. We are called to be lovers of that salvation, making the choice daily to accept God’s saving grace, even if we don’t fully understand it.

How can we authentically offer ourselves – our talents, our gifts and our service – if we do not struggle first to accept the sacrificial offerings that Christ made for us? Think today about all that you have been given. Ponder the ways that God’s offerings to you and salvation for you can change the way you offer yourself to God and to others.

PRAY-AS-YOU-GO

You, you giver!
You have given light and life to the world;
You have given freedom from Pharaoh to your people Israel;
You have given your only Son for the sake of the world;
You have given yourself to us;
You have given and forgiven,
and you remember our sin no more.
And we, in response, are takers:
We take eagerly what you give us;
we take from our neighbors near at hand as is acceptable;
we take from our unseen neighbors greedily and acquisitively;
we take from our weak neighbors thoughtlessly;
we take all that we can lay our hands on.
It dawns on us that our taking does not match your giving.
In this Lenten season revise our taking,
that it may be grateful and disciplined,
even as you give in ways generous and overwhelming.
Amen.
- from Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann

FOCUS READING

Psalm 70

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me! Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me. Let those who say, “Aha, aha!” turn back because of their shame. Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!