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A daily Lenten e-mail with lessons of hope and courage, inspired by a variety of resources to encourage us in these confusing and turbulent times from St. Luke’s Church, Lebanon.

Thursday- First Week in Lent

The Lord Jesus is direct in his teaching on prayer. Indeed, this is Christian prayer: that we ask, seek, and knock. We do this in complete confidence, and we trust that our Heavenly Father will give us good things, very good things. Saint John of the Cross, a 16th century Spanish mystic, takes off on this teaching when he instructs us to ask in prayer, seek in meditation, and knock in contemplation. Only when this pattern of prayer flows through our life will we live and move and have our being in Christ. The fundamental presupposition here is that we are disciples - Jesus teaches us as he teaches his disciples. Our every prayer, as a disciple, is about the coming of the Kingdom, and we yearn to hasten the coming of the Reign of God. In light of this, we should not be interested in doing our own wills. We should not be overly concerned about the small things. If we detach from the world and attach ourselves to God, we can live with the worst and best of things.

Scripture Lessons appointed for the day
(Click on the lesson for the text)
Esther (Apocrypha) 14:1–6,12–14
Matthew 7:7–12
Psalm 138

"Continue seeking God with seriousness. Unless He wanted you, you would not be wanting Him."

- C.S. Lewis

Ask, seek, knock . . .

What do you seek when you search for meaning?
Am I afraid to ask because I may not like the answer?
What do I expect to see when the door opens?

Seek the Lord
Roc O'Connor

And if you hard-hearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them?

Matthew 7:11