Lenten Devotional

I will be on my way to Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya for a while. 
In the meantime, Here is a Lenten Devotional- day by day 2/13- 4/1. 

The theme of the Lenten Devotional is "Bearing Fruit and Finding Peace." 
It has a focus on the Fruits of the Spirit. 

Please say a prayer for Dr. Sloan and the Trinity Presbytery South Sudan team as they minister to the South Sudanese in the refugee camp in Kenya.  Pray for them to bear fruit and that there will be more peace in the camp and in South Sudan too. 

Note: Ash Wednesday (2/14) there will be a worship service (sanctuary) at 7 PM
Each Wednesday there will be a meal and a worship service in the Fellowship Hall.
Blessing will be at 5:45, worship 6:20, Programs 6:30 nursery and children's program provided. 

Holy Week we will have our meal and worship on Maundy Thursday 3/29 worship at 7. 

2/28/12- Our Corrupt Nature

7- 2/28- WSC- 18, WLC- 26

WSC Q 18- What is sinful about our fallen condition?
A. Our fallen condition is made up of two things: 1. Original sin which is the guilt of our first sin; the lack of original righteousness; and the corruption of our whole being; 2. and all specific acts of breaking God’s law that come from original sin. 

The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8)

Thoughts: We inherit corruption, but we also add our own sin to it.  We cannot be too quick to blame our first parents when we ourselves mess up, and fall short of our own ideals.  We are quick to say, “hypocrite” when we all have a plank in our own eyes.  Sin is a universal experience that transcends cultures, languages, geography.  Before World War 1 there was a tremendous optimism that deep down we were innocent and good.  Coming along with that was the idea of “the Noble Savage” that if we could find some prehistoric group of people we would observe their goodness.  Paul Gauguin was an artist of this persuasion.  He went to Tahiti looking for a noble savage uncorrupted by Christianity and money.  But instead of finding a noble savage he found  utter sin and misery: lying, stealing, vengeance.  Gauguin sunk into despair.  Christian faith is not a corrupter of human nature but a restrainer of human nature.  But it also is a way out of our corruption.

Prayer: Lord, I am humbled when I think of my own sin.  Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me.  Take not your Holy Spirit from me, but instead have mercy on me.

Below: Gauguin’s “Where Came We? Who are We? Where Go We?”

1986 Q. 18. What is sinful about man’s fallen condition?

A. The sinfulness of that fallen condition is twofold. First, in what is commonly called original sin, there

is the guilt of Adam’s first sin with its lack of original righteousness and the corruption of his whole

nature. Second are all the specific acts of disobedience that come from original sin.

1647 Q. 18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

2/22/12- LENTEN DEVOTIONAL Ash Wednesday= WSC 12

LENTEN DEVOTIONAL 2012- Westminster Shorter Catechism

Below is a content index.

LENT in the CATECHISMS
 (WSC= Westminster Shorter Catechism; WLC= Westminster Larger Catechism; HDBG- Heidelberg Catechism)
Each devotion has a catechism Q & A, scripture, thoughts, and a prayer, and artwork
The WSC is a new version by Dr. Sloan

DAY, DATE, CATECHISM QUESTION

1-            2/22-     WSC- 12

2-            2/23-     WSC 13

3-            2/24-      WSC 14 (WLC 24)

4-            2/25-      WSC- 15

5-            2/26-      1^st Sunday in Lent- WSC- 16

6-            2/27-      WSC 17-

7-            2/28-      WSC- 18, WLC- 26

8-            2/29-      WSC 19 (WLC 27)

9-            3/1-         WLC- 28-30

10-          3/2-         WSC- 20(WLC- 30)

11-          3/3-         WLC- 31

12-          3/4-         2^nd Sunday in Lent- WLC 32

13-          3/5-         WLC 33

14-          3/6-         WLC- 34

15-          3/7-         WLC- 35

16-          3/8-         WSC- 21 (WLC 36)

17-          3/9-         WSC- 22 (WLC 37)

18-          3/10-      WLC- 38

19-          3/11-      3^rd Sunday in Lent- (WLC- 39)

20-          3/12-      WLC- 40

21-          3/13-      WLC- 41

22-          3/14-      HEIDELBERG 1 & 2

23-          3/15-      HDBG- 3,4,5

24-          3/16-      HDBG- 6,7,8

25-          3/17-      HDBG- 9,10, 11

26-          3/18-      4^th Sunday in Lent- HDBG- 12-15

27-          3/19-      HDBG- 16- 19

28-          3/20-      HDBG- 20-22

29-          3/21-      HDBG- 37-40

30-          3/22-      HDBG- 41-44

31-          3/23-      WSC- 82 (WLC- 149)

32-          3/24-      WSC- 83 (WLC- 150)

33-          3/25-      5^th Sunday in Lent- WLC 151.1

34-          3/26-      WLC- 151.2

35-          3/27-      WLC- 151.3

36-          3/28-      WLC- 151.4

37-         3/29-       WSC- 23

38-          3/30-      WSC- 24

39-          3/31-      WSC- 25

40-          4/1-         Palm Sunday- WSC- 26

41-          4/2-         WLC- 46

42-          4/3-         WLC- 47

43-          4/4-         WLC- 48

44-          4/5-         Maundy Thursday= WSC- 27

45-          4/6-         WLC- 49

46-          4/7-         WLC- 50

47-          4/8-         Easter- WSC 28-

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1- 2/22- WSC- 12- In God’s special providence, what did He do for the human beings He created?

A. After God created us, He made a covenant with us to give us life, if we perfectly obeyed Him;  God told the first humans not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.

Like Adam, they have broken the covenant— they were unfaithful to me there. (Hosea 6:7)

¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Gen. 2:16, 17)

Thoughts:  How do we explain the universal experience of the messed up world?  Perhaps this is a good first question during the season of Lent.  Things are not as they should be, and we are not as we should be either- everyone of us.  Scripture indicates that God created us and gave us free will to do good or evil.  He made a covenant with the first human beings to be their God and they would be His.  But they freely chose to do what was wrong instead of what was right.  Their free choice of sin corrupted all of our choices.  This was the time in which they could have earned their way to continued fellowship with God by obeying Him.  Instead they earned to be kicked out of the garden.  They lost their innocence and we have not been able to get it back since then. 
    I remember the Woodstock movement.  The song “Woodstock” has a recurring chorus: “We are stardust, we are golden, we are caught in the devil’s bargain, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.” (written by Joni Mitchell, sung by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young).   Their idea was getting back to innocence by stripping off all the restraints of the day (“turn on, tune in, and drop out” and in effect behaving like animals) .  The way back to the garden is blocked.  But there is one who holds the key- who is able to redeem our innocence- Jesus Christ.  Lent reminds us that without Him, we are left in our sin and misery.

Prayer: We long for innocence, O God.  But we also recognize we cannot get back to the garden on our own.  We look to you today and every day for help.

WSC 1986  MOD TRANS. Q. 12. What did God’s providence specifically do for man whom He created?

A. After the creation God made a covenant with man to give him life, if he perfectly obeyed; God told

him not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil or he would die.

WSC- 1647 Q. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death]

[Below: Viktor Vasnetsov- in Cathedral in Kiev 1885-1896]