Lenten Devotion from 2004



Here's a Lenten Devvotion I wrote for National City Christian Church's Lenten Devotional booklet years ago. Re-reading it now brings back a flood of memories of living in DC. I miss it so...

Sunday, Feb. 27, 2004
Led by the Spirit to form community
Rev. Arlene Franks

And he said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” (Matthew 4:19

The 80 bus is noisy and crowded as it makes its way from northeast DC to downtown. But every time I ride the bus to work, I am blessed with glimpses of community. 

A large, boisterous, group of school children on their way to a field trip fill the entire bus aisle, chattering, giggling and wondering about what lies ahead. 

A woman abruptly stops her conversation with a friend to help a man in a wheelchair maneuver onto the bus. 

A young woman who is developmentally delayed shows a stranger the doll her parents gave her for Christmas and the older woman looks up from her book to admire the gift and talk with the young woman.

We are called to step out of our ordinary lives and routine existence to form community wherever we are. It’s what Jesus asked of his disciples. They were going about their daily business when Jesus asked them to lay down their nets and follow him so they could form community.

It’s what Jesus asks of us, and something I witness every day in the lives of ordinary people. It’s not hard to form community; it just takes doing.

Prayer: God of love, God of compassion, draw us out of the ordinariness of our lives to a place of extraordinary communion with our neighbors—both strange and familiar—so that we might draw closer to you. Amen.

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Easter Prayer 2005

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