DAY 5

Image by Michele Dorsey Walfred

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A Greeting
Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning,
for in you I put my trust.
(Psalm 143:8a)

A Reading
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’
(John 12:1-6;8)

Music


Meditative Verse
You prepare a table before me...
you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
(Psalm 23:5)

A Reflection
By defending Mary, [Jesus] is revealing his need for her love and trust at a time when people have rejected him and are preparing to kill him. Mary is aware that because Jesus brought her dead brother back to life at her request, he is going to be arrested and killed. He has given his all for her. She responds to his self-giving love by giving her all, giving herself in a beautiful, foolish and scandalous way.
- from Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus Through the Gospel of John
by Jean Vanier

Verse for the Day
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness.
(Psalm 45:7b)

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Image by Svetoslav Nikolav

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This last day of our devotional project returns to the first day and the central event of the meal that Jesus is served by the family at Bethany. Mary breaks an alabaster jar of very costly nard and anoints him with her hair. We sense that this one gesture also expresses the love and devotion of her whole family but it is primarily an action completely from her own spiritual heart. It is one of the most passionate gestures in all of Scripture and is immediately subject to criticism and rebuke — by Judas and by the silence of the room that follows her wordless actions. The ancient custom of washing the hands and feet of a guest before the meal is radically upended by Mary’s gesture, coming as it does after the meal and crossing boundaries of gender. It is profoundly pre-meditated, daring and also an action of uncontrollable spiritual love. It foreshadows Jesus taking the towel and washing the feet of his own friends.

But how does such a gesture find measure in our own lives? During this past summer, the extended Lutherans Connect devotional team lost a cherished member, Karen Morris. Karen often contributed to these projects with inspiring suggestions for content and a passionate and unique voice of prayer. Prayer was embedded in her life as a part of her deep faith and desire to share her love of Jesus with others. She mentored youth, inspiring young people to become pastors and social workers. Karen also lived with quadriplegia. One of her health complications of the last years was an inability to digest regular food. Rather than complain, she wanted to be present at any table gathering where she could enjoy vicariously the pleasure others took in what they were eating. She would often ask us to describe in detail how it tasted. She would offer a table grace — for food she was unable to eat herself — that was generous and expansive. Karen’s passionate expression of love in prayerful support of others was her nard — her way of showing her deep devotion to Jesus, her way of anointing him. What is your nard? How do you passionately demonstrate your own love for Jesus? This Thanksgiving, how can our gratitude for the love that Jesus has for us find life in our own outward expressions of love for others?


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LC† Gathered at the Table is dedicated to Karen Morris
- by Sherry, Catherine, André and Steve

Blessings on your Thanksgiving!
-- and see you in Advent!


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If you would like to support the ministry of Lutherans Connect by donation,
follow this link and under "Fund", select "Lutherans Connect Devotions". Blessings and thanks!


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LC† Gathered at the Table is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto,
supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Join our Facebook and follow us @LutConnect

DAY 4

Image by Hindol Bhattacharya

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A Greeting
It is you who light my lamp;
the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
(Psalm 18:28)

A Reading
When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man
have kept this man from dying?’
(John 11:34-37)

Music


Meditative Verse
The unfolding of your words gives light.
(Psalm 119:130)

A Prayer
Quiet and Gentle God, allow your stories to seep into us, stories that show your love enacted by ordinary people. Be with ordinary people, who make a commitment to be loyal to you and to each other, so that through them blessings overflow into the lives of all who once were empty.
- Pastor Steve Hoffard for Lutherans Connect

Verse for the Day
For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling,
so that I may walk before God in the light of life.
(Psalm 56:13)

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Image Source

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In today’s brief reading, Jesus has arrived in Bethany to find Lazarus has died. The sisters have expressed their disappointment that he did not come sooner (see Day 2) and Jesus is moved. This part of the chapter almost distracts us from the miracle of the raising of Lazarus with its intense emotions in all who are present. Mary weeps, the mourners are weeping, and Jesus weeps. The writer of the gospel has distinguished the word “dakyro” (weep) for Jesus from another more common word that means to lament and mourn. Jesus is not actually mourning, but crying in empathic response to the women. He knows that he will raise Lazarus, but in this moment he has come face to face with the pain he has caused. He is living in the crossways of the human Jesus and the divine Jesus. He is experiencing what we all do when we feel we have done something hard for the right reason that deeply disappoints another, and he knows also that the journey to the Cross is beginning. The chapter is drenched in words of love and the pain of human disappointment. But it is only from this very dark place where love and grief are inextricably woven that real transformation can unfold. Seeing Jesus weep, the Jewish mourners remark on how much he loves Lazarus. The word used is ‘agapao’ which is a love that is both spiritual and tender, a deep caring. The same word is used in verse 5 when we’re told “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus”. Sometimes the most difficult choices we have to make are with people we love the most. But coming together at a table can be a place where those emotions can begin healing again. Whatever anger and frustration and sadness and regret the four friends have experienced that day, they will now gather and break bread together. What are some emotions you are feeling or anticipating as you prepare to gather with those you love? How can you invite Jesus to hold them with you? The love Jesus has for each of us is the same as the love he has for his friends — because we are the friends Jesus laid down his life for. The transformative power of God’s love lives in the risen Jesus that fills us with love every day. How can that love uphold you as you navigate the highs and lows of the coming days?


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LC† Gathered at the Table is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto,
supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Join our Facebook and follow us @LutConnect

DAY 3

Image by Greg Gjerdingen

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A Greeting
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
(Psalm 51:6)

A Reading
He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed.’
(Luke 14:12-13)

Music


Meditative Verse
The poor shall eat and be satisfied.
(Psalm 22:26a)

A Reflection
We all have privilege, a privilege that sometimes prohibits us from seeing people standing right in front of us. Our society, our world right now mirrors the gospel in that we, as individuals are encouraged to get what's ours, to not bend in our privilege, and to attend to our individual needs first and to not worry about what that means for our neighbour. We can see the privilege on a larger scale — the inattentiveness, the disregard — and we feel helpless, or unworthy, or shamed, lacking in the knowledge to change or even fix things… What’s the value of faith in our world today? Recognizing our individual privilege, being aware of it, perhaps acknowledging it and opening ourselves up to the bigger picture — is where faith breaks in, and we see each other more clearly, more equally.
- from a sermon preached by Pastor Tanya Ramer on October 6th, 2019
at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, New Hamburg, ON

Verse for the Day
When you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
(Psalm 104:28)

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Image by Greg Gjerdingen

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The Gospel of John account of the feast for Jesus to celebrate the raising of Lazarus is similar to the descriptions in Mark 14 and Matthew 26 of a dinner also given for Jesus. Both events include the moment when a woman lavishes anointing nard on him, causing controversy among the disciples. In Mark and Matthew, the feast takes place at the home of “Simon the Leper”. Assuming that these gospel accounts describe the same gathering, who was this man, whose name speaks of a life in distress, but who seems well enough to host a feast? In his book Mary of Bethany, former Primate of the Anglican Church in Australia Marcus Loane suggests that Simon might have been the father of the siblings. He intuits that Jesus may have cured Simon first, which is why the sisters believe Jesus will do so again with Lazarus. Reading between the lines of the text in this way can invite a deeper reflection on the significance of who Jesus was. Both Simon and Lazarus have lived with the disease and are cured of it. The disciples and other friends of the family dine and stay comfortably among them. Are we as willing to accommodate at our gatherings those in our own worlds who live with a condition that isolates them or makes us uncomfortable? It comes easy to put a premium on the family traditions, to say we will reach out at another time, but how can we be challenged to reconsider these choices? In today’s reading, Jesus exhorts his followers to choose the disadvantaged as their dinner partners -- at all our feast celebrations. As we know, Jesus routinely sat at table with those whom society had dismissed and discarded. By not just eating, but openly cherishing the friendship of those who have been stigmatized by society, Jesus makes the condition of all assembled equal -- and he invites us to do the same. When we challenge ourselves to include those who are alone at our table, the hand of privilege and the hand of need become partners in grace and everyone is transformed. Who do you know who might be alone this Thanksgiving? How can you be inspired by Jesus to make space for them at your own table?


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LC† Gathered at the Table is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto,
supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Join our Facebook page and follow us @LutConnect

DAY 2

Image by M's Photography

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A Greeting
O God, I love the house in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory abides.
(Psalm 26:8)

A Reading
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.
(John 11:16-30;32-33)

Music


Meditative Verse
And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part.
(Luke 10:41-42a KJV/NKJV)

A Reflection
Christians must bear the burden of one another. They must suffer and endure one another. Only as a burden is the other really a brother or sister and not just an object to be controlled. The burden of human beings was even for God so heavy that God had to go to the cross suffering under it. God truly suffered and endured human beings in the body of Jesus Christ. But in so doing, God bore them as a mother carries her child, as a shepherd the lost lamb.
- from A Year With Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Daily Meditations from His Letters, Writings and Sermons

Verse for the Day
Cast your burden on God, and God will sustain you.
(Psalm 55:22)

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Image by Dana Sibera

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In today’s two readings, we find some of the most vivid expressions of Mary and Martha and the roles they played in the life of Jesus. Martha is often considered as the more practical sibling, with a focus on household and hospitality; while Mary is characterized as the more spiritual and humble sister. These assumptions may derive in the main from the Luke 10 scene, in which Martha challenges Jesus to redirect Mary's attention from him to her own need of help. That passage makes plain that Jesus was with the family often and was as familiar as a brother to the sisters. The King James Version of Luke 10 quoted above is closer to the Greek and emphasizes the "caring" of Martha; the “good” not “better” aspect of Jesus’ response to her. Jesus recognizes the significance in what both women are doing; he hears Martha. In the John reading, in which Jesus has delayed responding to the sisters' petition to help Lazarus, we see a deeper mix of character and emotion. Both women are unhappy with Jesus’ delay in responding to the call to come. Here it is Mary who stays away from greeting him and then, when she does go, challenges him. It is Martha who in the same moment of her disappointment, also knows that Jesus has the capacity to heal even now. She acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah. Mary is forthright and strong: she does what she most wants to do in each story, and also in the story of the nard, even when it risks the reputation of the family. Both women are human, both women have grace and strength and moments of self-indulgence and uncertainty.

Just as we may reduce biblical characters to hard-boiled qualities, so sometimes we reduce our own loved ones in our minds to the qualities we have found endearing or frustrating over the years. In doing so, we may entrap them in our own perceptions. We say “that’s just how they are” and perhaps miss an opportunity to really listen. In setting out the table, we will sometimes arrange our perceptions of personality in such a way as to “manage” them, for ourselves and for others. In doing so, we may miss a chance for deeper connections among us. Equally, we ourselves may feel trapped by the way our families and friends perceive us. In today’s music, the melody is passed back and forth: one artist supports the other and then it is returned so often and so fluidly that it is hard to determine who has it. This kind of harmony is perhaps a more authentic picture of Mary and Martha, whose summary impact on the life, well being and comfort of Jesus cannot easily be calculated or imagined. In his place among the family of Bethany and among us too, Jesus knows exactly who we are in our deepest hearts and loves every part of us. He sees our frailty and our passion; our selfishness and our capacity for service. How can we in turn, plan our gatherings and feasts so that we might dismantle the prejudices we carry, and hear our loved ones with new ears? How can you prepare your heart to see those gathered around your table as Jesus does?


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LC† Gathered at the Table is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto,
supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Join our Facebook and follow us @LutConnect

DAY 1

Image by Ian Sane

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A Greeting
O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you
(Psalm 63:1)

A Reading
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
(John 12:1-3)

Music


Meditative Verse
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
(Psalm 46:1)

A Prayer
Thank you, Holy and Mighty One, for the many gifts of your love, even for the painful gift of fear which reminds me that only you are God. Into the mystery of your love I entrust myself. Dress me in the armor of your light and keep me safe; through Jesus Christ. Amen.
- from "Prayers for Difficult Times", found on gracecathedral.org

Verse for the Day
When you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
(Psalm 104:28)

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Image by Seyed Mostafa Zamani

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In today’s reading, Jesus has gathered with his friends at Bethany to celebrate the healing of Lazarus. Mary, Martha and Lazarus are all present and the story of Mary's effusive anointing of Jesus will soon take over this gospel narrative. These people and this moment are the frame for a journey we too will make this week as we in Canada prepare for Thanksgiving. Like the darkness of our own times, the feast at Bethany is clouded with uncertainties. It is six days before Passover and in the next day, Jesus will enter Jerusalem. The healing of Lazarus will be the miracle that incites the authorities to pursue Jesus. Throughout the events of Holy Week, Jesus will come and go from the home of his friends: he will live with them and be sustained by them. How can the friendship of Jesus, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, meet us in our own lives? We too gather and plan our holiday meals amid tensions in our own lives and in the life of the world. As we stand in line at the grocery store or wait to pick up a youngster from hockey practice, we worry about elections and the implications of climate change, the loved ones who are unwell, the relationships that have broken, the dear ones who have died since last Thanksgiving. Coming together around a table was in Jesus’ time — and is now — a reckoning of our spiritual well being, but it is also a sanctuary from events that overwhelm us and from the fears we carry. A few days after the meal in Bethany, Jesus will celebrate at another table where he will encourage the disciples to gather regularly and recall his life with bread and wine. The Eucharist is the feast that Christians build their lives around, but people of all traditions and faiths gather at tables for a harvest celebration, in gratitude for the abundance of their lives. Having gratitude means being in the present moment, and the present moment is the place where Jesus always is. When we feel grateful, we are reminded of the promises of abundance that come to us in many sacred texts. From now until Sunday, we will join Jesus, Mary, Martha and Lazarus around the table at Bethany, even as we prepare our own tables. We will be reminded of the perfect love of Jesus. We will try to teach ourselves how to give thanks for what challenges us, as well as that which brings us joy. We will feel the deep blessing that comes from any and all love, especially the love that flows from Jesus’ love for us. How are you preparing yourself for a harvest of spirit? What are the blessings of joy and challenge that you will name privately in the quiet of your heart, or speak openly in grace at the table?

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LC† Gathered at the Table is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto,
supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Join our Facebook and follow us @LutConnect

WELCOME!

"Autumn Orange" by Jerzy Durczak

LC† Gathered at the Table
is a five-day devotional project
that will take place from October 9th - 13th, 2019.

The leaves have turned and the weather brings the promise of change. In this autumn time between the season of creation and Advent, as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, how can we invite Jesus to be gathered with us? How can we make room amidst the settled routines of school and work, sports practice and evening meetings to prepare our hearts for the thanks we truly feel? For the first time, Lutherans Connect is offering a special five-day devotional for the Thanksgiving holiday, to help us calm our hearts and minds and make room for grace. Beginning Wednesday October 9th, LC† Gathered at the Table will offer devotions in preparation for a feast.

Our focus is on Jesus’ friendship and his own meal of thanksgiving with the family at Bethany. In the wider circle of his followers, Jesus’ closest friends were Mary, Martha and Lazarus. At a feast to celebrate and give thanks for the raising of Lazarus, on the night before what will become Palm Sunday, Jesus sits down to eat with people he loves and has helped to restore, even as he waits in knowledge of the events ahead of him. Mary’s gift of nard, the rising political tensions and fears of well-being for both Jesus and Lazarus — are all part of their time together. As we ourselves gather in families and with friends, amid our own tensions and burdens, joys and celebrations, we too may be preoccupied with the sometimes overwhelming news cycle of politics and discoveries, or even just the challenges of our own fears for the future. How can we invite Jesus to be with us in our anxiety and uncertainty, and in our gratitude and belonging, so that we may experience a harvest of spirit?

Join us on October 9th and find out.
And may God’s abundant peace find you in your own feast gatherings!

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