Sunday
March 1, 2009

Hebrews 2:17-18.
17For this reason he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Reflection
Growing up, I remember several times when my brother and I would play out in the yard, and we would hear mama say, “Time for dinner!” We would always come in with some sort of bruise and sometimes with a gash or sting. I can just see Mary calling outside, “Jesus stop playing and get cleaned up for dinner.” I think in this way and many more ways, Jesus was just like my brother, myself, and perhaps you as well.
Often quoted as the shortest verse in the bible, John tells us that “Jesus wept” when he was in mourning for Lazarus. We often forget that he wept because he loved Lazarus, just like you and I might love our best friends. This weeping Jesus was the word made flesh, both fully human and fully divine. He knows what we feel when temptation is heavy on our hearts. He experienced every bit of suffering so that we can turn to him in our suffering.
In this Lenten season, we are awaiting and preparing our hearts for the resurrection of our saviour. Our comfort comes in and through Jesus’ life, knowing that our God became man to suffer in temptation and “help those who are being tempted”.

Father we pray this day in thanksgiving for your almighty mercy and faithfulness to your people. Spirit, help us to find comfort in our suffering, and call upon your name when we are tempted or in need. Be with us as we prepare our hearts for your glorious resurrection in communion with others. Help us answer your call to show the face of Christ as we are with those suffering in this time. For it is in your son’s holy name we pray. Amen

Written by a PC Senior

Today Please Pray For:
The women’s and men’s lacrosse teams

Saturday
February 28, 2009

Psalm 43
“1Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.
2You are my God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
Oppressed by the enemy?
3Send forth your light and your truth,
Let them guide me;
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
To the place where you dwell.
4Then will I go to the altar of God,
To God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.
5Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
For I will yet praise him,
My Savior and my God.

Reflection
First Pray and ask the Lord to prepare your heart for meeting with him. Tell the Lord that you really want to hear from him, and settle your hearts for him.
Psalm 42 and 43 were meant to be together, but were separated because of strophes. I would suggest reading Psalm 42, which starts the second book of the Psalms. Read this to truly understand how badly the temple musicians and assistants (the sons of Korah) were thirsting for God.
When you first read through Psalm 43 observe the passage, note anything that you can really relate to or anything that just jumps out at you and you feel like the Lord is trying to show you or tell you. These verses will help you to understand that our only hope is in God.
Also, pick out words that you are not sure what they mean and look them up in a Bible Dictionary. This will help you to understand the scripture better. Look at commentaries, study bibles, and ask other Christians.
Now confess your sins to God through prayer. Use God’s word in Psalm 43 to pray to him and confess that in times of discouragement we do not turn to God and that our only hope is not in God because we get too caught up in our worldly desires. Pray thoroughly through Psalm 43. God really loves it when you pray his word to him! Thank God for his promise to be with us at all times and to help us through this life he has made new through his son Jesus Christ!

Written by a PC Senior

Today Please Pray For:
The Multicultral Student Union

Friday, February 27, 2009

Friday

February 27, 2009

John 17: 9-19

⁹I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. ¹³"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. ¹⁴I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷Sanctify^[a] them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Reflection...

Jesus is praying this prayer publicly in front of his disciples. It is a prayer of understanding and encouragement, addressing some of the concerns that have preoccupied their lives. Jesus prays for himself as well. He is asking God to resurrect him from the dead, not to save his own life, but to glorify God's name, and save the people of the world from the power of evil. This is a very universal prayer. Jesus reveals his understanding of God's plan, and the vital role he will play.

Reflect on Jesus' prayer. What does this mean during the season of Lent to you? Jesus' love for the world and love for God goes beyond any love and dedication the world has ever seen. During the reflection and solemnity of Lent, take time to remember that Love. Your life and salvation are made possible by it.

Written by a PC Sophmore

Today Please Pray For:

The Women’s and Men’s Basketball Teams

Thursday

February 26, 2009

Psalm 27

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

² When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh, ^[a]
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

³ Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

⁴ One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

⁵ For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

⁶ Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

⁷ Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.

⁸ My heart says of you, "Seek his ^[b] face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

⁹ Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.

¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.

¹¹ Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

¹² Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.

¹³ I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Many times we call on God to save us and protect us from the things in our lives that attack. It always seems that THIS time I need to be saved from a test or JUST THIS ONCE get me to the airport on time. I was running the other day and thinking about how I needed God to deliver me one more time and that throughout my life I had only really wanted a few things. I convinced myself that I am a “good” person as I was running. I brush my teeth and say my prayers and make sure to help the elderly cross the street. Why is God picking on me this time? Am I just the fly that a masochistic God is pulling the wings off of? Of course not

This sort of posturing and self-pity is just a feeble homage to the martyr of Saint Me. Everyone deals with the daily inconveniences, everyone has to hit hard parts in life. David tells us in Psalm 27 verse 3 “When an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.” David had seen trouble and had literally slept with an enemy army sleeping a mile away. Yet David saw even that as glory to God. We cannot live in the fear of being conquered. David goes on to say in verse 5, “For He [God] will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble.” When the real trouble comes, THAT is the time that we will know God’s presence. He is with us just as He was with David so when we see the enemy encampments of school or social pressures there is nothing to fear.

In this season of Lent, I encourage you to face these small issues that seem insurmountable with courage and remember 2^nd Timothy 1:7

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

I would also like to leave you with my favorite verse and one that I have been leaning on for some time now:

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Written by a PC Junior

Today Please Pray For:

RAs

Wednesday February 25, 2009

Ash Wednesday

Meditation:
Ash Wednesday leads us into the penitential season of Lent. We remember that we mortal people are nothing but dust, remembering that in the beginning of time, God took a handful of dust, breathed into it, and then there was life; the first person. The intimate nearness of God is made visible in these ashes we receive today. These ashes are also a frightening reminder of all those ways in which we are separated or estranged from the light; all those ways we know as sin which disconnect us from God.
Ashes remind us of our connectedness and our disconnectedness to and from God. They remind us just how close or how far away God sometimes seems to be.
This Ash Wednesday worship is a time to repent, to return to God, to reconnect, to put ourselves and all our life in the Light of the One who promises eternal life so that every day, not just today, people will be able to see the crosses on our foreheads. They will see them in everything we say and everything we do will proclaim the good news of God in Christ. - Rev. Kirk Alan Kubicek

A prayer of confession:
Gathered in this place,
with our sin and our unrighteousness,
with the injustice of the world,
and a lack of love in our hearts,
we turn to you, O God.
We long for a promise that will not fade.
We yearn for a forgiveness that will cleanse and redeem.
We look for a way that will lead us to life.
Dust is all we are, but you are more, much more.
Your mercy, your grace, your love are so much more,
more than we deserve, more than we can measure.
Hear our prayers, O God.
Hear us, redeem us, restore us,
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Compiled by a PC Staff

Please pray for:
campus services including maintenance and housekeeping staffs

Introduction to Lenten Devotional

Lent

One of the special times on the Christian calendar is Lent- a period of forty days plus six Sundays- this year beginning on Ash Wednesday, Feb 25. Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "lencten" which means springtime. Lent is a time to take to take a closer look at your relationships- with God, others, and yourself. The church uses the color purple for times of worship.
Lent is a time of contemplation- praying, reading, and reflecting. Lent is a time of preperation- getting ready to remember Jesus' death and resurrection. Lent is a time of renewal- as the Earth is renewed with spring rains and flowers, so our spirits are renewed by the Holy Spirit.
Often times you will hear someone talk about giving something up for Lent...
What if, instead of giving up chocolate or beer, we gave up our favorite TV show or spent less time on Facebook?
What if instead of focusing on ourselves, we prayed specifically for one person and became an answer to our prayer?
The day before Lent begins is "Mardi Gras" (Fat Tuesday) of Shrove Day (when church folks confessed their sins and were forgiven). Some people have pancakesto use up butter and eggs in preparation for times of fasting and specialprayer during Lent.