March 11, 2019

Dear Allen Temple Family and Friends,

Our Lenten Series continues this week with the theme of Sacrifice with Reverend
Warren Long.

Blessings to you!

Reverend Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson
Assistant Pastor 

 

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What Shall I Render 

What shall I render unto the Lord for all of His goodness? What shall I render unto the Lord for all of His mercy and grace?” As I write, in my head I am singing “What Shall I Render” which seems germane as I contemplate Lent and Isaiah 58. Our focal scripture (Isaiah 58:5-7) tells us to fast which we recognize as a form of religious sacrifice. Sacrifice is defined as “a loss or something you give up, usually for the sake of a better cause”. For many Lent is a time of contemplation, fasting, and prayer.

Last Wednesday, some made vows to abstain from something for 40 days as a symbolic sacrifice commemorating Jesus’s restorative sacrifice for us. That thing may be desserts, shopping, or meat on Fridays, but God wants our fasting to be more than a mere gesture. It should come from the heart in gratitude to God and as an expression of worship. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” Yesterday a friend said, “I’m trying to be more patient during Lent” and a bell went off and the goal of sacrifice suddenly resonated with me: Sacrifice must cost us something and benefit someone else. So... what shall I render?

I am reminded of a classmate who would joke each Lent that he was giving up alligator wrestling or skydiving for Lent. While his humor was the folly of youth, it reinforces for me that sacrifice during this time should be meaningful and beneficial. So, I am having to rethink my No Dessert thing which was okay on its face and as a start, but I now desire to do something more meaningful and to render a true sacrifice. Like being patient, kind, loving, and aforgiving which calls us to be better versions of ourselves and will benefit others. Particularly those who would otherwise be caught in the wake of our ire and discord. Just better! “You will know a tree by its fruit.”

When I was in elementary school, part of our daily Morning Prayer (which I still carry with me) was, “I offer you my words, thoughts and deeds this day…” Something seemingly so simple is TRUE sacrifice! What if our words soothed rather than offended? What if our thoughts pleased God? What if we helped somebody and God is glorified? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” When we consider that perfect sacrifice, our sacrifices seem small in comparison. But when our words, thoughts, and deeds are offered as a sacrifice with hearts of thanksgiving and praise, little truly becomes much.

For further contemplation:
2 Samuel 24:24
Psalm 51:17
Ephesians 5:1-2 
Philippians 2:4-8
Hebrews 13:16
1 John 3:16-18 

Rev. Warren Long works as the Administrative Manager at Allen Temple where he also serves in Global Ministries, New Member’s, and the Leadership Institute.