Resolve

Invitation to Prayer:
Lord, it is your will and command that we should come to you and pray. So I now come to please you. I ask you to forgive and to remove my sins which weigh heavily upon me. Let them not prevent me from coming to you in prayer. ( Luther’s Prayers, Herbert F. Brokering, ed.)

The Psalm: (Ps. 145:14-19)
The LORD upholds all those who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and loving toward all he has made.
18 The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.

The Scripture Reading: (Luke 9:51-53)
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.

For Reflection:
With resolve and clarity of purpose Jesus “set his face” toward Jerusalem. The way there took him through some difficult terrain, places where neither he nor his followers were welcomed. Without firm resolve we will avoid such places, not seeking to go to them or through them.

Where are the “Samaritan villages” in your world?

Closing Prayer:
As this season of Lent begins, O Lord, give me a settled determination to walk this journey. Grant me the kind of resolve that directs my steps to the world you love and sustains me in difficult places. Amen.