Fourth Sunday in Lent

Prayer of the Day

God of compassion, you welcome the wayward, and you embrace us all with your mercy. By our baptism clothe us with garments of your grace, and feed us at the table of your love, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Joshua 5:9-12

Psalm 32

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

The best computer advice I ever received came from an IT consultant and practicing Zen Buddhist. He told me “You can fix ninety percent of computer problems by shutting the machine down, letting it sit for five minutes and then turning it back on again.” Sure enough, his advice has worked for me about ninety percent of the time. I have wondered if it was the Buddhist belief in rebirth after death or his years of field experience lead him to this sage wisdom. The source of his advice notwithstanding, this Buddhist IT guru touched on a piece of proverbial wisdom applicable in any belief system. Sometimes you simply need to press the reset button.

In this lesson from Joshua, God has once again pressed the reset button on the relationship between God and the Israelites. After generations in the wilderness God rolls away the disgrace of the slavery and exile. God fulfills the promise made to Abraham and his descendants as they enter the Promised Land, replacing the monotony of manna with an abundant harvest and the insecurity of nomadic wandering with the of security permanent settlement.

The season of Lent offers Christians the space and time for resetting a relationship with God. In this season of penitence, we bring our sins before God with confidence that God, in gracious goodness, will roll away the shame of our iniquity.

God knows the depth and breadth of our sinfulness with an infinite intimacy and yet still offers us indefinite opportunities to reset our relationship with God. How can we who seek a perfect imitation of Christ respond in any other way than rolling away the sins that keep us from resetting our relationship with others? Through the power of God’s grace the sins leading to strained and estranged relationships can roll away. We can begin again and reset our relationship with God and others.