St. Nicolai Notes

EXCHANGES ON THE WAYl LENTEN PRAYERS
Day 36: Sixth Tuesday
Mark 14:53-65

     Jesus, Messiah, your instruction, action, and claimed identity all elicited major resistance from those who were most certain of their faith and of their roles within that faith. We have no doubt that would be true if you were walking among us today. Even many of us who claim to know you, claim to follow your way, would be likely to reject your identity, deny the truth of your instruction, and join in the violence against You,
     Sometimes our hearts swell with barely restrained violence against people who believe differently than we do, or people who come from places that seem too foreign to us, or people that our nation and its leaders have identified as enemies. We have seen and heard many reports of violence from people who claim to be defenders of one faith or another, so it is not a great leap to imagine that something might trigger actual violence from us, though we are more inclined to let our governments enact violence for us.
     Jesus, root every weed of violence from our lives. Let the truth you proclaimed work its way deeply into the soil of our being. Let it germinate and grow within our hearts and minds. Then, cause it to burst forth with the fruits of holiness: particularly fidelity, forgiveness, reconciliation, justice, and compassion. May your Spirit lead us to depths of faith that we have not yet experienced. Amen.