Daily Devotion • February 5
On Monday evening of this week our beloved Pastor Emeritus John M. Buchanan died.
As we mourn his death and give thanks for his life and ministry at Fourth Presbyterian Church, we pause to share some of the devotions — including this one from April 2004 — that Dr. Buchanan wrote during his time as Pastor of this congregation.
Today's Scripture
John 14:1–7
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (NRSV)
Reflection
Eastertide is the traditional name for the period following Easter Sunday. The idea is that what we celebrate on Easter Sunday is so huge, so central to everything we believe, that one day simply doesn’t do justice to it. At Fourth Presbyterian Church, the Easter music is glorious, the flowers are gorgeous, and the crowds are twice as large as on a normal Sunday. And then after all the festive worship services, it is over, liturgically at least, for another year.
Yet if what we celebrate on that day is true, the world is a different place. That’s the whole point: not simply that a mysterious and wonderful event happened 2,000 years ago, but that the world is now different. Love lives. Hope is real. Fear is gone. And it takes more than one Sunday, no matter how glorious, to celebrate that.
In this passage from the Fourth Gospel, Jesus tries to prepare his friends for the future: his ordeal and death and also the amazing victory of God, and God’s love, over death. He uses unforgettable images: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. ... I go to prepare a place for you.”
Those are precious images when you and I face personal loss and grief. They contain the good news of Easter: there is nowhere we can go that our Lord has not preceded us. “A place is prepared for us.” Thanks be to God.
Prayer
Dear God, keep reminding me that I’m living in a new world where love has already conquered death. Help me to live intentionally in that world. Give me courage to live without fear, knowing that my future has been secured. Be with me as I live this day as your faithful follower, confident, joyful, grateful: in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Written by John M. Buchanan, Pastor Emeritus
April 19, 2004
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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