Devotion for Friday, March 20, The Third Week in Lent
Philippians 1:8 | For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
We are worried that we cannot be in church together, pray together. Someone said to me “this is worse than 9/11 at All Saints’, because in those days we could be together.” To be together has become a luxury. We have many ways we can connect through technology, but perhaps there is a deeper lesson to be learned here.
A story is told in the Hassidic tradition:
When Rebbe Israel Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, saw that the Jewish people were threatened by tragedy, he would go to a particular place in the forest where he lit a fire, recited a particular prayer, and the miracle was accomplished, averting the tragedy.
Later, when the Baal Shem Tov’s disciple, the Maggid of Mezrich, had to intervene with heaven for the same reason, he went to the same place in the forest, where he told the Master of the Universe that while he did not know how to light the fire, he could recite the prayer, and again, the miracle was accomplished.
Leaders still, Rebbe Moshe Leib of Sasov, in turn a disciple of the Maggid of Mezrich, went into the forest to save his people. “I do not know how to light the fire,” he said to God,” and I do not know the prayer, but I can find the place and this must be sufficient.” Once again, the miracle was accomplished.
When it was the turn of Rebbe Isreal of Rizhyn, the great-grandson of the Maggid of Mezrich who was named after the Baal Shem Tov, to avert the threat, he sat in his armchair, holding his head in his hands, and said to God: “I am unable to light the fire, I do not know the prayer, and I cannot even find the place in the forest. All I can do is tell the story. That must be enough.”
And it was enough.
We know the story. We are witnesses, each one of us. The story of how God sent Jesus to save us. How he taught us to love the poor and see heaven even now. How he died for us to make us free. How he returned and created our fellowship here on earth. That story lives in each one of us
HYMN
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of Glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in his blood.
This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior, all the day long.