Lenten Reflection - Day 14: by Russ Hauck

READING: Mark 8: 31-38

I was born and raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran, the second oldest of five boys and my parents did not have much money. But something they did have was a solid commitment to our religious upbringing. They made sure that we attended church every Sunday and that we went to Sunday School and confirmation class, and had an opportunity to participate in church activities. I didn’t have an “Aha!” conversion experience. I liked the structure. I really liked the formality and ritual of the worship experience. I liked having a regular routine for the service. I even liked attending confirmation class on Saturday mornings for a couple of years! As a result, I have always felt pretty confident in my faith. My parents and church certainly gave me a solid faith foundation. That’s maybe the good news part of my faith story. But the not so good part of that story is that feeling pretty confident in your faith that can also tend to make you complacent in terms of acting out or putting that faith into action. I haven’t done as well in this over the years.

In this Bible passage, Jesus says, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Most of us tend to think that “taking up our cross” means carrying our burdens, but what Jesus really meant was that we need to be willing to die to our old self – surrender completely – if we are to be truly committed to Him. So, I think my faith background in an odd way makes that both easier and at the same time, more difficult for me. It’s like this: It’s easy to dive over and over again off of the low board, but that level of confidence and experience doesn’t necessarily help, and might even hold you back, when you get to the edge of a high diving board and then hesitate to make the jump. Why not just go back down the ladder and make the safer dive? Fortunately for Barbara and me, we are blessed with a congregational family that together now has an opportunity to learn what it truly means for each of us to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a tribute far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.