By Judy Villanueva

“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey…”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.  They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.  A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,  “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

This Palm Sunday was very different from all others in my life.  The sun rose with the reminder that a threat hangs over our world and the morning news repeated the alarm to wake up and be careful lest you, too, are touched by Covid-19.  In addition, my husband and I woke up stuck in a familiar misunderstanding.  You know the kind where you talk and talk and end up in the same tangled place.  We decided the best way through the intensity of the hour would be to move forward, move along,  just move!  So we did!  He packed us a picnic, I grabbed our jackets and off we drove to a nearby lake that always offers us its beauty and a place to remember that we are not alone or abandoned in our troubles but  HELD — always HELD

 by the God who made Heaven and earth — and bumble bees, full moons, and Springtime!

As we hiked, a beautiful frozen lake encircled by snow covered peaks came into view.  Exhale!  And, what’s this?  A broader perspective!  There, on the waters edge we sat in stunned silence as God ministered peace to us.  It felt like we’d been painted into the middle of His masterpiece and invited to celebrate His company.  And, that is when we heard the familiar echo of Palm Sunday!  The exuberant declaration that the King has come!  And, as we remembered we felt our hearts soften and enter the wonder and miracle of Palm Sunday — in the midst of a misunderstanding and in spite of a world pandemic, 

Jesus is King and His arrival into our days always makes a seismic difference! 

How would our thoughts be impacted if we lived inside of the reality that Jesus has come and is here now?  Are you expecting Him to arrive today and are you ready to welcome Him?  These are the questions that challenged my husband and I to wake up to  the presence of Christ in our very real lives– whether sitting in the middle of a masterpiece, weathering a storm or struggling toward love.  I want to welcome Jesus every day and I want His presence to initiate a seismic difference in my mind and heart.   I want to be part of the announcement that the King has come, and I want to celebrate all that He has done!  The love of Christ hung — and, hangs over our world to remind us that He has OVERCOME —  yesterday, today, and forever!  

HOSANNA !

“Thank you, Jesus, for being my King!  For entering my life and  clearing the way into your presence.  I welcome you!  Help me to watch for you today and notice all the ways you come to me.  Amen.”

What about you?

Are you watching for Jesus’ arrival today?

Are you ready to welcome Him?

How would seeing Jesus entering your day change the way you think and feel about your life today?

King Jesus is here!  Let’s celebrate!

Worship

By Judy Villanueva

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. ..  Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Do you remember the first time you heard the story of a man named Jesus who died on a cross?  Were you told of his deep love for you and the price he paid to save your life?  I remember as a kid watching The Greatest Story Ever Told and crying at the part where Jesus was crucified.  So young, I couldn’t have understood the magnitude of this scene, but I remember my little heart breaking for Jesus and sensing something powerful at work.  As Easter approaches, I feel the need to touch the most beautiful story ever told — ever lived.   I want to remember the cross  in living color so that my heart might be awakened from its stupor… so that I might drop to my knees in tears and utter amazement and feel the power of love pour over my life again!

The cross marks a turning point in human history, an unprecedented sacrifice that culminated in Heaven’s Son nailed to a wooden beam.  It wasn’t a divine whisper.  No! 

It was a shout, an earthquake, an avalanche of love that pierced God’s heart and spread itself out over all mankind.  

Can you feel it?  The King of kings took the rap for us, His creation.  He traded a royal crown for a thorny one and surrendered His life for ours.  How in touch are you with this gift?  I confess that I live mostly out of touch with the beauty and power of the cross.  How do I know this?  Because, whenever I do wake up and touch even the hem of this reality, I can feel it speak to my soul!  It immediately imparts a bright and broad perspective.  It fills me with bold hope and deep gratitude!  It’s more real than anything and nothing compares to it — no earthly enticement, no worry or fear.  

Too many Easters come and go with colored eggs and cute furry bunnies, but little notice or heart-connection to the astonishing reality of the cross, let alone the resurrection!  I admit it’s hard to live conscious of the cross 24-7, but I wonder what would happen if we tried to set it in the foreground of our days and let it bump into us!  Instead of a once-a-year experience, what if we took deliberate moments to remember when God shouted, “I love you” on Calvary! 

What if everything in our lives had to stand next to Christ on the cross — 

joys and sorrows, wins and losses, births and deaths, fears, failings, hopes and dreams.  I want to live in the shadow of the cross and at the opening of the empty tomb!  Don’t you?

 “Lord, I want to live awakened to the beauty and power of the cross.  Thank you for what you endured to save me.  It is finished and I am forever grateful.  Amen.” 

What about you?

Have you heard the greatest story ever told of a cross and man who loves you?

Where is the cross of Christ in your life?  Is it in the foreground, background or is it missing?

What IF everything in your life stood next to Christ on the cross?  Can you imagine how you would think and feel?

Take time to stand quietly before the cross.  Look.  Listen.  Receive.

Click here to buy Listening for Love Kindle Edition

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Matthew 27:15-26

Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.   At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.  So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you:  Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”  For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

…But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.   “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.  “Barabbas,” they answered.

“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.  They all answered, “Crucify him!”  “Why?  What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.  But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”…Then he released Barabbas to them.  But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. 

We sat together in the hospital waiting room so grateful to see one another, even under these circumstances.  Mom was in the center of our little circle smiling as we, her grown children, bantered and teased one another.  In between the light-hearted exchanges were knowing glances as we held our dad up in quiet prayer.  He was missing from our circle.  Dad used to promise us that he would live to be a hundred, so I never really worried about losing him as a child, but now at 86 years of age, the notion of it seemed to hover around us.  Our prayers that day reached far beyond a good surgical outcome to a time when this beloved man will say “yes” to the gift of love given on Calvary…the one where God’s Son traded places with us!

Have you ever put yourself in Barabbas’ shoes?   He was on death row for murder among other things.  What was he thinking that day, I wonder, when all of a sudden he was yanked from his cell and placed before Pilate and a rabid crowd?  Had he heard of the “other” Jesus, the one they called the Messiah?  Imagine for a minute that you are Barabbas standing next to Mary’s son awaiting your fate. Go ahead.  Look at Him.  Feel His presence, see His eyes seeing you (the guilty one) and hear the governor ask which of you should walk free.  You know who should walk free but instead you hear your name being lifted up by the people— and you, who deserve death, are set free!

Now let’s take a walk to Golgotha.  Notice as we approach the three crosses silhouetted against the darkening sky and the crown of thorns that seems to distinguish the man in the middle.  The scene is utterly still until the silence is pierced by a Voice that whispers, “Father, forgive them…”  Stop!  Oh, look up at Love as He dies for you.  Lift your eyes to His and see a devotion so deep that it gives all it has…to have you.

 THIS love is mighty and make no mistake, trading places with us was His idea!

Yes, we are Barabbas!  Most of us cannot be accused of murder and we may even feel that our lives have been “good enough” but the holy truth is that each one of us sits on death row except for Christ!  He took our place. He paid our debt and He implores each one of us to go ahead…make the trade!

“Thank You, O God, for trading places with me!  Help me, Jesus,  to hold this gift thoughtfully every day and offer my life back in gratitude and love.  I pray You will open my dad’s eyes to this beautiful invitation…and others who need  Your love.  Amen.” (PS My dad did finally say yes to Jesus!)

What about you?

Can you identify with Barabbas?

Have you ever felt the relief of being set free, declared innocent, or taken “off the hook”?

Do you feel your need for a Savior?

How does it feel to imagine looking at Christ on the cross, knowing he chose to stay there for you?

Have you received His gift of love?

Worship

By Judy Villanueva

Luke 23:32-34, 39-43

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left… One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him:  “Aren’t you the Messiah?  Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Today would be his last. He knew he was guilty and deserved what was coming, but that didn’t stop his stomach from wrenching. He was a thief and today justice would be served on the same dusty hill where he’d seen countless others hanged for their crimes. Part of him was resigned to the inevitable and part of him ached for a second chance at life. The guards were coming! He could hear their footsteps approaching and almost without thought he murmured a desperate prayer. The iron gate screeched open and before he knew it, he was grabbed and thrown face down in the dirt. Far beyond anything he could imagine, this would be a day of cosmic reckoning!

Hanging with his arms tethered to horizontal beams and his legs roped to a post, he is roused by a jeering voice and suddenly realizes he is not alone on Golgotha.  The sneers and taunts emanate from a despicable thief with whom he must apparently share his last hours.  Sighing in disgust, he starts to turn away when he notices another cross…the object of his neighbor’s ridicule.  “Is it Him,” he wonders, “the One he has heard about?” As he scrutinizes the face covered in blood and shrouded beneath a thorny crown, the man’s eyes lift and a holy power rushes toward him!  In desperation and hope, he hears himself utter, “Lord, remember me.”

It all happens in an instant — an awakening, a reckoning, and a heart made whole!

The placement of Jesus’ cross between two thieves is an astounding and graphic picture!  It is no accident that on one side hangs a man full of pride, living and dying for himself, and on the other, a humble and broken thief pleading for mercy.  And, there at the center is Jesus offering life to a lost soul…even as He dies.

Knowingly or unknowingly, we live on either side of Jesus each day.

We see Him or we don’t.  We live full of pride and self-sufficiency, or ask to be remembered. We curse what cannot control or surrender in faith to a holy God.  We breathe each breath disgruntled or full of gratitude. And finally, a day arrives when we either reject the greatest gift ever offered us or follow Jesus to paradise!

“Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me.  When I slow down and let the cross touch my life, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.  I want to be like the thief who humbled himself and asked to be remembered, not just in my final hour of life but always.  Amen.”

What about you?

Have you ever ached for a second chance at life?

Do you feel your need for Jesus?

Which thief are you?  In other words, are you trusting in yourself for your life or trusting God?

Have you said “yes” to the gift Jesus gave at Calvary?  Have you received the gift of being found, forgiven and made whole?

Click here to buy Listening for Love Kindle Edition

Worship

By Judy Villanueva

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1)

“Yes, there is that voice, the voice that speaks from above and from within and that whispers softly or declares loudly: “You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests.” (Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved) 

“Shall we sit here, Nana?” I inquired as we came upon an ancient Oak whose branches stretched out over our heads offering a canopy of shade we couldn’t resist.  I pushed her wheelchair until it rested next to an iron bench and took a seat next to her.  It was our favorite tree and our favorite spot on the grounds of this quiet place that was now her home. She was ninety-eight years old and the matriarch of our family, not to mention one of my dearest friends.  Maybe it was because we had become friends over the years that I felt the freedom to tease her with a particular question that always brought a smile to her face.  “Nana, am I your favorite?  You can tell me.  I promise I won’t tell anyone!” J 

I don’t think I’m unique in wanting to be “the favorite”, am I?  It seems to be a need that bubbles up from the core of the human heart.  I notice it in children when they hunt for assurances that they are the fastest, the cutest, or the “best” at something.  I see it in the smile that erupts when a friend calls a friend her “bff” or when a husband whispers to his wife “You are my one and only.”  It is about belonging and being wanted.  It has to do with, what I believe is, a God given need to feel special. (because we are!)  I was reading the story of the last supper this week and came upon verse 13:23 where John refers to himself as “the disciple who Jesus loved” and I heard a familiar echo.  “Am I your favorite?”   

Can you hear the Voice that calls you from above and from within with whispers and loud declarations?  “You are Mine!”

It is staggering that the One who made the heavens and the earth summons us by name!  He keeps track of our thoughts and knows the sound of our voices when we pray.  He understands our need to be someone’s favorite and longs for us to feel His heart that spills over with joy for us.  When my soul cries out to belong, especially on days when I can’t feel that I’m wanted, I return to Gethsemane and kneel next to Jesus.  There, I experience His unfailing kindness.  And, as I watch Him pray with His face to the ground, I remember the length that Everlasting Love went to make me His beloved child. 

We belong.  We are wanted.  We are His!  

“Thank you, Father, for making me yours and calling me beloved. That your love is “everlasting” and your kindness, “unfailing” touches my heart with gladness!  I love being one of your favorites!  Amen.”

What about you?

Where do you best hear and feel God’s love? 

Has your heart been touched by God’s unfailing kindness?  

What does it mean to you that God has summoned you by name and called you beloved?

You are special to God. He loves you with an everlasting love!

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Worship 

By Judy Villanueva

Mark 14:32-34

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

Straining to see through the crowd, I searched for the face of my beloved friend.  Throngs of people poured out of the area where passengers are deposited after their flights and then, like ants, are scattered in every direction.  I waited eagerly, not wanting her to slip past me until at last I recognized her gait and smile maneuvering toward me!  The look in our eyes said it all, “Welcome!  So good to see you!  Hooray, you are here!”  What a precious gift God gives us when He gives us a friend, someone whose heart we trust and who will be there for us in good times and bad.

I rarely think of Jesus as a man in need of a friend.  Most gospel stories depict Him as a man on a mission, living life secured in the company of His heavenly Father.  Storms didn’t disturb Him nor  did the threats of those who sought to destroy Him.  But here, in the garden, we see our Lord struggling and asking his closest friends to stay and keep watch with him. The idea that Jesus, dare I say it, needed a friend is one that confronts me.

Have you ever considered that Jesus doesn’t only offer you His friendship, but also desires yours?

It is a wild notion!  On any given day we can seek His company and respond to His gentle invitations to sit with Him and pray.  By turning our attention to His company, seeing what He sees, and  praying we engage with Jesus and offer him our friendship.  By noticing a need and offering assistance, forgiving an offense, giving our best, putting others first, and in simply trusting God in the day, we bless and give love to King Jesus.

All good friendships are mutual and require  two-way efforts to sacrifice and love.  It’s easy to fall asleep, forget or minimize the gift we’ve been given as friends of God but, think of it! Just like the friends who kept watch with Him in Gethsemane, we too have daily opportunities to bless Jesus with our presence and love Him with our lives!

How marvelous a speculation that our prayers, attitudes, and acts of grace can actually bless the heart of God!

It isn’t a one-way friendship where we simply receive His kindness and consolations, but rather, a reciprocal one where, as friends we love God back — where we watch for His arrival and welcome Him into our days with gladness!

“Lord Jesus, thank You for being a good friend to me!  That you desire my friendship is indeed a precious gift.  Help me to live in the days aware and awakened to how I might bless Your heart through my prayers, thoughts and acts of love.  Amen.”

How about you?

Do you know Jesus as your savior and most faithful friend?

Is your relationship with God one-way?

Have you ever considered that you can bless God with your acts of love?

How might you be a friend of God today?

 Worship:

By Judy Villanueva

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

There He is hanging on the cross…nails in His hands and feet, blood oozing from his side, a crown of thorns pressed into His brow… beaten, bruised, torn open, and naked.  To make matters worse, from the cross he looks down on the people he is dying for only to hear their mocking words. They don’t get it!  How can they not see and embrace the gift that Jesus is giving as He gasps for air?  More to the point, how does Jesus not cry out, “You ungrateful people!  Don’t you see what is going on here?  Just forget it!  Go to your graves hanging onto your sin!  I’m outta here!”

Nope.  Never entered His mind.  Instead He calls out to His Father with whom He has shared intimate friendship for all eternity, and asks for a pardon for those who are killing Him.  How on earth?  How in heaven?  The love that fills Jesus’ heart for mankind is beyond imagination.  It is immense and unstoppable!  The fact that they were undeserving, self-willed, head-strong, mean-spirited and blind didn’t count against them.  It didn’t matter!

Nothing mattered except that Jesus loved them.   He never flinched.  It was never a question.  He is love and loved us unto death.

How do I respond to this kind of Love?  How do you?  If I stand beneath the cross and look up at my Savior, I feel pierced with sorrow at His suffering.  If I then take in the reality that He hangs there for me…I fall to my knees!  I wake up most days with this story in the background of my awareness and can live separate from it, but I don’t want to!

I want this act of Love to sit in the foreground of my life so that whenever I open my eyes, I see it!

To see Jesus loving me and going the distance on my behalf pushes me out of complacency and fills my heart with overwhelming gratitude.  It pulls out of me the deepest desire to live loved and to love well.   It makes me want to love Him back every moment and with all of me!

“Jesus, how can I thank You for dying for me?   Help me to remember… to call to the foreground this most precious gift each day and fill me so that I might love you with my life.  Amen.”

How about you?

What do you feel when you stand at the foot of the cross and look up?

How do you respond to this kind of love?

Is the reality of the cross in the background of your life or the foreground?

Take time to remember the cross, to bring it’s reality into your heart each day.  You are loved with a mighty love.

Worship