Lenten Devotion: Tuesday, April 3

by Shelly Spalding

Jesus, United By Thy Grace
United Methodist Hymnal #561
Words: Charles Wesley, 1749
Music: Johann G. Nageli; arr. by Lowell Mason, 1845

1
Jesus, united by thy grace
and each to each endeared,
with confidence we seek thy face
and know our prayer is heard.
2
Help us to help each other, Lord,
each other's cross to bear;
let all their friendly aid afford,
and feel each other's care.
3
Up unto thee, our living Head,
let us in all things grow;
till thou hast made us free
indeed and spotless here below.
4
Touched by the lodestone of thy love,
let all our hearts agree,
and ever toward each other move,
and ever move toward thee.
5
To thee, inseparably joined,
let all our spirits cleave;
O may we all the loving mind
that was in thee receive.
6
This is the bond of perfectness,
thy spotless charity;
O let us, still we pray,
possess the mind that was in thee.

Charles Wesley wrote “Help us to help each other, Lord, each other’s cross to bear; let all their friendly aid afford, and feel each other’s care. Touched by the lodestone of thy love, let all our hearts agree, and ever toward each other move, and ever move toward thee.” (vss. 2 & 4)

What would the world be like if each of us practiced kindness and love as Jesus did? What if we walked through the world with an eye ready to see, an ear ready to hear, a hand ready to help, and a heart ready to feel? “Kindness is a grace that all can understand,” wrote J.C. Ryle, an Anglican Bishop. As we move through this Holy Week, let us strive to remember these words from Robert Fulghum:

“All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sand pile at Sunday school. These are the things I learned:

“Share everything; Play Fair; don't hit people; Put things back where you found them; Clean up your own mess; Don't take things that aren't yours; Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody; Wash your hands before you eat; Flush; Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you; Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some; Take a nap every afternoon; When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together; Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that; Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup—they all die. So do we; And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned—the biggest word of all—LOOK.

“Everything you need to know is in there somewhere—The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

“Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if all—the whole world—had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

“And it is still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.” (from All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, by Robert Fulghum)

Read Ephesians 4:17—5:2