Lenten Devotions 7

Now that Lent has come and gone and we are now officially into the season of Easter, I want to do something I meant to do throughout Lent. As you may know, Fourth Church puts out daily devotions that are available via email, on the website, or in print each week. Most of the time, these are written by members of the Fourth Church staff. During special seasons of the church year, like Lent, we also invite members of the congregation to contribute to these. This year's Lent devotions were excellent, and several of them were written by Fourth Church youth or adults associated with the youth program. As something of a Lenten retrospective, I want to post these Fourth Church Youth devotions on this blog, in case you missed them before. Thanks to all who worked hard on writing these!

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:46–52

Reflection
Our culture relishes distraction more than any other before us. From our iPods to our cell phones, it is hard to find even a brief respite from our technological immersion. In a sign of this growing problem, last month a New York state senator attempted to ban “iPod oblivion,” an aptly named phenomenon that describes people who withdraw from the world into their iPods even when crossing streets, a phenomenon which has already killed three people. Now more than ever it is a struggle to escape the draw of these distractions and find our true calling. We must strain even harder to hear the voice of the needy, the impoverished, and the sick. Amid the chime of our cell phones and Blackberries, it is hard to discern their cries, “Have mercy on me, help me.” In a world where a phone call is all too accessible, we ask in the words of our savior for our true calling: What do you want me to do for you, God?

Prayer
Lord, help me to see through the distractions, to place others needs before my own, to hear the voices—which are all too often obscured by our own interests—calling, “Have mercy on me.” You have fulfilled so many of my own needs, now help me to fulfill those of others, and help me, in my own way, to heal the blind man calling my name. Amen.

Written by Jeremy Lewis, Fourth Church Youth sophomore in high school