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Lenten Observations, March 23, 2026 - Shift in Focus

 Up until yesterday the posts were about Ephesians 1 and 2. I reached a point where I can shift for the last two weeks of Lent. 

I am, obviously, a Christian, although that is a word that in today's hypersensitive and consistently offended and offending world, I am not sure I should use. Others have limitations. "Believer" doesn't clarify "in what," "Christ follower" sets a high standard--do we meet it? Language--not an easy tool!

Although I'm taking a shift in focus, this post will still refer to Ephesians 2: 13: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

That is the message of Good Friday. "... brought near by the blood of Christ." I would like to take the blood out of the message, but that's a me problem. A bloody death was what he suffered, not poison, not a broken neck. "They will look upon him whom they pierced" is stated three times in the Bible.  Good Friday is about deadly physical violence done to a human who was also fully God. 

We don't want to see or think about such a thing, but it is the world we live in. Physical violence at the hands of individuals (family, enemies, strangers) and governments (Iran comes to most recent memory, gunning down tens of thousands of protesters). Executions, persecutions, tortures. 

And God experienced it.                                                                                                                                                                        


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