2023 Lenten Devotional -Week 2
Rev. Antoine Love
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up;
do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness.”
– Isaiah 43:19
My GOD Talk
Well, hello there. It’s me once again. Checking in with you, the God who is my everything. As I write this prayer, I thank you for the gift of life, a precious gift that I’m realizing more and more not to take for granted. I praise you for guarding my mind, guiding my steps and giving me your daily grace as well as your mercy. Without you, I wouldn’t be much of anything.
So, let’s talk. This has been a season. From the onset of COVID-19 until now, this pandemic has been no joke. Everything that I once knew and considered normal has been highjacked. You know full well that I like stability and appreciate routine. This season is not my preferred plan, nor my cup of tea. Yet, I must admit I’m grateful. Grateful for this clarifying moment ... it’s helping me to redefine what’s important, what’s necessary, and what’s not; what I can live with and what I can live without. I’m discovering what I will live for. I’m discovering who I really am as my so-called life is disrupted. God knows – of course that’s you – I’m learning a lot about myself, some good, some not as good. But through it all I’m thankful for these self-revelations.
As I am making this journey to remember the hill bearing the cross of my salvation, there are other pandemics that concern me. There are the tragedies of gun violence and racial injustice. Relationships are strained, if not being pulled to the limit. Fake news to half-truths to bold face lies are masquerading as true. Common courtesy and decency are not as common as they once were. Respect and tolerance are no longer practiced or promoted as they use to be. Stories of scarcity plague our thoughts and give rise to fears.
I want to pray for the church, your church ... heck, the church I call mine. I pray that this season of disease and dis-ease will bring us, people of faith and those on the faith journey, to new places of purpose, understanding, and allowances. That we be stretched to work for your Kin-dom like never before and may we find space at the table for all of your beloved. It’s gonna be alright. God has always worked with a remnant, the faithful who stay the course, committed and focused.
God, you have been our Waymaker, the One who supplies all our needs and has a plan for us – a plan not to harm us, but to prosper us and give us a hopeful future. Despite the world’s ways, there is your will and way. You can do all things but fail. I trust in that fact. You are the righteous God, seeker of justice and fair treatment. Filled with grace and mercy, you reign now and forever.
Therefore, I still believe renewal is rising. You are on the throne. Yes, you are.
This is my God Talk that I ask in and through the name of Jesus, my cross-bearer and lifter.
Hallelujah, amen!
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Within the Baltimore-Washington Conference, the Rev. Antoine Love is frequently called upon to pray when leaders feel the need to turn to God for comfort, assurance, or vision. As assistant to Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling, Love is known for his deep abiding faith that connects people with God and one another.
Entering ordained ministry in 1992, Love pastored several Maryland churches, including Corkran UMC in Temple Hills; Zion UMC in Lexington Park; Covenant Point – Lakeside Cooperative Parish in Waldorf; the Journey of Faith Church, a new cross-racial United Methodist congregation in southern Maryland; and Wesley Freedom UMC in Eldersburg. His innovative spirit of renewal and revival also led him to serve as the Baltimore-Washington Conference Director of Vibrant Communities for several years, before being appointed as the Assistant to the Bishop.
He has also served on several committees throughout the denomination, including chairing the Baltimore-Washington Conference Board of Trustees and as executive director of the Northeastern Jurisdiction’s Multi-Ethnic Center for Ministry. He now chairs Black Methodists for Church Renewal.
A noted preacher and teacher, Love’s ministry centers around transcending the differences that separate people and creating Beloved Community.
He holds dear to his heart the words from Lamentations 3:22-23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord unto me.”