From Day 1 through Easter, each section includes multiple biblical passages from the daily lectionary, reflections based on those passages, and accompanying prayers based on each reflection. Seminary alumnae/i, faculty, staff, Board members, and students have contributed to this resource to help enrich your Lenten worship for many years to come. Sometimes I like to imagine that during the gathering of people together and partaking in sacred bread and wine, I am also partaking with all the saints of all times.
A Mother’s Prayer
Lent is an opportunity to grow closer to our Lord, to experience a transformation from the inside out. In today’s passage, Jesus tells us a parable about a vineyard whose tenants, the so-called vinedressers, were renters, not owners. They were tasked with watering, fertilizing, and pruning the vineyard at the right time and in the right way, so that the vineyard would produce bountifully for the owner and for them.
Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021
- Acknowledging we are not strong or good enough to save ourselves is the first step to following God.
- David fervently thirsts for God as he would thirst for water in a desert or perhaps in the wilderness of the Judean Desert when running for his life.
- It’s in these times that we recognize His sacrifice and are awed by His vast love for us.
- I weep over His being afflicted, stricken, smitten, and chastised, and even betrayed by close friends, one of whom, Peter, literally hid His face so as to disavow any connection with Him.
Everyone always knows exactly who they are as a person, who they want to be, what their meaning is, and what they want in life? Whether we are high schoolers, college students, parents, or near retirement, that is certainly the complete opposite of reality. That crawling out of your skin — or burrowing deeper inside of it — feeling. The imminent need to retreat, to run away, but having nowhere to go. The physical ache — a sick-to-the-stomach feeling, or “bones wasting away” from embarrassment or shame over sins committed.
We Christians are not immune to this attitude of indifference. We too can get weighed down by the day-to-day concerns of life and forget that our lives are part of a much, much bigger story, namely, God’s eternal plan. And the final chapter in that plan features Jesus returning to earth calling His people home. Jesus urges us to “be always on the watch” so that we will be able to “stand before the Son of Man” (v. 36) on that Day. May we live our lives in such a way that we would welcome Jesus’ coming, even if He returned this very day. In today’s passage, Jesus warns us to be careful because human beings are actually in a similar situation right now.
BIG BOOK OF LENTEN DEVOTIONALS
And even though sometimes the disciples do not come off as being the sharpest bunch, their confusion in this case doesn’t seem so ridiculous. It is easy to become preoccupied with Justice. News outlets seem to vampirically feed off of our unhealthy addiction to stories. Additionally, click-bait about social strife and tragedy bleeds us dry of hope and leaves us tired and outraged. It is in these moments of hopeless weariness that our inner demand for justice can consume us, causing us to disproportionately fixate on the need for all things wrong to be made right. She is married to Jamie and mom of Makayla and Jenna.
- The story of Jesus’ temptation is comforting, but it is also a stark reminder of why He came.
- Paul David Tripp (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a pastor, an award-winning author, and an international conference speaker.
- The point is that you would put other things aside and prioritize getting ready for your guests.
His story was captured in the riveting 1962 book, The Cross and the Switchblade. That day, as I watched hippies, drug-users, and gang members step forward in Crisler Arena to ask Jesus into their lives, everything changed for me. The power of the Holy Spirit was very present, and He compelled me to step forward onto the floor of Crisler Arena and commit my life to Christ. Jesus’ sacrifice for sin should seem radical and absurd. From a human point of view, it doesn’t make sense.
Unreached People Groups In The English
He’s married to Norma, his college sweetheart, has 3 children, and loves to golf and play guitar. Finally, Jesus offers us Himself as the Bread of Life. He meets us each week at Communion to give us Himself, a time to grow lent 2021 devotional broken for us, to heal our brokenness, to forgive our sin, and to fill us with His love to share with this needy, broken world. Another friend has a 26-year-old daughter just diagnosed with breast cancer.
We rely on our actions for salvation instead of God’s grace. David fervently thirsts for God as he would thirst for water in a desert or perhaps in the wilderness of the Judean Desert when running for his life. Despite his circumstances, David blesses God and recounts how God has been his help in past times of trouble. David is confident that God’s steadfast love is better than his life as king or even than surviving his son’s coup d’état. “In the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy” (v. 7), he writes, and “My soul clings to you” (v. 8). David does not know how his story will end, but he does know he can go through it clinging closely to the God who saves.
Holy Saturday, April 3, 2021
“Breathe on us, breath of God, fill us with life anew, that we may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.” Amen. Caleb Humphrey is a member of Redemption Church, and he has put together a few prompts that you can use to help you keep a journal throughout the Lenten season. We invite you to join us on our website as we get REady throughout the 2021 Lenten Season. Reflections will be posted prior to Ash Wednesday and each Sunday throughout Lent, as well as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.
Some of the situations we face, indeed, may be much greater than the storm the disciples faced. We can be assured of two great truths, however. Jesus is aware of our struggles, and through these times, the Lord is always inviting us to trust in His love and protection. The disciples knew they needed to call on Jesus to save them.
We now live day by day, staying safe and doing significantly less. Yet, even with all of this free time and change of pace, my spiritual life is eerily — and disappointingly — similar. I had cute, blonde pigtails, and I talked just as often and as loudly as I do now! But for all my great qualities as a kid, I had the hardest time asking for help. As I grew up, I realized I have neither the skills nor the capacity to do everything on my own, and I don’t need to.
“Where Do We Find Jesus?” Becky Johnson
In their harsh judgment of Jesus and His disciples picking and eating grain in the fields on the Sabbath, they reveal their attitude toward the sacred seventh day. For them, Sabbath observance was just another law to be followed, an arduous burden to be publicly borne to demonstrate their “righteousness” and superiority. Each month, we provide a scripture, reflection, prayer, activity and some starter questions to help families initiate conversations about faith issues. Kara Eidson has pastored in rural, suburban, and urban settings. She holds a degree in psychology from Missouri State University and an MDiv from Duke Divinity School. After ordination in 2010, Eidson served four years as the United Methodist campus minister at the University of Kansas.She currently serves a UMC in Topeka, Kansas.
When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. The Scripture repeats this at the very end of the account, how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. And we need to look where He has promised to be. He invites us to see Him in His Word and to encounter Him each week at communion when He gives us Himself in his body and blood.
Today’s passage likely fits this second pattern. Why don’t the disciples understand what Jesus is telling them? I mean, He literally says, “And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise” (v. 33).
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