Lenten Devotionals
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3| Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6| Holy Week
Monday, February 11
Scripture
Psalm 32:1-5
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Thought for the Day
We may come {to baptism} singing “Just as I Am,” but we will not stay by being our same old selves. The needs of the world are too great, the suffering and pain too extensive, the lures of the world too seductive for us to begin to change the world unless we are changed, unless conversion of life and morals becomes our pattern. The status quo is too alluring. It is the air we breathe, the food we eat, the six-thirty news, our institutions, our theologies, and politics. The only way we shall break its hold on us is to be transferred to another dominion, to be cut loose from our old certainties, to be thrust under the flood and then pulled forth fresh and new-born. Baptism takes us there.
William Willimon
Prayer
Gracious God, we cast ourselves on your steadfast mercy, trusting in your promise of forgiveness. Amen.
Tuesday, February 12
Scripture
Romans 5:12-19
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned- sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man's trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.
Thought for the Day
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Our Hearts always like to stay among friends, among those who are upright and honorable. But Jesus Christ was in the midst of enemies, and that’s precisely where he wanted to be. And that’s where we should be too. This distinguishes us from all other sects and religions, where the pious want to stay among themselves. Christ, however, wants us to be in the midst of our enemies, as he was. In the midst of his enemies he died the death of God’s love and prayed: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Christ wants to win his victory among enemies. Therefore, do not withdraw,; do not separate yourselves, but think good things about everyone. Live peaceably with all “so far as it depends on you” (Rom. 12:18)… Our hearts should always be full of peace. Does that mean that we should also remain silent about the word of God for the dear sake of peace? Never. But is there then a more peaceful word and work than preaching he peace that God made with his world and with his people? “So far as it depends on you” – one thing does not depend on you, namely, to remain silent about the word of God. But it is your responsibility to speak that word for peace, to speak for the peace of human beings with God, in the midst of a human world that is torn apart and alienated. Jesus made peace with us while we were enemies (Rom. 5:10). Let us bear witness to this peace before everyone!
Prayer
Father of my soul,
Mother of my heart,
I know your love for me is limitless beyond imagining.
You care for me as a loving parent.
Through my smallest Lenten sacrifices,
help me to become less selfish
and more aware of your ways.
Fan the flame of my desire
to draw ever closer to you.
Guide me to seek your love.
Wednesday, February 13
Scripture
Genesis 3:1-7
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Thought for the Day
Anthony B. Robinson
Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of the Father . . .” (Matthew 18: 10 - 14) Who are the little ones? Children? New Christians? The poor? The unsophisticated? The disabled or disfigured? The little ones have few, if any, influential friends or allies in the centers of earthly power, yet it turns out that these same little ones have influential friends, angels even, in high places not of this world, in the presence of God. The celebrated founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day, was speaking with a homeless man in the kitchen as the night wore on. An impatient reporter, eager to interview Day, paced outside, indicating in every way he could that he was tired of waiting and that he took precedence over Day’s homeless guest. When Dorothy Day had finished her conversation with the man who was homeless, she turned to the reporter and asked, “With which of us did you wish to speak?”
Prayer
All-seeing God, you know all there is to know about us and yet love us. Praise your holy name. Amen.
Thursday, February 14
Scripture
Psalm 32: 7-11
You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Thought for the Day
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.
That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it.
Prayer
O God, we bow before you in awe and wonder at the love you have for us.We rejoice in this gift you offer us. Amen.
Friday, February 15
Scripture
John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.' Jesus answered him, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.' Nicodemus said to him, 'How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?' Jesus answered, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, "You must be born from above." The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.' Nicodemus said to him, 'How can these things be?' Jesus answered him, 'Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
Thought for the Day
Ann Hostetler
What does it mean to be born again? In one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s last speeches, "Where Do We Go From Here?" the great nonviolent leader retold the story of Nicodemus's night visit to Jesus. King interprets Jesus's instructions to the young Jewish ruler -- "you must be born again" -- to mean that "your whole structure must be changed." In this speech, King was attempting to convince the Southern Christian Leadership Commission to support him in calling for an end to the Vietnam War. King knew that nothing less than a radical change of heart -- reflected in structural change -- would motivate Americans to end the war. This was obvious to King because he himself could "see" from a perspective of rebirth, but many of his supporters did not share this vision.
I've always assumed that the phrase in John 3:3, "no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above," meant that we will not go to heaven if we are not born again. But in light of King's speech, I began to understand this passage in a new way: that without a rebirth -- a structural change within our hearts and minds -- we cannot see -- or even be aware of -- the extent to which the kingdom of God as it is present in our lives at this very moment.
Birth is not an instant process, even though the ways in which the phrase "born again" is bandied about in our culture might suggest otherwise. Birth is a journey, a crossing from one state into another, fraught with pain, uncertainty and danger, as well as joy. When we trust God to truly change our hearts, we embark on a journey which utterly changes us -- from the inside out.
Prayer
Ever-present God, we cling to your love in faith and trust. Amen.
Saturday, February 16
Scripture
Matthew 5:46
"If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that?"
Thought for the Day
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Hold a true lent in your souls, while you sorrow over your hardness of heart. Do not stop at sorrow! Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the cross ... this will bring back to us our first love; this will restore the simplicity of our faith, and the tenderness of our heart.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you spoke peace to a sinful world and brought mankind the gift of reconciliation by the suffering and death you endured. I love you and joyfully bear the name 'Christian.' Teach me to follow your example. Increase my faith, hope and charity so that I may struggle to turn hatred to love and conflict to peace.
Sunday, February 17
Scripture
What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.' Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations') -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Thought for the Day
Thomas Merton
“It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is the beginning of blessedness and the consummation of humility is the perfection of all joy. Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual life begins: for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him.”
Prayer
O God, how can this be? That you would choose to make your home with us, die for us, love us this much? Thank you, God. Amen.
