LENTEN DEVOTIONAL BOOKLET

 

Life’s Journey of Faith

Once we call ourselves a follower of Christ we begin a journey of faith; faith in God’s goodness and love. It requires us to re-think how we respond to the people and events around us. It inspires us to be more generous and hopeful. It allows us to see God in places we hadn’t noticed God’s activity before. It is an adventure, a journey.
 
Throughout this Lenten devotional booklet you will see story after story of people being on a journey with God. You are also on a journey. Take these devotions as encouragement along your way.
 
These devotions will also be available on our Powell UMC Facebook page. Please share them with your friends and family. May this season be a blessing to your journey of faith.

Joyfully,

Kim La Rue
Adult Ministries and Membership Care Director

The Season of Lent Lent is the season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. The season of Lent is a preparation for celebrating Easter. Easter Sunday is the first Sunday, after the first full moon,  after the vernal equinox. For this reason, Easter is never the same date two years in a row.

Lent is a time for penance by all Christians. The First Sunday describes Jesus’ temptation by Satan; and the Sixth Sunday (Passion/Palm Sunday), Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his subsequent suffering and death. Because Sundays are always little Easters, the penitential spirit of Lent should be tempered with joyful expectation of the Resurrection.

Ash Wednesday emphasizes a duel encounter: we confront our own mortality and confess our sin before God within the community of faith. The use of ashes as a sign of mortality and repentance has a long history in Jewish and Christian worship, and the Imposition of Ashes can be a powerful nonverbal and experiential way of participating in the call to  repentance and reconciliation.

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and continues through the great three days from Sunset on Holy Thursday through sunset Easter day. This is the  climax of Lent and the whole Christian year, and a bridge into the Easter season. These days proclaim the mystery of Jesus Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. During these days, the community journeys with Jesus from the upper room, to the cross, to the tomb, and to the garden.
 

DAILY DEVOTIONALS