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Lent Devotions
March 25, 2016: Dying
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture… (1 Corinthians 15:3)
The Heidelberg Catechism, a treasured statement of faith for many Reformed Christians, contains a series of four powerful questions and answers about Christ’s suffering. The first of them concerns the death of Jesus: “Why did Christ have to suffer ‘death’?”
Understanding the answer ought to shield our hearts against an avalanche of guilt: “Because the righteousness and truth of God are such that nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God.”
Hear it again, friends: Nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God.
But, I hasten to add, the Son of God did indeed die for our sins! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
I once heard a preacher give tremendous counsel to a sanctuary filled with college students. He told them, “When the devil assaults you with a barrage of accusations concerning your sinfulness, don’t argue with him. He has good evidence. Simply tell him you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and therefore his accusations are now irrelevant.” The sense of relief in the room was palpable—including the sense of relief in my own soul.
Prayer: We bless you, Lord Jesus, for your saving blood!
Today’s devotional was written by Tim Brown, president and Henry Bast professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Easter Week Schedule and More!
Mar. 24th Maundy Thursday Service at 7:00 p.m. Holy Trinity
Mar. 25th Good Friday meditation at noon
March 26th Campout and Cookout 5:30 Bring a dish to share
Mar. 27th Easter Early at 7:00 a.m.
Breakfast at 8:00 a.m.
Sunday Worship Service at 9:30 a.m.
Bring flowers for the blooming of the cross
Church School at 9:45 a.m.
Easter Egg Hunt immediately following service
April 1st The next dinner group will meet at Villa Morales 7pm
to Sign-up at back table or see Dawn Theurer
April 3rd Communion at 9:30
Jazz Vespers at 5:30 Marsvin David
Lent Devotions
March 24, 2016: Feasting
When the hour came, he took his place at the table… (v. 14)
John Calvin, one of the spiritual fathers of Reformed Christians, once argued vehemently for the Lord’s Supper to be celebrated every time Christians gathered. He felt this way because he believed that the Lord’s Supper was not merely a feast of remembrance, but of communion and hope as well. He believed in Jesus’ real presence at the table, and that was enough to persuade Calvin that we should eat the bread and drink the cup with the Lord every week.
Calvin meditated upon the meaning of that Last Supper scene for the longest possible time. The fruit of his deep contemplation is this moving statement:
Here at the Table Christ himself grows into one with us…There is nothing more incredible than that things severed and removed from one another by the whole space between heaven and earth should not only be connected across such a great distance but also to be united, so that souls may receive nourishment from Christ [himself].
You can find Calvin’s full description of this communion experience in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (4.17.24). But more profoundly, you can receive such nourishment from Christ yourself the next time you respond in faith to your pastor’s invitation, “Come, for all things are now ready.”
Prayer: We come to your table hungry, O Lord; feed us until we want no more!
Today’s devotional was written by Tim Brown, president and Henry Bast professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 23, 2016: Counseling
Simon, Simon, listen! (v. 31)
Jesus’ warning to Peter that he would betray him is a commentary on a verse from Proverbs. There the wise man says, “Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:6). How painful it must have been for Peter to have his beloved Lord level such a terrible accusation. How hopeful it must have been for Peter to live into Jesus’ promise to him of restoration.
I learn three things from the Lord Jesus that I need to bear in mind if I am ever called to speak to a friend in spiritual trouble. First, speak personally. Jesus calling out “Simon, Simon…” counteracts the evil one’s dehumanizing ways. Peter was a real person, headed for a real fall, but he still belonged to the Lord.
Second, speak truthfully. Speak the truth in love, but by all means speak the truth. “Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat…” Peter would be pitted against the Prince of Darkness and Jesus told him so.
Third, speak hopefully. A world of hope must have dawned in Peter’s hurting heart when Jesus said, “And when once you have turned…” Our failures, however terrible they are, are never final! Human failure is temporary; God’s grace is eternal.
Is there someone you need to speak to this way?
Prayer: Lord, help us speak the truth in love!
Today’s devotional was written by Tim Brown, president and Henry Bast professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 22, 2016: Teaching
One day as he was teaching…
Does Luke 20:1 require anything of us? A young boy I met in Lynnwood, Washington, knows the answer and is eager to share it with all of us.
In the days just before his death, Jesus taught the good news of the gospel (Luke 19); in the days just after his death he compelled his followers to do the same (Luke 24). And that is precisely what my young friend from Lynnwood wants to tell us.
Some time ago I preached in the congregation where this boy and his family are members. After church I gathered with some folks to field questions about life in the seminary where I teach. During this time a sharp little boy named Aaron raised his hand and asked, “If you really, really want to be a pastor so you can tell people about Jesus, do you have to wait until you’re grown up?”
I said to him—oh, who cares what I said to him. He had said it all! One day, as [Jesus] was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news… Aaron knows what to do with that verse, and he isn’t going to wait to grow up to do it.
So what are we waiting for?
Prayer: Give us the courage and urgency, O God, to go and tell the good news of Jesus!
Today’s devotional was written by Tim Brown, president and Henry Bast professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 21, 2016: Confronting
Luke 19:41-48
Then he entered the temple… (v. 45)
After Palm Sunday’s triumphal entry, Jesus entered the temple and drove out the money changers. Why did he do this? The layout of the temple itself provides an interesting clue. The temple stood proudly on an enormous platform cantilevered over Mount Moriah on the edge of the Kidron Valley. It stretched 200 yards from east to west, and 300 yards from north to south. A series of courts surrounded the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the temple: the Priest’s Court, the Court of Israel, the Court of Women, and finally the Court of the Gentiles. The Court of the Gentiles was several times larger than all the other courts combined, and its size is a commentary on the heart and purposes of God. The living God longs for the nations to stream into his presence!
The money-changers were encroaching on the sacred space God had envisioned for the nations. If they changed money in the Court of the Gentiles, where would the gentiles go to seek God? So much more could be said about this occasion in the life of Jesus, but perhaps it should lead us now to one pointed question: What must the Lord confront in our lives that is blocking the way for the world to come to him?
Prayer: Overturn anything in our lives that keeps the nations from coming to you, O God!
Today’s devotional was written by Tim Brown, president and Henry Bast professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visit www.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 20, 2016: The Needs of the Lord
“Why are you untying the colt?”
And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” (v. 33-34, RSV)
“The Lord has need of it.” Isn’t that a curious thing? The God of all glory has needs, and in this instance, he needs the services of a lowly donkey. In order to accomplish the extraordinary, God chose to yoke himself to the ordinary. While I cannot explain the mystery, I cannot escape its implication either. If the Lord needed a donkey to fulfill his gospel work, then maybe he needs me and you to do the same thing now!
I have a friend with a lovely gift for singing and teaching. She regularly visits local nursing homes to bless the residents with her uplifting voice and keen insights into the Word. She regularly concludes her teaching with this challenge for the elderly folk seated before her: “Friends, tomorrow morning when you wake up, I want you to open your eyes and look around. If you are still in your room and haven’t yet been taken to heaven, I want you to say out loud, ‘The Lord has work for me to do today.’ And then I want you to get up and get it done!”
Her words echo Jesus on that first Palm Sunday: The Lord has need of it.
Prayer: Living God, give us your grace to fulfill your purposes through Jesus.
Today’s devotional was written by Tim Brown, president and Henry Bast professor of preaching at Western Theological Seminary. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
March 19, 2016: The Things That Make for Peace
“If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” (v. 41)
What makes you cry? When we cry, we get a clue as to the things that matter to us. You’re watching something, or reading something, or maybe you’re just thinking, remembering, reminiscing, when suddenly a tear streaks your cheek. If you can name what it is you’re feeling at that moment, you have some insight into what really matters to you.
Luke says Jesus wept over Jerusalem. What triggered his tears? The longing for peace, and the sense that it was not to be. “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!”
One thing that makes for peace is acceptance—a perspective that helps us come to terms with life when things don’t go our way. There is a time to struggle and fight. But there is also a time to say, “Thy will be done.”
I remember a woman who fought her cancer for years, but when it became apparent that she could not beat it, she had the faith to accept what had to be accepted. At the end her husband cried, big tears streaking his cheeks, but she patted his hand and whispered weakly from behind her oxygen mask: “It’s okay. I’m at peace. Really.”
Prayer: Lord, thy will be done.
Today’s devotional was written by Lou Lotz, the pastoral leader of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This Lenten series comes from Words of Hope, whose mission is to build the church in the hard places through media. To learn more about the organization or subscribe to Words of Hope’s daily devotions, visitwww.woh.org.
Lent Devotions
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St Croix Reformed Church 
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