What Are Lenten Devotions?
Lent is the 40-day period before Easter when Christians prepare to witness, celebrate, and participate in the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the early church, the forty days before Easter were devoted to study of the essential elements of Christian teaching so that the new converts could make informed and faithful confessions of faith on the day of their baptism. Later, Lent became a time of contemplation of Jesus’ suffering and the significance of the Christian faith for daily life. Christians throughout the centuries have marked the season with prayer, study, and fasting (or, more recently, “giving something up for Lent”) as a way both to identify with Jesus, who fasted in the wilderness for 40 days, and to focus on the importance of their faith.
Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and runs to Maundy Thursday. If you’re counting, you’ll realize that there are more than 40 days between those two dates. That’s because Sundays in Lent are not counted. Given that each Sunday celebrates the resurrection, the Church teaches that it’s not appropriate to fast on Sundays.
The practice of daily devotions stems from Lent’s emphasis on deepening one’s faith through study and prayer. Lent offers the opportunity to take up a “discipline” or “spiritual practice” for 40 days, not as a way of meriting God’s favor but because disciplined practice increases our appreciation and understanding of the faith. For generations, parents would read devotions during Lent and Advent at suppertime as a way of passing on the faith to their children, and individuals would read devotions to grow and deepen in their faith.
The advent of the internet makes sharing devotions all the easier and invites us to renew this ancient practice. The devotions you’ll find at this site will read through chapters 14, 15, and the first part of chapter 16 in Mark’s Gospel, the part of the story that records the accounts of Jesus final hours, his cross, and his resurrection. Mark’s Gospel is the account of Jesus’ life read from most frequently this year in those congregations that follow the Revised Common Lectionary.
I hope you find these devotions helpful. They are brief – most under 300 words – and conclude with a prayer to help you more richly experience God’s presence in your life and in the world. Blessings on your Lenten Journey.
I will be supporting you in prayer!
I expect the Lenten devotions will be as great a resource as Dear Working Preacher. The congregation members where I intern are not very “electronic” oriented. Okay to print your devotions to post on a church bulletin board (with you being credited of course)?
And, for the record, my reaction is not “Really? Another blog? Really?” Peace and Blessings to you. See you in June for Sr. Preaching!
Sharon
Absolutely. These are meant to be shared however that may work for you.
Thanks for the source of inspiration
Hi and thanks for the material, and your web-site really looks terrific. What wordpress theme are you using?
Thanks very much. It’s “The Style” from Elegant Themes, you can click their link at the bottom right of the page.
So if I subscribe on the right side of the page, will the lenten devotional come to my email address everyday, or do I come to the website every day. I enjoy the Working Preacher commentaries, podcast and your Dear Working Preacher letter so much, I look forward to this resource, and would love to share it with the folks in my congregation who are online.
Yes, if you scribe you’ll get an email with each new post. Thanks for passing the word on.
Thanks for this resource. We plan on using them during Lent for a mid-week study. Reading and praying using them throughout the week, and gathering on Tuesdays to talk about what our experience has been the week before.
Thanks for this.
John
Mark is my very favorite gospel, and DJL my favorite gospel commentator. This is going to be a good Lent.
Thanks so much DJL we will be using this as our Lenten Study down under in Australia.
G’day, Ann! (Okay, so I couldn’t resist 🙂 ). I’m glad these will be helpful- thanks for letting me know!
David
Just wondering what version of the Bible you are using?
NRSV