February 2, 2024
Praying through Lent
As we have done in the past, I am inviting our congregation to participate in a “do-it-yourself” Lenten devotional. This year I have chosen Matthew’s gospel as the foundation for our devotions. We spent last year with Mathew’s gospel in our worship and I am hoping those texts might be fresh in your minds. Specifically, I have chosen small passages from the Sermon on the Mount and invite you to offer a short prayer that this text inspires in you. That will take us to the last two weeks in Lent, where the texts will shift to some of Jesus' teachings as he was approaching the Cross. The texts will be different, but the assignment is the same. Offer a short prayer that arises out of your response to this passage. We are inviting you to sign up to both receive these as an email each weekday in Lent as well as volunteer to write a short prayer. (A sample of what these will look like is below.)
I would invite you to consider the varieties of prayer you have at your disposal. There are those prayers that glorify God: Adoration, which simply offers our love to God; Praise, which celebrates God’s divine attributes, and Thanksgiving, or offering gratitude for what God has done in our lives and in the world. There are personal responses of prayer, such as Self-offering, or making one’s self available to God; Confession, where we acknowledge our shortcomings; and Lament, where we acknowledge that life is painful and unfair, and call for God’s correction and response. And, of course, the two most common forms of prayer that come to mind first, Petitions, when we ask God for something for ourselves, and Intercessions, where we invite God’s intervention in someone else’s life or in our world in general.
The scriptures contain a wide variety of language for and about God, and Matthew’s gospel is no exception. I look forward to seeing what short, simple responses to these texts we might offer to God and to one another as we pray together through Lent.
Thank you all in advance, for considering your participation in this Lenten devotional.
~ Pastor Todd
FOR ASH WEDNESDAY
Matthew 4:23-5:2
Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, people possessed by demons or having epilepsy or afflicted with paralysis, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying…
PRAYER
Gracious Lord, in the midst of the busy-ness of your ministry, you took time to teach and guide your disciples about how to live a godly life. Help us that we, in response, might take time in the busy-ness of our lives to listen to what you have to teach us, and the put it into practice. Amen.
To participate in this year's Lenten prayer practice, sign up via this form.
to write a prayer based on a scripture passage
to receive daily emails of the prayers during Lent