Weekly Lenten Resources

This post is actually a couple of days late...I should have posted it this past Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent. Below are a number of tools to aid you in your Lenten journey toward Pascha.

I will post a new weekly formation resource guide each Sunday for the rest of the season.

God Bless!

Micah+

Accept His Forgiveness

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. ~John Wesley, Journals – May 24, 1738

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ~ 1 John 1:9

I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. ~Isaiah 43:25

Jesus’ true followers, then, are those who take seriously Jesus’ own teaching about his cross. We accept this vital link between his death and our sins. We do real business with God, repenting of our sins, and asking truly for his forgiveness. And the Good News is that those who ask truly receive. It is a message about forgiveness – in other words, God really does forgive us. God has done everything that is necessary…Jesus himself wants us to enjoy what he died to achieve. Peter Walker, The Jesus Way, (Grand Rapids: Monarch Books, 2009), 35.

Daily Readings For the Week:

Monday – Leviticus 16

Tuesday – Hebrews 9:11-22

Wednesday – Hebrews 10:1-10

Thursday – 1 John 1:1-10

Friday – Matthew 6:5-15

Saturday – Colossians 3:5-17

Meditation For the Week:

[The Apostle] Peter…describes his readers as having been ‘ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot’ and even as having been ‘sprinkled’ with his blood(1 Pet 1:2, 18-19). Both expressions allude to the original Passover sacrifice at the time of the Exodus. Each Israelite family took a lamb, killed it and sprinkled its blood on the lintel and side posts of the house. Only so were they safe from the judgment of God…Peter boldly applies the Passover symbolism to Christ. His blood was shed to redeem us from the judgment of God and the bondage of sin. Sin had separated us from God; but Christ desired to bring us back to God. So he suffered for our sins, an innocent Savior dying for guilty sinners. ~John Stott, Basic Christianity, (Downers Grove: IVP, 2006), 121.

Prayer For the Week:

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. ~Collect for Ash Wednesday, 1979 Book of Common Prayer