Lutheran Hour Ministries' 2016 Lenten Devotions, Love's Greatest Sacrifice, are now available for download. These devotions can be printed for individual or group reflection or used as pass-along texts for friends and family. They can also be customized with your church's information to serve as a great outreach tool for individuals within your community.
The Gospel-writer Luke provides the vantage point of Love's Greatest Sacrifice. Using chapters 22 and 23 to follow the final events of Jesus' life, author Rev. Wayne Palmer portrays the intensity of Christ's heavenward mission, showing both the anguish and compassion of the Savior's march to the cross. These meditations chart the difficult people and circumstances (corrupt high priests, sham Roman authorities, hard-headed and self-absorbed disciples, Judas' betrayal, Peter's denial) that Jesus encountered on His way to the biggest tragedy of all: His crucifixion at the hands of sinners.
"Every time I study the passion account in the Gospels, I see more clearly that the 'passion' part of that story goes far beyond Jesus' sufferings and death. It is His passion, His intense, burning love for His Father, for the disciples who abandoned Him, Peter who denied Him, Judas who betrayed Him, the Jewish leaders who sought His death, Pontius Pilate who surrendered Jesus to save Himself. Seeing that passion in action reminds me that each day He looks upon all of us the same way as He reaches out to forgive, comfort, restore, and guide us to His heavenly home, which He won for us by His suffering, death, and resurrection," Palmer said.
You can download the Lenten Devotions now by visiting www.lhm.org/lent. An audio version, as well as the e-mail subscription, will be available beginning Feb. 10, Ash Wednesday. Spanish meditations, Por nosotros, are also available to download and print now at www.paraelcamino.com/cuaresma and an audio version will be available beginning Feb. 10.
As always, the season of Lent is an excellent occasion to ponder the magnitude of what God has done through the cross of Christ and, in response, how this event changes us. As you think on these things, remember you can forward an individual Lenten devotion to others via e-mail as a little spiritual "food for thought," or as a quick invite for that person to join you at church.