Lenten Devotional for 2016

Members from four local churches have come together to produce a Daily Devotional for this year’s Lenten season.  The booklets were published in hardcopy form and distributed within the participating churches, but electronic copies of the devotions are presented here.

If you want a printed copy, visit or contact one of the participating churches:

• Evangelical UMC (Clarksboro)
• Zion Community Church (Clarksboro)
• Trinity United Methodist Church (Mullica Hill)
• and Pitman United Methodist Church

 

Daily Devotions for Lent 2016

The devotional is presented in PDF format (use the free Adobe PDF viewer to read).  Instead of presenting the entire booklet in one file (and forcing you to scroll through the whole thing to find the current date’s article), the booklet is broken up into separate week-by-week files.

To read the article for any given date, scroll down to either February or March, click the weekly tab you want, then click on the button.  Most of the files begin with Sunday and run through Saturday of the indicated week.

Enjoy; and may God bless your devotional time!

 

February…

The Lenten season (and first devotional) starts out with Ash Wednesday, on February 10.  Here are weeks 1 through 4…

 

March…

The season continues until we reach Easter Sunday, on March 27.  Below are devotionals for weeks 5 through 7…

 

Why Read these Devotionals???

Lent is a time to re-evaluate our relation to God; to consider things that might be getting in the way.  It is a time of preparation that climaxes with the celebration of our Lord on Easter Sunday.

Here’s the forward to the devotional booklet (written by Linda Turk)…

This booklet is such a source of encouragement in ministry for the Lord, perhaps because it is personal. It tells the personal stories of the faith of several congregations’ members and the faith of friends and neighbors. It is a telling of God’s Word to them, a telling of God’s Word in them, a telling of God’s Word working through them, and a telling of God’s Word lived out by them.

 

Through this telling, we are brought near to God with sincere hearts and with the full assurance that faith brings. We are encouraged to hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for we see that He who promised is faithful, and we are able to spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

 

This Lenten devotional book allows us to share together the message of Christ that is dwelling within us. We are able to observe a glimpse of Him at work in the lives of ordinary people we know. As a result, we are encouraged and built up in the faith so that we too will be messengers of the gospel.

 

As you read these devotionals, our prayer is that you will be encouraged in your walk with the Lord. And that you will be reminded of His love for you, His forgiveness given to you, and the hope of the resurrection that we celebrate.

Searching for a Particular Article?

Click below to view the Table of Contents. You can access each week’s articles by clicking on the “Week #”heading…

 

Easter Symbols…

During the Lent and Easter season, you’ll see many symbols- many of which are secular in origin.  Just as you use this devotional to open yourself up to God’s Spirit, use these symbols as reminders of Christ’s gift of life to us…

Easter Eggs

An ancient Egyptian story of creation relates how the earth was hatched from an egg. Every spring the ancient Egyptians celebrated the world’s birthday by exchanging eggs. The Jews also use eggs in their celebration of the Passover. But to the early Christians, the egg reminded them of the resurrection of Christ, and Easter eggs were colored red to remind them of his blood shed on the cross. Russian Christians give beautifully decorated eggs as gifts to their friends with the joyous greeting, “He is risen!” to which the friends reply, “He is risen indeed!”

The Empty Cross

One of the most cherished symbols of the Protestant church is the Easter cross — an EMPTY cross, for we worship the risen Christ who has conquered death and the evil of the world.

For many, the center beam of the cross stands for man’s reach upward toward God, while the crossarms remind them of the outreaching concern the Christian feels for all men.

 

 

Devotion…

As we pass through this season of Lent and Easter, remember the words of Paul (in his letter to the Philippians)…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

The devotional presented in this post shares how God has touched each of the writers in a special way.  As we read through these articles, “think on these praiseworthy things” and allow God to draw you closer to Him during this special season.