Unlike Christmas, which is always on December 25, the timing of Easter Sunday depends on things like Equinoxes and new moons. Last year, all of that lined up to place Easter in March. But this year it’s going to be in April. It seems that we were just celebrating Christmas, but all of a sudden the season of Lent has come upon us!
In this period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, we examine our lives and adjust our life’s walk to bring bring us closer to God. We consider the roadblocks in our spiritual lives and look for the Spirit’s leading to find new paths.
Use this booklet of Lenten Devotionals, written by “non-professional” members of a variety of churches, to help guide you through this special time of the year.
Daily Devotions for Lent 2025
The devotional is presented in PDF format. 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 the desired month, and click on the button for the desired week. Except for week 1 (which begins with Ash Wednesday) and week “7” (which includes Easter Sunday), all the files begin with Sunday and run through Saturday of the indicated week.
Enjoy; and may God bless your devotional time!
March 2025
The Lenten season (and first devotional) starts out with Ash Wednesday (March 5). Week 1 is this short “week” from Wednesday through Saturday. Week 7 continues past Saturday April 19 to include Easter Sunday (which is April 20)…
Week 1 Ash Wed. 3/5 through Saturday 3/8
Week 2 Sunday 3/9 through Saturday 3/15
Week 3 Sunday 3/16 through Saturday 3/22
Week 4 Sunday 3/23 through Saturday 3/29
Week 5 Sunday 3/30 through Saturday 4/5
April 2025
Week 6 Sunday 4/6 through Saturday 4/12
Week 7 Sunday 4/13 through Easter Sunday (4/20)
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If you’re looking for a specific article or author, open the below box to view the list of articles. Shown in the list are the booklet page numbers, article title, and author. Click on the “Week number” to open the corresponding file…
Table of Contents
Week 1
- 5- Beauty from Ashes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Kim Wecht
- 6- Keep It Simple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill Schober
- 7- The Slippery Slope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MaryAnn Diorio
- 8- How Long?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . Jane Harre
Week 2
- 9- Being Present in God’s Presence. . . . . . . . Pastor Kellie Heisler
- 10- Reflecting God’s Love. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Jane Koponick
- 11- Open Doors, Closed Doors. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ted Frett
- 12- Sigh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deb Mongiardo
- 13- Quiet Reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trish Weldon
- 14- Jesus: God’s Greatest Gift. . . . . . . . . . . . . Sue Dietsche
- 15- God’s Gift of Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Russ Bowers
Week 3
- 16- The Hope of Easter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tom Bennett
- 17- Showing the Love of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dolores Daniels
- 18- My Praise Journey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bonnie Hackney
- 19- Mortgage Payment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angele Cooper
- 20- I Don’t Want to Escape. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . Brenda Freitag
- 21- Purchased and Wanted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry Bakely
- 22- A Prayer of Relinquishment. . . . . . . . . . . . Linda Turk
Week 4
- 23- Accepting God’s Generous Gift. . . . . . . . . Barbara Buck
- 24- Pondering the Lord’s Word. . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle Levesque
- 25- Love and Acceptance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Courtney Woodruff
- 26- The Mount Everest of Ethics. . . . . . . . . . . Scott Martin
- 27- Hope in Christ: Three Trees. . . . . . . . . . . Diana McMillion
- 28- Courageous Acceptance of Christ. . .. . . . Christine Strittmatter
- 29- Don’t Be a Scaredy Cat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lisa Loiselle
Week 5
- 30- Darkest Before the Dawn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathy Chando
- 31- A Clean Heart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Gary Turk
- 32- What Do We Do?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Lacy Haynicz
- 33- My Letter to God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Carol Atkinson
- 34- Taking Care of Your Garden. . . . . . . . . . . Diane Sizemore
- 35- We Can Experience the Real Jesus. . . . . Pastor Dave Bailey Sr.
- 36- He Put a Song in My Heart. . . . . . . . . . . . Claudia Cuddy
Week 6
- 37- Shut the Door. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Char Gaylord
- 38- God Gives Us Courage If We Want It. . . . Beth Price
- 39- Confidence and Clarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kim Dormann
- 40- The Holy Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . George Armstrong
- 41- Forgiveness and Love. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . Janice Simpson
- 42- It Is Worth the Risk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Glenn Conaway
- 43- God’s Timetable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kayt Marra
Week 7
- 44- The Stones Will Shout Out!. . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Christine Day
- 45- Jesus Changed Everything. . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Mike Chapman
- 46- My Buddy Reds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sharon Constantine
- 47- Sacrificial Lamb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bonnie Doebley
- 48- Hand in Hand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kim Hamilton Tortella
- 49- Cherish the Cross, Cherish the Word. . . . . Grace Eldridge
- 50- The Light After Darkness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marsha Hahn
- 51- Encountering Jesus Every Day. . . . . . . . . . Gilda Picioccio
Introduction (From the Editors)…
Another season of Lent is upon us, and we are excited to share another collection of Lenten reflections with you as you journey through this holy time. We are blessed once again by the wide-ranging variety of messages we received this year from our inspired writers, five of whom are first-time contributors.
People just like you write these stories. Some of their messages will help you explore your relationship with God, and learn to accept His perfect timing. There are stories about life experiences we all share, God’s unconditional love, His presence through life’s uncertainties, and ways to worship Him through music.
As you travel through your Lenten journey, we hope you are encouraged and inspired by what you read and that through it all, your faith in God is strengthened and renewed.
Thank you for being part of our faith community this Lenten season. We hope you grow in faith and receive encouragement. As some of you may know, we published a yearlong devotional book in 2024, which was well received — and continues to be popular. We have been encouraged by your feedback on this book. We plan to publish another yearlong book in a few years. If you are interested in writing for this new book or future yearly Lenten or Advent booklets, please send your devotional(s) for consideration to one of the editors or to wordsforlife365@gmail.com. Please follow the format of this booklet: word count for the message part should be 350 words or less. To learn more about this yearlong daily devotions book, click this button: Words for Life
We look forward to your email comments, both positive and challenging. We will respond. We hope you are blessed by the messages in this devotional booklet.
Where Did these Books Come From?
The articles in this booklet were written by members of 25 different churches located in NJ and across the country. The booklets were published in hardcopy form and distributed within the participating churches.
The articles were written by members of the following churches:
(“UMC” stands for United Methodist Church):
- Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Delmar, NY
- Calvary Chapel Gloucester County, Blackwood, NJ
- Church of the Risen King, Pennsauken, NJ
- Clayton Baptist Church, Clayton, NJ
- Evangelical United Methodist Church, Clarksboro, NJ
- Fairton Christian Center, Fairton, NJ
- First Presbyterian Church, Pitman, NJ
- First United Methodist Church of Glassboro, NJ
- Grace Fellowship Church, Durham, CT
- Lititz United Methodist Church, Lititz, PA
- North Raleigh United Methodist Church, North Raleigh, NC
- Pitman Church of the Nazarene, Pitman, NJ
- Pitman Manor, Pitman, NJ
- Pitman United Methodist Church, Pitman, NJ
- Providence Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Mantua, NJ
- Repaupo United Methodist Church, Repaupo, NJ
- Richwood United Methodist Church, Richwood, NJ
- Shehawken United Methodist Church, Starrucca, PA
- St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Bridgeport, NJ
- St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Paulsboro, NJ
- Trinity United Methodist Church, Mullica Hill, NJ
- Wesley Church of Elkton, Elkton, MD
- Williamstown Assembly of God, Williamstown, NJ
- Woodland Baptist Church, Wake Forest, NC
- Zion United Methodist Church, Clarksboro, NJ
How can I get a Printed Booklet?
It’s convenient to be able to view the devotionals electronically, but if pinching, zooming, and scrolling aren’t for you, printed booklets are available. The printed booklets contain the same material that’s presented on this website page, and they’ve been distributed to most of the above churches. If you would prefer to have the printed version and your church doesn’t have any copies available, please contact one of the editors:
- Claudia Cuddy • editorcuddy@mac.com
- Beth Price • eprice7@comcast.net
- Marsha Hahn • mhahn16@comcast.net
What is Ash Wednesday???
The first day of Lent is always a Wednesday, called Ash Wednesday. This originated from the ancient times when people marked times of fasting, prayer, repentance, and remorse by placing ashes on their foreheads (2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, Jeremiah 6:26). This scriptural custom entered the Church from Judaism. Receiving ashes on the forehead on Ash Wednesday symbolizes that the person is going to begin a period of sober reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection. Traditionally, the ashes for the Ash Wednesday service come from burning the palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration.
For more about Ash Wednesday, check out the following “Chuck Knows Church” video…
What’s Next?
Devotionals like these are great ways to learn how to apply the Bible to your life. The personal stories are inspiring and help you to grow. But even after Easter, you’ll still need to be constantly reading and studying the Bible. At Pitman UMC, we offer the following opportunities (and your own church likely offers similar ones if you’re not from Pitman UMC). Use the below buttons to learn more:
Share Your Stories…
If you’ve found these devotionals to be useful, tweet the link or share this article with your Facebook Friends. Use the below buttons to share on any social media.
As you read these devotionals, you are opening yourself up to hearing from the Holy Spirit. If something in an article hits you, please share it and let us know how God has spoken to you. Post a comment in the form at the end of this article (your email address won’t be published).
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For other daily devotionals , visit our Devotionals Page:
Daily Devotionals
