In this holy season of Lent, we acknowledge our need for repentance and for God’s mercy. We are created to experience joy in communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation. But our sinful rebellion separates us from God, our neighbors, and creation, so that we do not enjoy the life our creator intended. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to a discipline that contends against evil and resists whatever leads us away from love of God and neighbor.
We are invited, therefore, to the discipline of Lent – self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love – strengthened by the gifts of word and sacrament. Let us continue our journey through these forty days to the great Three Days of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Merciful God, accompany our journey through these forty days. Renew us in the gift of baptism, that we may provide for those who are poor, pray for those in need, fast from self-indulgence, and above all that we may find our treasure in the life of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, Amen.
This message is excerpted from “Lent: Penitence, Pilgrimage, Preparation,” a 2016 resource of the Women of the ELCA, written by Audrey Novak Riley. Today is the first Sunday in Lent. Today we commemorate Martin Luther, renewer of the church, 1546.
Copyright © 2024 Women of the ELCA. Inquiries for permission to reproduce should be directed to [email protected].