Feature I Lent resources

FEATURE Lent resources

LENT FOCUS

SUNDERLAND MILLFIELD: The YP annual weekend commenced with the young people and leaders enjoying an evening of bowling. The YP sections were fully involved in Sunday worship: the singing company played timbrels for the first time in many years and the primary sang some of the older choruses, including ‘Building Up The Temple’, ‘Deep And Wide’ and ‘Running Over’. Soloists were Emily James (vocal) and Joshua Warrington (cornet). Corps officers Majors Karen and Peter Clark led the meetings and presented the prizes. – R. B.

by Secretary for Spiritual Life Development LieutColonel Jayne Roberts

DURING the weeks of Lent you are invited to pray with Scripture, to meditate on God’s word and seek to apply the daily text personally.

DIVINE IMPERATIVES Sunday 7 April ‘Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near’ (Isaiah 55:6).

Call! Is there anything that is impeding your experience of God’s nearness? Ask him to draw you closer to him as you devote time to prayer.

Monday 8 April ‘You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace’ (Isaiah 55:12).

Go! This verse is often read as an expression of future promise when God’s word finds ultimate fulfilment. Yet let us dare to ask that this wonderful promise of God may be our daily experience now.

JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM As we approach Holy Week we can imagine Jesus and his disciples travelling to Jerusalem. Jesus is fully aware of what lay before him and is accompanied by his closest companions who are struggling to make sense of what their Lord has told them.

Tuesday 9 April ‘I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God’ (Zechariah 8:8).

The prophet Zechariah focuses on Jerusalem as a symbol of God dwelling together with his devoted people, united in love and service to him. Praise God that this is our present and future hope, through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Wednesday 10 April ‘And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him’ (Zechariah 8:22).

May this verse serve as a prompt to pray today for the peoples and nations of our world and their struggles and needs.

Thursday 11 April ‘From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law’ (Matthew 16:21).

Jesus explains to his disciples what is involved in choosing to walk with him. Let us reflect today on our discipleship and reaffirm our commitment to follow Christ.

Friday 12 April ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death’ (Matthew 20:18).

‘We are going,’ says Jesus to his followers. Pray for grace and strength to continue your journey with Jesus, with eyes opened to his truth and with a trustful heart.

Saturday 13 April ‘Coming up to them at that very moment, she [Anna] gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem’ (Luke 2:38). Words from the prophetess Anna over the infant Jesus find a poignant echo in this Lenten season. The redemption of Jerusalem and the whole world beyond is possible through this child. Give thanks!