LENT 2020 – To Seek and To Save

We began the journey of Lent with our Ash Wednesday worship where we received the mark of ashes, a reminder that we are sinners redeemed by Christ the Crucified. In our lesson from God’s Word, we learned that, just as Lazarus was unbound and released from his burial wrappings, we are released from the deadly bonds of our sin through the forgiveness that is ours in Christ Jesus. Join us throughout the month of March for our special Wednesday worship at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the sanctuary.

March 4 – Week 1: That One Man Should Die (John 11:45-53)

This week in our Lenten worship we will hear in God’s Word the prophecy of Israel’s high priest: “It is better than one man should die than the whole nation perish. ‘ That one man is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who died, not just for one nation, but for all the people of the world. Our Savior Jesus Christ, the only truly innocent One, took onto himself the penalty of death that we deserved. He offered up his life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Through his death and resurrection, we are set free from our sins.

March 11 – Week 2: For My Burial (John 12:1-8)

This week in our Lenten worship we will see how Jesus is anointed ahead of time for his burial, an act of love and devotion by Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. We too have been anointed, by the water and Word and Spirit of Baptism. We have been united with Christ in holy Baptism, joined to his death, burial and resurrection. We have been buried and raised with Christ Jesus to new life.

March 18 – Week 3: Up to Jerusalem (Mark 10:32-34)

This week in our Lenten worship we will see how Jesus sets out for Jerusalem, knowing what lies ahead for him during the week we now call Holy Week. According to God’s plan and foreknowledge, Jesus will be delivered into the hands of his enemies, tried and condemned and crucified. But also according to God’s plan, he will rise, and he will one day raise us up from death. Jesus told his disciples what lay ahead for him in Jerusalem and, obedient to his heavenly Father, he took up his final steps to the cross. We follow our Savior through life, into death and into eternal life in his presence.

March 25 – Week 4: The Cup That I Drink (Mark 10:35-45)

In this week’s Lenten worship, we will learn how some of Jesus’ disciples wanted special places of honor in his kingdom. They did not remember that we are to live in humility, putting the needs of others ahead of our own needs, just as Jesus did for us. We often think of ourselves first, before we think of the needs of others. Two of Jesus’ disciples do the same, as they make a special request of the Savior. Jesus reminds them that his kingdom is a place of humble service. Before glory comes the cross. We will see that on the cross, Jesus drained the cup of God’s judgement against sin, so that there is nothing left in it for us to drink.

April 1 – Week 5: To Save the Lost (Luke 19:1-10)

All through Lent we are reminded that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. In our Lenten worship this week before the start of Holy Week, we will see how Jesus finds one lost sinner—up in a tree! We will join Zacchaeus, a lost sinner found by Jesus, and rejoice in the salvation won for Zacchaeus and for all of us on the cross. That is the reason Jesus came, to seek and to save the lost setting us free from our sins through his suffering, death and resurrection.