LENT @ SAINT LUKE
A Season of Reflection, Preparation & Renewal
THE SEASON OF LENT
Begins in February or March
Lent: The word “lent” has its origin in the same root as one of the German words for “spring,” Lenz. As nature awakens from the death of winter, so the Christian finds newness of life in Christ, rising from sin’s death.
During the 40 days of Lent, God’s baptized people cleanse their hearts through the discipline of Lent: repentance, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent is a time in which God’s people prepare with joy for the paschal feast (Easter). It is a time to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the tomb. The Early church used this time to usually fast and focus more on Christ in their lives. In a sense cleansing and purify oneself in order to fully focus and remove any hindrance for Easter worship.
Calendar: Ash Wednesday may fall as early as February 6 or as late as March 10. The dates for Lent depend on the date of Easter. Ash Wednesday is always 46 days before Easter.
Customs: Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, when ashes are placed on the forehead to symbolize repentance. The color for this service is black or purple. The color for the rest of Lent is purple. The hymns and services of Lent do not include the joyful word, “Alleluia.” Consider fasting during daylight hours. Spend your regular mealtime in prayer and devotional reading. If you cannot abstain from food for health reasons, abstain from something else (e.g. television or another leisure activity). Do not fast on Sundays which are not part of the 40 days of Lent. Read Bible stories with children each day.
[The Lord Will Answer: A Daily Prayer Catechism. St. Louis, MO: CPH, 2004 pg. 147]
From agony to ecstasy: blood, sweat, and tears; heart, hands, and voices. These are the theme and titles of our midweek Lenten series. Sorry, these sermons will not necessarily help you win friends and influence people, get along better with your family members, or be more successful in your profession. After Covid, civil unrest, after international skirmishes, and urban homicides in which so many precious lives are lost, we’ve all been sobered up a bit to realize that there are more important things in life than pleasure and success.
The season of Lent was established to deepen our faith and understanding of life with God in Christ. The hope is that our members will find this midweek series so provocative that they postpone less important things and plan to watch each of these devotional services.
The series is somewhat unique. We’re going to talk about some very ordinary experiences and ingredients in our Lord’s Passion, and in our own lives: blood, sweat, tears; heart, hands, and voices. We will try to demonstrate how the agonies of our Lord produced the great ecstasies of our faith.
Lenten Resources Available
Two Lenten daily devotionals and a calendar are available on the table in the back of the church for you to pick-up and walk the ‘Road Back to GOD’ during this Lenten journey. We hope that these resources help support your worship experience.
Weekly Themes
Ash Wednesday
Throughout the Bible, ashes have been associated with humility, repentance, and mortality. In Genesis, we read of the great patriarch: “Abraham answered and said, ‘Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes’ ” (Genesis 18:27). In Job, we read that the long-suffering Job said of his life: “I have become like dust and ashes” (Job 30:19b). Daniel the prophet states: “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). Ash Wednesday brings us the opportunity to follow the pattern set by our spiritual ancestors and to begin the observance of “a holy Lent” as we come before the Lord in ashes.
March 23, 2022 (Week 3)
Did you notice when we do the pledge of allegiance we put our our right hands on our hearts? That’s because our hearts are so vital. We can’t live without them. The heart is the seat of life and strength. That’s why we speak of the heart so much in our everyday lives. We say, “Have a heart” or “Stop! You’re breaking my heart,” or “Cross my heart and hope to die” (which isn’t really a very good thing to say). We speak of heavy hearts and broken hearts, heart attacks and heart transplants, and we give out hearts on Valentine’s Day. Our hearts are extremely precious to us, and we need to take care of them. As we focus our hearts on Jesus today we take a careful look at the heart of Jesus—and then at our own hearts in relationship to him.
March 9, 2022 (Week 1)
We all know what it means to sweat. Often there’s real agony connected with sweating—or shall we say that the agony and energy of what we’re doing causes sweat to exude from our pores.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, came down from the heavens to be like us in all things, including this very human experience of sweating. We find him on the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gethsemane, a stone’s throw away from his disciples. He kneels down on the hard ground to pray. His flesh and blood do not really want to face the agonies of the crucifixion, which he knows lies before him. And so, anxiously, he prays: “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” “Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.” He was really sweating it out!
March 30, 2022 (Week 4)
Look at your hands for a moment. Go on, hold them up. Look at them carefully. Are they large or small? Are they soft or calloused? Your hands say much about you. Your hands are like the millions of snowflakes which paint a remarkable winter landscape. When you think about the amazing individuality of your fingerprints and the size and shape of your hands, you realize there are no hands exactly like yours. Delicate or durable, weak or strong, your hands can do all sorts of things: good or bad, creative or destructive, hurtful or helpful. Those hands of yours are precious and useful. They are a phenomenal creation of God. Perhaps that is why hands are mentioned 1,605 times in the Bible. God has the whole world in his hands—including your own personal life—and that includes the awful agony our Savior endured in his Passion. Those hands of Jesus were real flesh and bone hands, and they were really pierced for the sins of our hands.
March 16, 2022 (Week 2)
Perhaps you have never thought about it, so think about it now! In your wildest imaginations, have you ever thought that God could or would cry? That he would actually shed bitter tears? That’s totally contrary to common images of God as macho or aloof. Would a strong man such as Hercules or Atlas or Superman or Rambo break down and cry? Would the God who mightily made the entire universe be capable of crying? Listen as we go with our Savior to Gethsamene and hear how compassionately he weeps for us as He continues His mission to save us.
April 6, 2022 (Week 5)
Consider the voice of God. Let me remind you that the voice of God will be heard by you and me and by all people of all times, like it or not. I hope you never get lazy about listening for the voice of God speaking to you in his Word and in your worship. But even if you do, God will make himself heard in other ways, as we read in Psalm 19: “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Ps 19:1–4a). If you live in this world, there is some of God’s unmistakable language that you simply must see and hear!
Virtual Mid-Week Lenten Devotions
Every Wednesday following Ash Wednesday we will release a special video service designed to be experienced with a discussion among those in your household, and we suggest doing it around the dinner table in the evening. A virtual space to gather together and reflect on our journey through Lent, inviting reflections and/or comments. Click the side button to watch video. It will be available to watch in our YouTube channel as well.
Holy Week Worship Schedule
Maundy Thursday
Good Friday
Easter Sunday
April 14, 2022 | 7:15 pm
April 15, 2022 | 12:00 pm (Noon) & 7:15 pm (Tenebrae)
April 17, 2022 | 6:05 am (Sunrise), 8:00 am & 10:30 am
Worship Online - Live Stream Available
You are invited to come to church and worship with us in person Saturdays at 5:30 pm & Sundays at 8:00 & 10:30 am. The Illinois Mask Mandate has been lifted. Face masks are now optional. If you wish to wear a mask and maintain social distance, you may do so. We urge all to be respectful of individual choice regarding the wearing of masks.
You can also join us online, all our services are live-streamed. Click the bottom below to worship online
