A Lenten invitation to discover purpose and love through the Gospel of MarkThe Gospel of Mark begins not with a birth story but with a different sort of beginning: God’s voice from heaven calling Jesus “my Beloved Son.” Empowered by this divine affirmation, Jesus embarks on a mission to bring everyone into a community of loving neighbors, starting with his closest friends and followers and continuing through time and space to include each of us.This Lenten journey through the G...
What does it mean to follow Jesus? This Lent, learn from those who did it first.The commitment to follow Jesus means choosing the way of a disciple every day, in matters both major and mundane. This path is sure to bring challenges, even sacrifices, but the joy to be found makes every step worthwhile. This Lent, learn from the successes and trials of Jesus’s earliest isciples—not only the Twelve, but Mary and Martha, others who stepped into leadership after Jesus’s death, and even the apostle Pa...
Take a meaningful walk with Jesus this Lent that invites reflection, inspires spiritual attentiveness, and opens your heart to the many forms discipleship can take in daily life.In Meeting Jesus on the Road, readers are invited to journey alongside Christ through the Gospel stories that define his earthly path. Gathering a group of disciples around him, Jesus travelled the region, teaching, healing, and proclaiming that the reign of God is at hand. He met them all with compassion. He brought the...
With keen insight and unwavering conviction, visionary pastor Kathy Escobar guides readers on a Lenten journey inspired by the ways of Jesus to dismantle the systems that perpetuate inequality and injustice.From flipping the moneychangers’ tables in the temple to uplifting the poor and marginalized, Jesus’ actions and words turn the world’s idea of power on its head.With each week of Lent, readers will dig deeper into Jesus’ challenge to the pervasive influence of privilege and oppression that h...
Think, pray, and reflect through the stories of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.The church has always known, intuitively even, that the best way for us to be shaped into the people God wants us to be—the people whose difference from the world around is vital to our witness—is to think and pray slowly and carefully through the stories of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. In From Wilderness to Glory, best-selling and beloved author N. T. Wright encourages readers to do just that throughout...
Are we paying attention to the holy ground beneath our feet? Where do we see burning bushes in our world today, and what are they calling us to do? Do spiritual encounters in our lives have holy consequences in the world around us?Many of us want to understand how to integrate our personal spiritual lives more actively with our engagement in working for justice and the liberation of the oppressed and marginalized. Hard and Holy Work provides a space for just that, helping readers participate in ...
Lent is an ideal time to step back and reflect on the deeper movements of the spirit, and Elizabeth Caldwell helps readers do this through a simple but profound approach.Pause: Spending Lent with the Psalms invites us to take up the spiritual practice of encountering, sinking into, and deeply engaging with one psalm each week during Lent and Holy Week.
The season of Lent encourages Christians to consider a different pace—one of slowing down, noticing, pausing—than what our dominant culture val...
The desert, a landscape both severe and beautiful, embodies spiritual struggle and divine support. Jesus experienced forty days of testing and transformation in the rugged Judean desert. Whether disease, social injustice, personal loss, or other challenges have led you to the spiritual desert, it may seem doubtful that any good can come from hardship. Yet it was the arid wilderness of physical deprivation and soul-deep testing that prepared Jesus to live a life of devotion, courage, and merciful...
The Gospels are full of stories of Jesus sharing meals with disciples, friends, even tax collectors and Pharisees. Whether multiplying bread to feed a whole crowd, relaxing with his inner circle, or telling curious elites stories about even greater banquets, Jesus imparts wisdom as he shares the wine and grants forgiveness as he distributes the fish. This eight-chapter resource provides biblical insights along with thought-provoking queries regarding our own time, such as whom should we invite t...
From Eden to Gethsemane to the garden in which Jesus was buried and raised, our story of faith wanders through much fertile soil. But in our current world of fast food and to-go meals, we often do not make time to explore where our food comes from and how we break bread together. Journeying through the season of Lent with this in mind, A Time to Grow encourages readers to slow down, move through the painstaking process of growth, and end together with great feasting and celebration of ...
This Lenten devotional invites readers to learn more about the brutal institution of slavery and its impact on Black people in America and recognize how its evolution and legacy continue to harm their descendants in the United States today. Each of the forty devotions includes the testimony of a person who escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad, a Scripture passage, and a reflection connecting biblical and historical themes to challenge modern readers to work for liberation. Reflecting...
God is often at work through the ordinary: ordinary people, ordinary objects, ordinary grace. Through the ordinary, God communicates epiphanies, salvation, revelation, and reconciliation. It is through the mundane that we hear God’s quiet voice.In this devotional for the season of Lent, Jill J. Duffield draws readers’ attention to ten ordinary objects that Jesus would have encountered on his way to Jerusalem: dust, bread, the cross, coins, shoes, oil, coats, towels, thorns, and stones. In ...
The Lenten journey is a shared journey—Christians join with others along the way of faith, following Jesus and seeking to live out the will and purpose of God. Living into Lent, written by noted theologian, educator, and author Donald K. McKim, sets aside time during the Lenten season for readers to reflect on their Christian identities, listen to God’s Word and will, and engage in practices that deepen the Christian experience through discipleship.Whether used for congrega...
Valuable not only for their sublime musical expression, the African American spirituals provide profound insights into the human condition and Christian life. Many spirituals focus on the climax of the Christian drama, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the ways in which those events bring about the liberation of God’s people.In these devotions for the season of Lent, Luke A. Powery leads the
reader through the spirituals as they confront the mystery of Christ’s
atoning death and ...
Our faith is full of heroes who experienced God powerfully in solitude. From Hagar and the Hebrew prophets to Jesus in the wilderness to St. Francis and Catherine of Siena, we see how escape from the toil and temptations of daily life can open our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts to the still, small voice of God. In the vast desert or a tiny room, solitude-frightening for some and a welcome reprieve for others-is far from an antisocial self-indulgence but rather is an opportunity for transformation...
In this imaginative retelling, John Pritchard explores the Gospel of Luke by looking through the eyes of the disciple John. The Journey to Jerusalem follows Luke’s account from Luke 9:51, as Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Perfect for individual or group study, The Journey to Jerusalem provides weekday readings for Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, along with a poem for each Saturday. Questions for reflection and discussion are also included.
Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, presents the Gospel accounts of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection as viewed through the eyes of those who witnessed them. The Sign and the Sacrifice explores the meaning of the cross and the significance of Christ's resurrection, discussing what these events meant to Jesus' followers in the early years and what they can say to us today.
Lent recalls times of wilderness and wandering, from newly freed Hebrew slaves in exile to Jesus' temptation in the desert. God has always called people out of their safe, walled cities into uncomfortable places, revealing paths they would never have chosen. Despite our culture of self-indulgence, we too are called to walk an alternative path-one of humility, justice, and peace. Walter Brueggemann's thought-provoking reflections for the season of Lent invite us to consider the chall...
Rowan Williams explores the essential meaning and purpose of Paul's letters in this beautifully written resource for the Lenten season. Williams places a special focus on the social world of Paul-and the "dangerous newness" that was Christianity-and the specific ways that the behavior and language of the Christian community was being molded and shaped in Paul's time. Easy-to- read and packed with illuminating spiritual insights, Meeting God in Paul is perfect for beginners as well ...
In 40 Days, 40 Prayers, 40 Words, Reyes-Chow encourages readers to pause in the bustle of their daily lives to reflect, engage, and share during the Lenten season. Forty devotions are each framed around a word inspired by the daily lectionary readings and include a short scriptural passage, inspirational prayer, and reflection. Readers who feel too busy for daily engagement with God will appreciate Reyes-Chow's ability to speak to the blessings and burdens of everyday life in a co...
On a seven mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, the resurrected Jesus captivated two travelers with stories from the Old Testament pointing to his life and death. Walking with Jesus through the Old Testament invites readers to embark on this journey with Christ throughout the Lenten season. Stroble imagines what Jesus would have said to his companions and guides readers along the way with forty-six devotions referencing the Old Testament. A prayer and a set of "digging deeper" ...
Meeting God in Mark explores the essential meaning and purpose of Mark's Gospel for beginners who may be curious about the Gospels and want to learn more, as well as for those who've read the Gospel many times before and want to see it in a fresh light. This beautifully written book by beloved Anglican Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, is packed with illuminating spiritual insights, and the focus on the Passion narrative makes this ideal as a Lenten devotional or s...
Forgiving others and humbly asking for forgiveness are central disciplines for all Christian believers. Lent, a time to reflect on our Christian journey, is an appropriate time to deepen our understanding and practice of forgiveness. Marjorie J. Thompson, author of the best-selling book Soul Feast, takes a close look at our understanding of forgiveness in this encouraging study. In six brief chapters, Thompson addresses such questions as the following: Is forgiveness a Christian dut...
< i>Lent for Everyone: Matthew, Year A provides readers with an inspirational guide through the Lenten season, from Ash Wednesday through the week after Easter. Popular biblical scholar and author N. T. Wright provides his own Scripture translation, brief reflection, and a prayer for each day of the season, helping readers ponder how the text is relevant to their own lives. By the end of the book, readers will have been through the entirety of Matthew, along with Psalm readings for...
Lent for Everyone: Luke, Year C provides readers with an inspirational guide through the Lenten season, from Ash Wednesday through the week after Easter. Popular biblical scholar and author N. T. Wright provides his own Scripture translation, brief reflection, and a prayer for each of the days of the season, helping readers ponder how the text is relevant to their own lives today. By the end of the book readers will have been through the entirety of Luke, along with Psalm reading...
