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Lent 2018

In his book A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer, John Piper writes; “As Jesus teaches it, fasting is an intensely Godward act. Do it toward God, who sees when others don’t.”

Lent begins this Wednesday, February 14th. Traditionally, Lent is a 40 day period of fasting, prayer, and devotion as we remember our own brokenness and God’s work of redemption through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

At Redemption Church, we aren’t looking to establish a bunch of rules and regulations about how to observe Lent, but we are inviting you to enter into this season together prayerfully and “toward God.” 

HERE ARE A FEW RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Hearing the Voice of God: A Lenten Art Show – Scott Erickson

In the windows of The Doris Building this season you can find Scott Erickson’s newest art show meant to help you engage in the season of Lent. 

On Saturday, March 17th, Scott will be performing his one man show We Are Not Troubled Guests live at the Doris Building. Tickets available here. Scott will also be sharing more on the subject of prayer at Redemption Church on Sunday, March 18th at 10:45am. Don’t miss it!

Prayer: Forty Days of Practice – Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson

This is a beautiful guided prayer resource from Justin McRoberts and Scott Erickson. Find out more about it on their website. 

Living Through Dying: A Six Week Community Guide Through Lent – Brad Watson

In Living Through Dying you will read the Psalms, discuss the themes of Lent, and practice the spiritual disciplines of fasting, confession, praise, and lament as a community. Each week your community will be looking to Jesus, looking inwardly at his or her own heart, and looking outwardly in what it means to live in light of the gospel. This is an opportunity to re-center your community on the gospel of Jesus.

God is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“These forty stirring devotions will guide and inspire readers as they move thematically through the weeks of Lent and Easter, encountering themes of prayerful reflection, self-denial, temptation, suffering, and the meaning of the cross. Passages from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s letters and sermons provide special encouragement as readers prepare themselves spiritually for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Supplemented by an informative introduction to Bonhoeffer’s life and a Scripture passage for each day of the season, these daily devotions are moving reminders of the true gift of Christ on the cross.”

Lenten Devotionals – Redeemer Presbyterian Church

“In 2011 Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York published 40 Lenten Devotions written by a variety of authors including Kathy Keller. Due to popular demand over successive years, RPC have continued to make the devotions available to help their people ‘prepare their hearts for Easter.”

This devotional material is also available through the You Version Bible app.

 

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United? We Pray

This post was previously published at humblebeast.com and is reposted here with permission from the author.  

 

United? We Pray is a new podcast that calls for prayer about racial divisions in churches. I (Isaac Adams) have the joy of hosting the first season with my sister, Trillia Newbell, who spoke at Humble Beast’s 2017 conference, Canvas. On the podcast, we won’t just be talking about prayer, we’ll actually be praying. Given all that could be said about race and the church, why start a podcast about prayer? Here are four reasons.

1. The Bible Commands prayer.

The last few years, decades, and centuries make clear that trials and complexities of race and racism often exceed our own wisdom and strength. God has limitless wisdom and strength, but we don’t. Yet in the Bible, when people realized their limitations, they often did something—they prayed. They prayed to the God who commands his children to cast their anxieties upon him because he cares for them (1 Pet. 5:7); the God who says “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask” (James 1:5).

The mandate throughout the Scriptures is clear: God’s people are to be a praying people. We must do more than pray if we are to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, but we cannot do less. The reality is that the unity of the church is no light matter. Satan has been after it since day one, and the early church in Acts 6 shows us this much—there we find an ethnic conflict threatening to divide the church. That division matters because Jesus said that the church’s unity would testify to his coming (John 13:35; 17:21). In short, the church has an adversary who hates its unity (Eph. 6:12). Christians war against him and his kingdom on our knees.

And so we pray.

2. Church history commends prayer.

Prayer is not a new thing. If you look throughout church history, you’ll find that the saints prayed. I’ll pick one example from history that inspired this podcast. In 1898, Francis Grimke, a black pastor in Washington D.C. preached a sermon called, “God and Prayer as Factors in the Struggle.” In this sermon, Grimke called the believers of his day to pray because “It is a serious matter for a nation when any body of people, however few, betake themselves not to revolt but to prayer.”

When we pray to God about matters of race, unity, and the church, we are echoing the cries of Christians through the centuries. To join in on those prayers is a privilege.

And so we pray.

3. Pastors know about prayer.

I am not a scholar; I don’t claim to be an expert on these difficult topics (that’s why I’m inviting my smart friends to come and do the talking!) That said, I am a pastor, so I should know something about prayer. So the goal of this podcast isn’t to pontificate, but rather to encourage weary Christians to pray during racial struggles; this podcast is not so much about finding solutions to racial strife, though we will pray for as much, as it is about recognizing the difficulty in finding those solutions and taking that difficulty before God almighty. We’ll have brief conversations on the podcast between one another, conversations horizontally if you will, but the most important conversation taking place will be the vertical conversation.

And so we pray.

4. Christians agree on prayer.  

Christians do not agree on how to respond to racial strife, but all Christians agree that we ought to rely upon God in prayer. Prayer humbles us and re-centers us. Prayer inspires hope, something in high demand these days, and ought to give us a holy excitement that God will do “more than we ask, think, or imagine” (Eph. 3:20-21). The reality that ought to stupefy us with gladness in prayer and make us zealous to pray is that God is more eager to give than we are to receive. We potentially have the entire freight of heaven behind our efforts if we would but ask.

And so we pray.

My Hope for the Podcast

So I started this podcast with the hope that it would encourage people to continue to rely upon God in prayer during racial struggles. My hope is that Christians would leave edified, challenged, and encouraged to pray for unity in their own churches and the Spirit of unity would better permeate their whole lives. So, if a Christian listens and is encouraged to more faithfully pray for their own congregation, I’m a happy man. My hope is that you would not only listen to the podcast, but that you’d pray with us, because it’s clear that we need God’s help.

Details & How You Can Help

Expect new episodes every other Wednesday. You can subscribe to the podcast, visit our website for more information, and follow us on twitter. You can help us by leaving a review on iTunes (every bit helps!), sharing the podcast with a friend, or contacting us via the website to let us know what topics we might consider praying for.

The unity of the church across ethnic lines is in question now in the minds of many brothers and sisters, but a day is coming when we’ll never question it again. Until that day, will you pray with us?

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Resources for Advent 2017

Have you planned how you’ll spend time celebrating the good news of Jesus this Advent season?

We want to help you engage this season intentionally, before it slips away.

Over the next several weeks we will be preaching through Colossians in our new series, Good News of Great Joy. We will also sing, light Advent candles, and read through the story of Christ’s first coming together. 

Beyond that, we would encourage you to spend a few minutes making a plan now to intentionally slow down and savor the goodness of Jesus though this season.

A FEW RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Advent Community Guide

This new guide from Saturate provides one devotional reading for each week of Advent, and one for Christmas Day. This resource can be used as a devotion for families or in gospel communities on mission. Each devotion contains a passage of Scripture, a brief reflection on that passage, sample prayers to guide the prayers of children and adults, and hymns to sing together to give voice to your praises and longings.

This resource coincides with the incarnation stories in The Jesus Storybook Bible. Coloring sheets for each week are available.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Advent Guide

A guided journey of wonder through The Jesus Storybook Bible tracing the beautiful story of God’s great love for us–from the very beginnings of the universe, to the birth of the baby who would rescue the whole world. This guide includes: a reading guide, printable ornaments, and activity ideas.

Desiring God

Desiring God has several great daily Advent devotionals and resources that aim to put Jesus at the center of your holiday season. 

Come Lord Jesus Come: A Devotional for Advent

This is a free resource by Nathan Sherman and Will Walker that contains daily devotions built around four themes, one for each week of advent; hope, peace, joy, and love.

Come Let Us Adore Him

Paul Tripp seeks to recapture our attention and reawaken our awe during Christmastime. Each day is structured like Tripp’s best-selling devotional, New Morning Mercies‚ with a compelling, gospel-centered thought followed by an extended meditation for the day. Each of the thirty-one devotions also includes a Scripture reading and notes for parents and children, equipping us to do the one thing that matters most each December — celebrate Jesus.

Advent Conspiracy

Check out the Advent Conspiracy website to read through the four tenants; worship fully, spend less, give more, love all. Browse through the site for a family devotional along with other ideas on how to engage this season with intentionality.

 

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Lent at Redemption Church

We haven’t historically put a lot of emphasis on observing Lent at Redemption Church, but as we have been preaching through Matthew’s Gospel on Sunday mornings we have been turning our eyes very purposefully toward Jerusalem, the cross, and the resurrection of Christ our King. As mentioned before, we will be keeping pace with the story in Matthew as we are led through the seasons of Lent, the Passion of Christ, and Resurrection Sunday.  

As Advent is to Christmas so Lent is to Resurrection Sunday. It is a time of preparation, and we encourage you to walk through this season with some intentionality together looking toward what lies at the end of the road; a bloody cross where Jesus died, but also an empty tomb from which our Savior rose again. 

Lent begins on Wednesday, March 1st this year. Traditionally, Lent is a 40 day period of fasting, prayer and devotion towards remembering our brokenness and God’s work of redemption through the person and work of Jesus Christ. We aren’t looking to establish a bunch of rules and regulations about how to observe Lent this season, but we are inviting you to take the next couple of weeks to consider how you might best observe Lent as a family, with your missional communities, in DNA’s, and as a church.

 

Here are a few recommended resources:

 

Journey to the Cross  – By Will Walker and Kendal Haug

“Journey to the Cross serves as a combined liturgical guide and devotional—presenting a call to worship, confessional, gospel reading, and daily devotional with application. This compact devotional guide meets the needs of Christians who want to prepare their hearts for Easter but don’t know how, and it answers the growing desire of many to be connected to the broader history of the church.”

 

Lent For Everyone: Matthew – Tom Wright

“For each day of Lent, there is a reading chosen from the Gospel designated for the year, plus a reflection by Tom Wright.”

You can also subscribe to this devotional material via the You Version Bible app.

 

God is on the Cross: Reflections on Lent and Easter – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“These forty stirring devotions will guide and inspire readers as they move thematically through the weeks of Lent and Easter, encountering themes of prayerful reflection, self-denial, temptation, suffering, and the meaning of the cross. Passages from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s letters and sermons provide special encouragement as readers prepare themselves spiritually for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Supplemented by an informative introduction to Bonhoeffer’s life and a Scripture passage for each day of the season, these daily devotions are moving reminders of the true gift of Christ on the cross.”

 

Lenten Devotionals – Redeemer Presbyterian Church

“In 2011 Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York published 40 Lenten Devotions written by a variety of authors including Kathy Keller. Due to popular demand over successive years, RPC have continued to make the devotions available to help their people ‘prepare their hearts for Easter.”

This devotional material is also available through the You Version Bible app.

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The Third Week of Advent: JOY

As we lit the third candle of JOY on the Advent wreath this week, Isaiah 9:1-7 was read:



 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

 The people who walked in darkness
 have seen a great light;
 those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
 on them has light shone.
 You have multiplied the nation;
 you have increased its joy;
 they rejoice before you
 as with joy at the harvest,
 as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
 For the yoke of his burden,
 and the staff for his shoulder,
 the rod of his oppressor,
 you have broken as on the day of Midian.
 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
 and every garment rolled in blood
 will be burned as fuel for the fire.
 For to us a child is born,
 to us a son is given;
 and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
 and his name shall be called
 Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
 Of the increase of his government and of peace
 there will be no end,
 on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
 to establish it and to uphold it
 with justice and with righteousness
 from this time forth and forevermore.
 The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

1 Peter 2:9 says of we who are followers of Christ, that Jesus called us “out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Once we walked in darkness, but we have seen a Great Light, and His name is Jesus. Who should rejoice more than the captive who has been set free?

On this third week of Advent, remember the good news of Jesus, and rejoice in the God of our salvation! In joy, may you run with the good news of our Savior, Jesus, to those who do not yet know Him.