Lent Devotional 2021 - Pittsburg - Flipbook - Page 28
from Romans 10 remind us that God is close at hand—and
the word of God can be in our hearts and on our lips at all
times.
PRAYER
Gracious God, we give you thanks for your word in Scripture.
May it guide and direct us during these 40 days of Lent. Help
us to keep your word in our hearts and on our lips. We pray
this in the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Amen.
white out. In Northeast Ohio, this isn’t anything new. But for
our visitor from the Philippines it was an astonishing thing to
experience. After seeing snow for the very first time, she said
with tears in her eyes, “I finally understand what it means
when the Bible tells me that I’ve been washed whiter than
snow.”
SCRIPTURE
Lent is a journey that teaches us about the incredible grace of
a God, who hears our prayers of confession and washes us
clean. We are constantly reminded of the sin that entangles
humanity—not just the world around us but the heart within
us. As we look forward to the day of resurrection, may we
rejoice in the assurance of our salvation. May we journey with
joy because God shows us mercy according to God’s steadfast
love. May we be filled with tears of joy, like my friend from
the Philippines, because we have been made clean, washed
whiter than snow.
Psalm 51
PRAYER
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast
love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my
transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and
cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and
my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you alone, have
I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you
are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass
judgment. 5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my
mother conceived me. 6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7 Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let
the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face
from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me
a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within
me. 11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do
not take your holy spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy
of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. 13 Then
I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return
to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my
salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your
praise. 16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give
a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 17 The sacrifice
acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite
heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in
your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19 then
you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and
whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
With the psalmist, let us pray, “Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant
mercy blot out my transgressions. . . . Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, . . .” Forgive what my
lips tremble to name, that I may forever dwell in the house of
the Lord. Amen.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021
The Rev. Dr. Stephen Franklin ’09
DEVOTIONAL
“Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” When I was in
high school, we had a visiting missionary from the Philippians
stay with our church for a few months. It was one of those
mild winters, with very little snow. The day before our guest
was scheduled to leave, we were hit with a blizzard, a total
28 Lent Devotional 2021
THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2021
The Rev. Susan Rothenberg ’08
SCRIPTURE
Romans 11:1-12
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I
myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member
of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people
whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says
of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord,
they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your
altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” 4 But
what is the divine reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven
thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too
at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works,
otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then?
Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained
it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave
them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that
would not hear, down to this very day.” 9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block
and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so
that they cannot see, and keep their backs forever bent.”
11 So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means!