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by Pastor Kyle Wangelin Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. - John 20:6-7
Holy Saturday. A day waiting on pins and needles in anticipation of what is to come next. We have just been put through the shock and awe of Good Friday. Not only do we see the graphic nature of Jesus’ death, but we also hold the responsibility of that as sinners. That is until Sunday. Peter enters the tomb, and suddenly, the shock and awe of Good Friday has shifted to linens being gently and properly folded in an empty tomb. I’ve often wondered why Jesus took the time to fold the burial face cloth. While we don’t know the answer to that question, I like to think that it’s because that’s the way it was supposed to be. This was the plan all along. It shows the sharp contrast of how nasty sin is, but how loving our God is. It was supposed to happen this way, and everything is all neat and tidy now. At times our lives are filled with chaos. Shock and awe around every corner. But in the midst of it all is that cloth neatly folded in an empty tomb. It isn’t covering Jesus’ face anymore. He’s not there. He’s alive. The chaos is brought to an end. Jesus has won. Prayer: Dear Jesus, tomorrow is the most Holy day. Grant us this night of preparation, a still heart and mind, that in the midst of all the craziness of this world, we may see our Risen Savior. In Your Name we pray, Amen.
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by Karen Hansen “He himself bore our sins” in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by His wounds you have been healed.” -1 Peter 2:24 (NIV)
As I entered a church a few years ago, the first thing I noticed was a large life-like cross on display in the front by the altar. I thought that it had to be a prop for the sermon, seeing that it was Good Friday. At the end of the sermon, the pastor encouraged the congregation to reflect on the things going on in their lives, and anyone who felt moved could go to the front, take a nail and hammer, and drive the nail into the cross as a way of giving all of our burdens to God. It was also a reminder of what Jesus endured for us. This had a huge impact on my life that day, and continues to have an impact on me each and every day. To think that Jesus bore our sins and the pain and suffering that He went through for you and me, poor miserable sinners is just amazing! It is also a reminder that we can lay our burdens down at the foot of the cross. As we reflect on the pain and agony that Jesus endured for you and me, may we be humbled and grateful for His ultimate sacrifice that He made for us all. Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, We thank and praise you for all that you do in our lives. We especially thank You for that ultimate sacrifice that you made by dying on the cross in our place. Help us to remember to take our burdens to You and may we always rejoice in all that You do for us each and every day. Amen. by Hillary Krahn In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. -1 John 4:10 Have you ever been in love with someone? That kind of love where you want to know everything about someone and spend every waking hour with them? Or maybe you’ve dreamed about someone falling in love with you just like in your favorite Hallmark movie. You know the kind, two totally opposite people suddenly cross paths and at first don’t care for each other but then they fall madly in love and live happily ever after? Can I tell you something? There is someone who loves you. Loves you more than that puppy dog love that you see on TV. He loves you so much that he sent his only Son as a propitiation for our sins. Propitiation? That doesn’t sound like a very great word! It means that God’s only Son was offered as a substitute for us to appease God. He won God over for us! 1 John chapter 4 is an entire chapter about God’s love for us. It tells us where love comes from - spoiler, it’s God. It tells us that when we love others we are loving God and God lives in us. But most importantly it tells us about why Jesus was sent for our salvation. Because of God’s love! There are many people who picture God as an angry, judgmental god. Someone unapproachable who will do nothing but condemn you. That’s not the case. Yes, God holds all authority and will judge us all on the last day, but, the overwhelming message of the New Testament is that God loves us. God loves you, God loves me, he loves our neighbor. He loves us!! If you ever have one of those days where you start to doubt if you’re loved, or will ever be loved, or find yourself picking petals off a flower saying, ‘he loves me, he loves me not’. Remember this: You are a redeemed child of the heavenly Father. He loves you! So much that you are forgiven of all that you’ve done. Salvation is yours because you’re loved. On this, Maundy Thursday, as we prepare for the day of crucifixion, the day salvation died on the cross, we recall this love freely given for us. A love that told us as he instituted the Lord’s supper, “This IS my body” & “This IS my blood...given for YOU.” This love that will suffer, die, be buried, but also the love that defeats the grave and promises us an eternal life because of his resurrection. Take a moment to sit with him today in the garden before he walks to the cross. Sit with him, and realize just how much you are loved. Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me. Thank you for the salvation given to me through your only Son. Live in me that I may love others as you have loved me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. by Pastor Kyle Wangelin But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. - John 20:31
This is it. Tomorrow we enter into a four day stretch that truly defines what it means to be a Christian. As we follow the Passion of our Savior Jesus, we see the will of God for our salvation play out. Tomorrow, we will marvel at Jesus’ humility as He washes His disciples feet, just moments before He is betrayed. We celebrate, as we see Him institute the gift of the Lord’s Supper, which we actively participate in to this day. On Friday, we see where our sins take Jesus. Or rather, where He goes to take away our sin. And we see the brutal reality of that event. But it all points to Sunday. Sunday is what it’s all about. This is it. This is the day. John sums it up beautifully at the end of his Gospel. These things are written down that you may believe in Jesus and have life in His name. Everything that we do this week is so that you may have life in His name. Everything that we do at Zion is so that you may have life in His name. Everything that we do as the church, in all of the vocations that we have, is so that more and more people may know Jesus and have life in His name. Thanks be to God for the gift of faith that He has given to us, that we may have salvation in Jesus’ name. Prayer: Heavenly Father, watch over and provide for your people this most holy week. Walk with us through the Passion of your Son Jesus, that we may see the salvation that He has won for us. In Jesus name, Amen. by Angie Piepenburg “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” -Psalm 46:10 This Bible passage from the book of Psalm was one of my Grandma’s favorite Bible passages. She shared this verse with us often as my siblings, cousins, and I were growing up. As a kid, I can’t say that I fully understood the meaning of this passage. Most of the time we all just thought it was Grandma’s way of getting us to slow down and sit still for a bit. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I truly appreciated my Grandma's wisdom of this Bible passage. It was my first pregnancy and we were expecting “triplets”! At about 27 weeks along, I was having contractions. The contractions did not stop. So now I would spend a little over a month in the hospital on bedrest. Talk about time to be still. So many thoughts and worries started to consume my mind as I lay there day after day trying to do my best to keep our babies growing in my womb as long as possible. My Grandma’s verse kept invading my thoughts. I finally reached for the Bible to look at this verse. The words to be still in Hebrew mean to let go, stop striving, slacken and let drop. These words in Psalm 46:10 was God addressing Israel. Most likely, during a time of war. God commands them to “stop fighting” and open their eyes to see who He is. He is God and He is on their side. He is their strength and refuge, and ever present in all circumstances. The words in Psalm 46:10 enlightened me. God was clearly trying to tell me He is God. He was there to be my strength and refuge. I didn’t need to think I had to do all this by myself. He wanted me to let go and know that He was working for me and that His plans were clearly in the making. I just had to be still and let Him be the amazing and wonderful God that He is! As I gave God the reins, my worries ceased. Our triplets were born healthy. They are now 28 years old, all happily married and doing very well. God be praised! Letting go and letting God be in control is not an easy thing to do by all means. But as this Lenten season is upon us, try to be still and see just who God is. He is our God working for us. He wants to be our strength and refuge in all circumstances. He loves us! He has a beautiful and an amazing plan for each of us. He has given us His only Son to be our Savior. Journey to the cross this Lenten season and know your sins are forgiven because our gracious God is always working for us! Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you help me to be still, so I can know and trust you are God. Let me let go and trust that You are always working for my good. Forgive me for not putting You first and trusting Your process. In Your holy name, Amen by Raelynn Smith I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
-Romans 8:18 Since losing a baby at 12 weeks pregnant last year, there’s a “more modernized” version of this verse that I’ve been clinging to. “The pain you have been feeling can’t compare with the joy that is coming”. While I’ve been taking this very literally (I’ve never experienced any greater emotional pain than losing a child, but cling to the joy that our rainbow baby will be sure to bring), I also feel that this moment in my life is a great reminder of the bigger picture. All of the parts of our lives that seem so good and perfect now can’t compare with what we’re going to experience when we get to meet Jesus someday. While I write this, I also reflect on Holy Week. I’m reminded that while many parts of being a sinful human can feel very lonely, whether it be child loss, a break-up, a job change, anything that we think that no one else can possibly understand, there is someone. God. He was forced to watch his only Son, who did nothing wrong, die in order to save every sinful person on earth. He knows pain and suffering. When you think no one else understands, He does. This is also a lesson in patience, something I’m sure we could all stand to work on a bit. And a reminder that God’s plan for us is better than anything we could imagine for ourselves. We need to be willing to wait and trust his timing in order for our lives to turn out exactly how they were intended to, regardless of what we had pictured. God could have saved His son and stopped him from dying, but without experiencing the pain of His death and the wait for Easter, we never would have known the joy of Jesus rising. Romans 8:18 is a promise that no matter what we go through, something better is coming. Jesus is coming. Prayer: Lord, You know pain. When I feel alone, you’re always there. When I feel like no one understands, you do. And through it all, you promise that your plan is perfect. Help me to see you, and give me peace while I wait to see the plans you have for me. Amen. The Triumphal Entry12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!” 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” John 12:12-19  By Christina Scholz However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. -Acts 20:24
Those of you who have children will understand this. Sometimes when you are talking to your children giving them a task to do or directions to follow, they’re looking at you, nodding their heads in agreement with you, but you know by that glossy look in their eyes, they don’t get it. Problem is you can’t convince them at that time that they don’t get it. Life can be like this at times. Things happen and you can’t understand it now, can’t understand why God has you going through this hard time, but we know God is preparing something in us that he will reveal —after all he’s God. We can take comfort in knowing that God is preparing us to testify to his mighty works. My life has been filled with various ups and downs and I still ask myself, why am I so blessed? I have a beautiful family, a supportive husband of nearly 25 years, I’ve lost my dad and watched my brother battle various cancers. It’s hard to see the blessings in those hard times. James tells us in chapter 1:2-3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” We may look glossy-eyed at Jesus during these times, and we can chicken out at the task before us. But know that God’s grace is on you, and he gives you the courage to do these hard things. As you go through this Lenten season be about the task of testifying to the good news so that we might glorify Jesus each day of our lives and be the light. Prayer: Father God as I walk with you today and everyday guide my paths, show me your ways so that I may share the good news boldly with those around me each day. You are the mighty one and my sole purpose is to serve you. Thank you for the good news of your never-ending grace. Amen by Lisa Kalscheur I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law,
then Christ died for no purpose. -Galatians 2:21 How often do we nullify the grace of God? This day in age, it seems the world is pushing the focus on ourselves more and more. This need to project out our value while pushing and shoving to portray how important we are is a quick road to zero-ing out what God says about us. We fight so hard for validation, being seen, being heard and being known. If the world truly understood what Jesus did and why, we would all slow down. Our focus would be less on posting that perfect selfie on social media and more on refining our God given gifts for His Glory. If we stood strong in our identity of His chosen children there would be no need to alter our bodies. If we understood the greatness we carry as those who are saved, we wouldn’t identify with titles, we would identify as His chosen children. We strive for importance in many different ways. Because of our sinful nature, we will always feel a void and make mistakes to fill it. It’s our imperfection that eats away at our hearts, and we scramble in all different directions to make up for it. We don’t want to be like this, but we are. Fortunately, despite our shortcomings, Jesus died so we could be rescued. Is there any other way we can be more valuable than this? The Creator, Father God, Lord of All, King of Kings chose YOU. There isn’t any job, title, degree, fame, fortune, or amount of followers on Facebook that compares. Nothing comes even close to your place specifically held for you by God. By God’s Grace alone we are saved. Through Jesus Christ we are chosen and destined to Heaven with Our Father God for all eternity. Because of Jesus our righteousness and our value is restored. We matter to Him that much. There is nothing humanly possible that we can do to earn value like that. There is nothing beyond the value that our salvation brings that matters. Rest in the Good News, and enjoy the harvest. Prayer: Lord, there are multiple times a day when we forget who we are. We strive to be seen, and we value what the world thinks over what you say about us. Help us to remember your unfathomable love. Help us to understand the magnitude of value that our salvation provides. Jesus went to the cross, knowing that he was stepping toward torture and death, so we can be free from the shackles of our sins. In Your eyes, we were worthy enough for this. We are forever humbled and grateful for your grace and your mercy. Amen. by David Gosa Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 How many of you have had a crisis or concerns in your life? If we are honest with ourselves the answer is YES. What is the first thing that we probably do when confronted with a crisis? If you are like me you probably panic first then pray. All generations have had their own crisis to deal with. My grandparents generation was the Great Depression and World War Two, my parents generation was the Vietnam War, my generation was the 9/11 attack, our kids generation was COVID. During all these events the power of prayer guided people and our Nation. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says we should Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. As Paul states in the book of Thessalonians we need to make sure that we pray all the time, whether we are in a crisis or concern, or when things are going really well. So, next time you are confronted with a crisis or concern, or are experiencing greatness in your day, take a moment and pray to God to guide you through your day of concern or greatness. For today’s prayer, please pray the Lord’s Prayer. |
About the AuthorsThe authors of this Lenten devotional are all staff members of Zion Lutheran Church & School of Wayside. They have answered the call to preach and teach the good news of salvation to both the young and the old of the school and congregation. This group of believers have a strong faith rooted in the Word. They are all members of the church professing the Christian faith and are excited to share their love of Jesus with you during this season. ArchivesCategories |
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