Lent 2016

Grace Church Devotional Email

Wednesday, February 17
I invite you...in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word... 
 
(Service for Ash Wednesday, Book of Common Prayer, p 265)

   
 
   
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.  (Jonah 3:1-3b)
 
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I can relate to Jonah. I've had times when I have felt like I was in the belly of a whale - waiting to be spit up on the dry land of a place that I had tried to run away from. It's not fun to be in the belly. But sometimes being in that waiting place, that in-between of being asked to do and actually facing the challenge, is just the right amount of time to get it together. 
 
Lent might be a season of being in the belly of the whale, a time to pray and reflect and prepare--a time to recognize a misstep or a wrong turn. Perhaps it can be redeemed as a time to become exactly what God is asking you to be in order to do the hard thing that has been set before you. 
 

Jonah eventually replied to God with a yes. And the message that he delivered, the message that the people of Nineveh heard, saved them.
I wonder how different that message might have been delivered, or received, had Jonah not been brought to Nineveh by the Big Fish Express. 

Maybe being in the belly of the whale isn't such a terrible thing if we allow ourselves to be made new, to grow in understanding and acceptance of our call.

--Mary Cat Young

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  Psalms 119, 49, & 53    

Genesis 37:25-36    

1 Corinthians 2:1-13

Mark 1:29-45

 

(click heading to go to readings) 

 

Collect for

Wednesday in the First Week of Lent:

 

Bless us, O God, in this holy season, in which our hearts seek your help and healing; and so purify us by your discipline that we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.   Amen. 

 

Collect for  

Ash Wednesday:

 

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent:  Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever.   Amen.