More than 500 years after what is usually regarded as the start of the Lutheran Reformation in Germany, we remember the first of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses: namely, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’ [Matthew 4:17], he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance” (American Edition, 31:25). Truly, we should live each day with sorrow over our sin and trust in God to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake (Small Catechism, IV:12). Yet, as the season of Advent prepares us by repentance for our celebration of Christmas, so we set aside especially the season of Lent to prepare us by repentance for our celebration of Easter. To that end, in our midweek services this Lent, we consider eight “snapshots of repentance”, examples, in this case, from the Old Testament, of both repentance and forgiveness of sins, examples that are not only instructive but also comforting for us today.

  • Ash Wednesday (2/14): Joel (Joel 2:12-19)
  • Lent I (02/21):Job (Job 40:6-42:9)
  • Lent II (02/28):David (2 Samuel 24:1-25)
  • Lent III (03/07): Jonah (Jonah 1:1-16)
  • Lent IV (03/14):Daniel (Daniel 9:1-23)
  • Lent V (03/21): Ezra (Ezra 9:1-10:17)
  • Maundy Thursday (03/29): Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:1-35:19)
  • Good Friday (03/30): High Priest (Leviticus 16:1-34)

The 40-day season of Lent is based in part on special 40-day periods known from the Bible, such as Jesus’s 40 days in the wilderness after His baptism resisting the devil’s temptation (for example, Mark 1:12-13, part of the Gospel Reading for The First Sunday in Lent). Lent is often said to be a time to reflect on baptism, a time for rebirth and renewal, for the discipline of learning and growing in faith, and for repentance and prayer. (The purple paraments used during Lent in part symbolize penitence and self-discipline.) More than anything, however, Lent prepares us for the Holy Week and Easter celebrations of the mystery of our redemption by the death and resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, with its special emphasis on repentance. At Pilgrim, we observe Ash Wednesday on February 14, 2018, with a special Divine Service at 7:00 p.m. The imposition of ashes is offered for all those who wish to receive them. Ashes are a rich Biblical symbol of judgment and condemnation of sin, frailty, our total dependence upon God for life, humiliation, repentance, cleansing, and renewal. We were created from dust and, on account of sin, return to dust, and so we repent in dust and ashes. The ashes also remind us of our need for cleansing, scrubbing, and purifying, and the season of Lent provides such a time for renewal.

The following five weeks after Ash Wednesday, we offer special Midweek Lenten Vespers services at 7:00 p.m. Between Lenten and Evening hymns, we also sing and pray penitential Psalms, hear a Reading related to repentance, continue the sermon series “Snapshots of Repentance”, and pray the Litany, especially suited to Lent, given its penitential character. The Midweek Vespers will be preceded by a light supper served from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The last week of Lent is Holy Week, during which we offer a Maundy Thursday Divine Service on March 29, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. and a Good Friday Divine Service on March 3o, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. The Maundy Thursday Divine Service notably includes a treasured form of confessional examination and ends with the Stripping of the Altar, and the Good Friday Divine Service includes the historic Bidding Prayer, Procession of the Cross, Reproaches, and Adoration of Christ.

Although not strictly-speaking a part of Lent, the following are the intervening Sundays in Lent 2018 and their Gospel Readings (appointed by Lutheran Service Book’s three-year lectionary series B, which largely uses the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, though less evidently this season).

  • First Sunday (02/18): Jesus is victorious over the devil’s temptation (Mark 1:9-15)
  • Second Sunday (02/25): Jesus is confessed as the Christ (Mark 8:27-38)
  • Third Sunday (03/04): Jesus prophesies of His death and resurrection (John 2:13-22)
  • Fourth Sunday (03/11): Jesus is sent for salvation but also brings judgment (John 3:14-21)
  • Fifth Sunday (03/18): Jesus serves by giving His life as a ransom for all (Mark 10:35-45)
  • Sixth Sunday (03/25): Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem to die (Mark 11:1-11)

You may want to mark April 01 on your calendars (no fooling!) for our Easter services: “Sonrise” Matins at 7:00 a.m. and Divine Service at 10:45 a.m. In between will be an Easter Breakfast, an Egg Hunt, and the Education Hour with Sunday School and Adult Bible Class.

All are invited and welcome to any of our activities in person or to read and hear the sermons at Pilgrim from any and every season of the Church Year online.

The image of Job repenting used in the slider graphic and the banner on the top of this page was found uncredited here and adapted for our use by Paul Guinn, whom we hereby thank.