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Healing

Healing - Lent Devotional @ Walton United Church, Oakville, Ontario

Luke 5:31-3

Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

If you are taking part in the Lent goal to read all of Luke, between now and Sunday, read from Luke 4-6. 

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As Jesus begins his ministry on earth, one theme is abundantly clear. Jesus has come to heal and restore us. His focus from the very beginning is on those that society rejects and excludes; those needing comfort and forgiveness, or craving reassurance and peace. That’s likely all of us, and we can find comfort and peace in the inclusive nature of Jesus’ love. From an ailing widow to a high-ranking government official, Jesus made no distinction in how he responded to those who sought his help. He recognized their need, acknowledged their pain, and made them well. In the same way for us today, Jesus recognizes our needs and sees where we fall short. He participates in our pain and understands our worries, and he is there to console and heal our troubled hearts. We are each one of us embraced by his loving care

Compassionate God, You reach out to us and offer Your healing embrace; a love that puts up no barriers, but rather seeks out our pain and shortcomings and offers us peace. In You, we are always welcome and accepted, always forgiven and renewed. Thank You for Your comfort and reassurance, that we are always loved and You are there for us eternally. Amen.

Thank you for joining us on this prayerful
journey of reflection through Lent.

Lent Devotional Home

Beloved

Peace- Lent Devotional @ Walton United Church, Oakville, Ontario

Welcome to the 2019 Walton Lent Devotional. Each week throughout Lent, and then each day during Holy Week, you’ll receive a short email with a Bible reading, reflection and prayer.

In the Advent Devotional last year, we explored the story of the birth of Jesus, as told in the Gospel of Luke, and so for Lent we’re continuing to look at Luke and reading his account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. If you’re looking for something to ‘take up’ (rather than ‘give up’) for Lent, why not also set yourself the goal of reading all of Luke? To help with this in each email, as well as the reading for the reflection, you’ll also find a link to read 2-3 chapters of Luke every week (less for each day in Holy Week). 

The beginning of Jesus’ ministry is marked by a powerful endorsement – the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus and a voice from Heaven acknowledges Jesus as God’s Son. In reading this, we have the opportunity to also acknowledge Jesus in our lives and proclaim our faith. Perhaps even adapt the words of Luke and affirm: “Jesus, You are my Saviour, my Beloved.” As we turn our lives towards Jesus in this way, we can gratefully recognize that his life – the episodes and events we will read about over the coming weeks – had one core purpose: to make us whole with God. To make us whole with God in this life, by healing us and showing us how to live; and to make us whole with God after death, by canceling out our human failings, so that only our love for God remains. Because in God’s eyes we are, each one of us, beloved children of God.

Beloved God, thank You for loving us, despite all our flaws and shortcomings. Thank You for looking past our anger and selfishness and fear, and seeing only love. Send us Your Holy Spirit that we might turn closer to You and closer to the life You would have us lead. Sustain and guide us, as You guided Your Son Jesus Christ, that we might follow his teaching in our world today. Amen

Luke 3:22

And the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

If you are taking part in the Lent goal to read all of Luke, between now and Sunday, read from Luke 2:41 through to the end of Luke 3. 

Thank you for joining us on this prayerful
journey of reflection through Lent.

Peace

Believe - Lent Devotional @ Walton United Church, Oakville, Ontario

Hallelujah, Christ is risen!
Hallelujah! Christ is risen!

Easter Sunday is a day of triumph and joy, an outpouring of new life and hope. On this day we celebrate the victory of Christ over death and sin, and affirm the transformation that victory brings to our lives.

We proclaim that God has not left us alone, but is with us in this world. We joyfully declare that, along with the unmerited redemption Jesus secured for us, we are also blessed with the comforting, the enabling and the empowering strength provided by the Holy Spirit for us in this world.

As we receive and give thanks for all these blessings God has generously provided for us, as we celebrate the joy of this day, let us also look for the many ways we can share this joy with those around us, and live and love as servants of the Holy Spirit in the world today.

Triumphant God, Risen Christ, Empowering Spirit, all praise be to Your Holy name. Inspire me with the knowledge that Your love conquers all, comfort me with the confidence that I will never be separated from Your love, and nurture me with the assurance that You are with me in this world always, until the end of time. Amen.

John 20:21-22

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”.

Thank you for joining us on this prayerful
journey of reflection through Lent.

Peace

Peace- Advent Devotional @ Walton United Church, Oakville, Ontario
Photo credit: Lawrence OP

Peace can be hard to find at this time of year – whether because your schedule is crammed with activities and expectations, or because your soul is worried by what might have been but isn’t. Hebrews reminds us that we are more than sufficient and that God is calling us to know his peace.

Dear Lord, God of peace,
Slow us and sooth us. Open our eyes to see your will for our lives, to know that we are enough, and that you are working though us.
Amen.

Hebrews 13:20–21

Benediction

20 Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us[a] that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

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