3rd Sunday in Lent

 

Below is my recap of the 2nd full week of Lent.

For the Third Sunday in Lent, I chose to illustrate the Lenten symbol for fasting:  fish or ichthus.  Early Christians used a fish as a symbol of Christ because the letters of the Greek word for fish (ichthus) formed the first letters of the phrase “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” I is the first letter of the Greek word for Jesus. CH is the first letter of the Greek word Christos (anointed). TH is the first letter of the Greek word for “God’s.” Y (U) is the first letter of the Greek word for “Son.” S is the first letter of the Greek word for “Savior.”  After the miraculous catch of fish, Jesus told Peter, James, and John, “From now on, you will be catching men.” So each Christian is symbolically one of those fish caught in God’s net and hauled into the Kingdom.

2nd Sunday in Lent

 

We've completed our first full week of Lent.  Below are the illustrations I did for each day during this week.

 

 

And for the 2nd Sunday in Lent, I illustrated incense, one of the symbols of Lent that also represents prayer.  Psalm 141: 2 says, "May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice."  

 

 

1st Sunday in Lent - 2022

 

As we started on our Lenten journey this week, we've experienced Ash Wednesday, the next 3 days of Lent, and the 1st Sunday in Lent.

During the Ash Wednesday service at my church, we were invited to write on a piece of paper what sins we have committed against God, our neighbors, and ourselves.  As we were invited to come forward to receive the imposition of ashes, one of the pastors nailed the sins to a wooden cross.  Many of our senses were used during that service.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday -- the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th days of Lent -- our emphasis was on pray, fast, and give.  

 

 

Philippians 4:6 -- Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

 

Luke 4:1-4 -- Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

Matthew 7:7 -- Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Today's Lenten symbol was stones.  One of the scriptures we looked at this week, Luke 4:1-4, uses this symbolism.  When Jesus went out into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, he was tempted by Satan.  The devil used stones to tempt Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread."  But Jesus made them a symbol for overcoming temptation when he replied, “One does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."  The stones are a symbol of Jesus' triumph over temptation, tribulation, hardship, anguish, and sorrow. 

 

What have you gleaned from this first week of Lent?

Ash Wednesday

 

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
    with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart
    and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
    and he relents from sending calamity.

Joel 2:12-13 (NIV)

Here we are -- the first day of Lent.  What are you doing to place your eyes on God and return to him?  How are you preparing your heart?  Lent is a time of lament.  A time for us to fast -- abstain from the habits that keep us from God.  It's a time for us to lament -- to weep and to mourn for the hurt that we have caused God.  We are asked to rend our hearts -- to tear our hearts open emotionally as a sign of anger, grief, and despair for the sins that inhabit our lives.  And then to return to the Lord, because he shows His grace to us every day and wants our hearts to be clean and to be right with him.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10

 

Today's Challenge:  Create a prayer of lament.  Here are the steps:

•  Take a piece of paper & pour out your heart to God.  Rend your heart.  Tell him everything that you've needed to tell him.  Yes, he already knows what's in your heart.  But he wants you to rend your heart -- open it up and speak to him.  Write fast and furiously.  Don't worry about spelling.  Just write what's on your heart to God.
• Take another piece of paper -- sturdier -- perhaps cardstock or sketching paper or even a painting canvas.  Rip up the lament that you just wrote to God into small pieces.  Glue these pieces to the other canvas.  
• Now get out your paints.  Acrylics work best, but you might even be able to use water colors, crayons, or colored pencils.  (Make sure your glue is completely dry.)  Paint over your lament so that you & God are the only ones that know what you wrote.  Let the paint dry.
  
• Finally, while your paint is drying, pray about what you wrote.  What is God saying to you about it?  Is he directing you to a specific verse?  What image does that verse or what God is saying to you bring to mind? 
• Either draw or find a clip art picture that represents the image that you see in your mind's eye.  Glue or draw the image onto your canvas.  Finally, write whatever is on your heart -- perhaps the scripture verse that God reminded you of or a prayer of thanks to God for directing your thoughts.

Make sure you post your Prayer of Lament creation and your Ash Wednesday icon on my Facebook Page:  An Offering of Praise - Worship Inspiration for Everyone