“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: The early Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty-day season of spiritual preparation. During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.
“It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness and restored to participation in the life of the Church.
“In this way the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith.
“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent:
by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial;
and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.”
This year’s Lenten devotional offers hymns that are found in Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church: With Tunes for Congregational Worship (1857, Carlton and Porter, New York).
I have this hymnal in my office and have found it to be a source of inspiration and devotion over the years. These hymns are presented as found in the hymnal using the punctuation and spelling that were used 167 years ago.
The devotional will be posted daily on our Facebook page and on this blog.
Every blessing,
Pastor Charles
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