THIS WEEK’S THEME: Hosanna! Look, your king is coming
DEVOTIONAL: By the end of this week we will be waving palm branches and celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus is coming! The season of Lent gives us the opportunity to make a space in our ordinary routines — a space in our lives into which we welcome God’s steadfast and transforming love.
God has given us many gifts, but sometimes our lives of abundance can present challenges to paying close attention to the welcome we offer to God’s love. As the weather begins to warm, the flowers begin to push up through the lawn and the buds begin to grow plump on the magnolia tree in my backyard. I feel constantly how these days create in me a rejoicing heart. But the weather this time of year can also be deceiving, and while the warm and sunny days can be uplifting, they can also be followed by cold spells. And as I yearn for the persistent warmth that will help my flowers bloom and my garden to bear summer fruit I can miss the gift that cold spells bring — the opportunity to step back and contemplate God’s place in my life.
Our Scriptures for this week call for rejoicing and giving thanks for God’s steadfast love. They entreat us to speak of God’s love with confidence and to listen with humility. They also remind us that when we welcome God’s love into our lives they will be turned upside down and inside out — the builders reject what becomes the cornerstone, the exalted one enters the great city on a lowly donkey’s colt, and God, born in human likeness, dies on a cross.
Rejoice this week that your King is coming, and look for the ways you will welcome God’s love into your life.
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PRAYER:
God we give you thanks for the love you shower on us.
Help us to see you coming,
to welcome you with joy,
and to have the strength to give our lives to you.