Lenten Engagement

So I finished Joshua yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed it, and was looking around for what part of Scripture to focus on next when I remembered that one of my ministry colleagues sent over a devotional guide for the season of Lent.

The guide gives each week of Lent a theme. Week 1's theme is "solitude." This week's theme is "silence."

The guide also provides a daily reading and study guide. Today's is Isaiah 6:1-8.



First reading: pay attention to text as if reading for the first time.


Second reading: listen for words and phrases that seem to resonate with you. Make a note of these bright spots as you meditate on them.

Verse 8: "Here I am". Theme theme of our spring retreat!
Verse 6: "a burning coal"
Verse 5: "Woe is me!  For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips"


Third reading: Become aware of your emotional response to what you have noted. Contemplate what are you feeling. 


Feeling: happy to see our retreat theme here. Something about the burning coal...present is the pain of fire, but alongside that is the idea of the freshness that comes from becoming completely clean. Sensing the fear of Isaiah as he enters into such a holy place.

Fourth reading: Reflect upon what God is saying to you through this text? What is God’s invitation to you today?


I can go not because I have made myself ready and worthy, but because God has cleansed me and chosen me. I am right not because of what I've done, but because of who has chosen me.

God has called me to serve. He has made me worthy of this calling. And he will give me everything I need to follow him.