Twenty-Third Day of Lent (Monday, 16 March 2026)

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Yesterday (Sunday the 15th) we marked “Mothering Sunday” in the UK. While today’s celebration is basically indistinguishable from “Mother’s Day” in other countries, the roots of this particular celebration are quite different.

Mothering Sunday begain in the 16th century as a Christian tradition held on the fourth Sunday of Lent. On that day, people were encouraged to visit their “mother church,” the church where they had been baptized. This coincided with Laetare Sunday, the mid-point of Lent where Christians were allowed to break from their Lenten fast. As a result, it became known as a day of celebration and feasting. One of the texts for the day marked this particular joy of being with your church family:

“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’”—Psalm 122:1 (NRSV)

Over the years the emphasis shifted to what we now consider “Mother’s Day,” but I love this idea of stopping in the middle of the Lenten fast to celebrate with the people who first nurtured you in the faith. It’s an acknowledgement that our Christian journey is not one we make on our own, that many hearts and voices have contributed to our understanding of what it means to walk with Jesus, and they are worthy of noting with gratitude to God.

In today’s world it isn’t always possible to visit our “mother church” in person, but it seems worthwhile to take time to sit in thankfulness for those who have been part of the great “cloud of witnesses” in our life. As we make our way to Jerusalem we remember those who made this journey before us and alongside us, and we give thanks to God for those who have demonstrated the beauty of faithfulness and devotion to Christ. Their lives of sacrifice and service, as today’s song declares, is a picture for us of the One whose cross and empty tomb await at the end of our Lenten journey.

How beautiful, how beautiful
How beautiful is the body of Christ

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) As you think of those in your life over the years who have nurtured you in the faith, what names and faces come to your heart and mind? Spend some time sitting in prayerful gratitude to God for their witness in your life.

2) Take some time reflecting on these words from today’s song. What do they speak to you? What invitation do you see in them? How might God call you to inhabit them?

How beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure lives so that others may live

3) Read and reflect on these verses. Let them lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”—Ephesians 4:15-16 (NLT)

Fourth Sunday of Lent (Sunday, 15 March 2026)

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Sundays of Hope and Joy

It’s kind of become a tradition during these Lenten Song Reflections to devote one day to this simple thought:

Some days you just need to listen to “Amazing Grace.”

That’s it. Some days on the journey you just need to stop, breathe deep, and listen to a hymn that says it better than just about anyone ever has. Take a moment, close your eyes, and let it soak in.

Below you’ll find a few different versions of the hymn (including one instrumental). Each year we try to find some new versions to mix in with old favorites. This year we even found one version that really emphasizes well the “mini-Easter” nature of these Sundays in Lent. Choose one, a couple, or listen to them all. They each represent a unique take on one of the most powerful hymns of all time. Listen and let it speak to your soul as you make your way to Jerusalem with Jesus.

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun

Scripture for Meditation:

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
—Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)

Song: Amazing Grace (lyrics following videos)

Traditional Choral Version

A Cappella Four-Part Harmony Version

Upbeat Celtic Worship Version (with “He is Lord” tag)

Instrumental Version

Questions for Reflection

For today’s reflections, you’re simply invited to read five verses of “Amazing Grace,” one at a time, in a prayerful, receptive posture. Read each verse slowly and take in each word. Read each verse at least twice. Some may find it helpful to read the verse out loud. As you read, listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention. When you are finished reading, before you go to the next verse, spend some time sitting prayerfully with the word or phrase that you found yourself drawn to. Hold it before God and offer whatever prayer they inspire: gratefulness, repentance, concern, or simply heartfelt worship.

1.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

2.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

3.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come:
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

4.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

5.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.

Twenty-Second Day of Lent (Saturday, 14 March 2026)

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Saturday Reflections

On Saturdays during our Lenten Devotional time we sill simply sit with an instrumental version of a well-known hymn or worship song. Our weeks are so full, so busy, so noisy…use these Saturdays to prepare your hearts for gathered worship by reflecting on lyrics and Scripture in a space of stillness and simplicity.

Today’s instrumental hymn was born of personal tragedy. How often the deepest depths of despair give birth to the most powerful poetry of faith.

Louisa Stead was born in Dover, England, in 1850. As a teenager she sensed that God was calling her to be a missionary. At twenty-one she moved to the United States, living for a time in Cincinnati, Ohio. While attending a camp meeting in Urbana, her sense of calling deepened, and she longed to serve in China. But fragile health closed that door.

In 1875 she married Mr. Stead, and the couple settled in New York. Soon their daughter, Lily, was born.

One sunny day, when Lily was four years old, the family went for a picnic at the beach along Long Island Sound. As they ate their lunch, cries for help suddenly rang out. A young boy was drowning in the water. Without hesitation, Mr. Stead rushed into the sea to rescue him. But in the struggle, the panicked boy pulled his rescuer under. Both drowned before the helpless eyes of Louisa and her little daughter.

In the dark days that followed, Louisa wrestled deeply with God—asking the painful question, Why? Yet out of that season of grief came a quiet testimony of faith. From her wounded heart flowed the words of the hymn:

“’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus…”

Not long afterward, Louisa and Lily sailed to South Africa, where she served as a missionary for fifteen years. While there she married Robert Wodehouse, a South African. Because of her health the family returned to the United States in 1895, where Wodehouse pastored a Methodist church. But the call to missions had never left them, and in 1900 they returned to Africa, serving at the Methodist mission station in Umtali in Southern Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe).

When Louisa passed away Louisa in 1917 at her home near the Mutambara Mission, it was recorded by the Christians in Rhodesia that: “We miss her very much but her influence goes on as our 5,000 converts continually sing this hymn in their native language”.

And it continues today.

Scripture for Meditation:

“Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace,
    in peace because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
    for in the Lord God
    you have an everlasting rock.”
—Isaiah 26:34 (NRSV)

Song: ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” (lyrics after video)

Lyrics for Reflection

Read through the lyrics of this hymn slowly and prayerfully. Read them more than once, and pay attention to the movement of your soul as you pray. What words or phrases grab your attention? Why? As you finish, sit in prayerful silence before God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you something of your need and God’s provision that emerges from these words.

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know thus saith the Lord

CHORUS
Jesus Jesus how I trust Him
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus Jesus precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more

O how sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to trust His cleansing blood
Just in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing cleansing flood

CHORUS

Yes 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus
Just from sin and self to cease
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest and joy and peace

CHORUS

I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee
Precious Jesus Savior Friend
And I know that Thou art with me
Wilt be with me to the end

Louisa M. R. Stead | William James Kirkpatrick
© Words: Public Domain; Music: Public Domain

Twenty-First Day of Lent (Friday, 13 March, 2026)

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Just before Jesus and his disciples arrive in Jerusalem, there is an interesting exchange that takes place. Matthew and Mark record it somewhat differently, but the essence is still the same:

“Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’

‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked.

They replied, ‘Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.’

‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said. ‘Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?’

‘We can,’ they answered.

Jesus said to them, ‘You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.’”—Mark 10:35-40 (NIV)

James and John, along with Peter, are often seen as Jesus’ “inner circle” in the community of disciples. They have been with him since the very beginning, and they alone are with him at very significant events in his ministry, most notably the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-3). And now, as the ministry of Jesus reaches its climactic point, they (and their mother, in Matthew’s account) make a request to be given seats of honor in the Kingdom that is surely at hand.

Why do they ask this? Are they attempting to cement their place ahead of the other disciples (especially Peter)? Did they understand that Jesus would be leaving, and wanted to make sure they would be the ones in charge when he was gone? Or is it just plain vanity?

Whatever their thinking, it is clear they are seeking a position that will garner them attention and influence. But Jesus reminds them that in the Kingdom, the place of honor is not always associated with power and acclaim. In fact, it is associated with a “cup” and a “baptism” that are yet to be understood in all of their weight and responsibility. And most of all, the places of honor are not in his power to give. They are for those that God alone chooses.

We live in a world that echoes James and John every day, even in the church. We all, at times, scramble for places of honor and notability. We want to be noticed. But the path of Lent, the way of the cross, is not a journey into getting noticed and lifted up. It is a humbling journey where we focus on the one who was lifted up on our behalf, not to a place of honor but to a place of humiliation and disgrace (Gal. 3:13). He humbled himself for our salvation, and in response we, too, are called to humble ourselves.

The litany of humility, written by a Catholic cardinal in the 1800s, is a wonderful resource for all followers of Jesus who would seek to embrace his way of radical humility. It counters our own desire, like James and John, to be noticed. It challenges us to lay aside our own desires and fears and take up the cross of Christ. It is a worthwhile prayer at any time of year, but takes on a new dimension as we meditate on it during this season of Lent. As we approach Jerusalem, these are the requests we are invited to make of Jesus.

O Jesus, meek and humble hearted,
Hear my prayer, hear my prayer.

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

For our time of reflection today we are going to sit with each of the sections in the Litany of Humility, found below. As you read reflectively through each part, pay attention to which ones resonate most with your own journey of humility. Are there any that challenge you? Are there any that provoke or irritate you? Pay attention to all the ways you respond and bring those responses to God in prayer.

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed…deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being loved…deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being extolled…deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being honored…deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being praised…deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being preferred to others…deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being consulted…deliver me, Jesus
From the desire of being approved…deliver me, Jesus

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, hear me.
From the fear of being humiliated…deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being despised…deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of suffering rebukes…deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being calumniated…deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being forgotten…deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being ridiculed…deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being wronged…deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being suspected…deliver me, Jesus

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, hear me.
That others may be loved more than I…
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I…
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease…
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside…
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed…
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

You can read more about the Litany of Humility here.

Twentieth Day of Lent (Thursday, 12 March, 2026)

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Today we are at the halfway point of our Lenten journey, which makes today a good day to remember a troubling shift that can happen whenever we are in a season of intentional spiritual pursuit —a shift that changes the nature of what we’re doing and the reason we’re doing it.

In short, what was meant to be “devotion” becomes “work.” What began with an earnest and heartfelt desire to draw closer to God becomes less about communion and more about obligation. When that happens during Lent, the shift can turn us around and push us in the opposite direction from where we started. Instead of heading to the cross, with its powerful reminder of what Christ has done for us, we turn away and start focusing on the things we’re doing for him. We act as though the “success” of our journey depends on our performance, and when that belief takes over we find ourselves drifting off the path. Essentially we begin walking away from from Jerusalem instead of towards it.

This is a very tender place, and in this tender place God invites us to humble our hearts before him. Whenever we begin to think that our spiritual growth is primarily dependent on our own effort, God invites us to stop whatever it is we’re doing and simply gaze upon the cross of Christ. Only in being reminded of Christ’s work can we find what we need to stop focusing on ours.

Today we’re going to do just that, by allowing a well known hymn of the cross serve as our invitation to remember that this journey is not about our work or our worthiness. It is about Christ’s work and his worthiness alone. As you read, be sure not to rush through the lyrics. Allow these words to become your own humble prayer of re-centering.

For today there are two versions of this hymn, one instrumental and one vocal. If you choose to listen to the instrumental version, you might wish to use that time to be still, breathe deep, and begin in a spirit of prayer before moving to the vocal version. Regardless of your listening choice, focus on the cross, whether with your eyes or with your heart, and know that the one who traveled to that cross willingly is more than able to turn us around when we’ve strayed from the path.

Scripture for Meditation:

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
—Ephesians 2:4-10 (NIV)

Song: Near The Cross (lyrics after videos)

Instrumental Version

Vocal Version

Lyrics for Reflection

For today, simply sit prayerfully with the words of this hymn. Let them draw you back into the reason you began your Lenten journey some three weeks ago. Pray that the Holy Spirit would help to “re-center” you in the cross as you continue to Jerusalem.

Jesus keep me near the cross
There a precious fountain
Free to all a healing stream
Flows from Calv'ry's mountain

CHORUS
In the cross in the cross
Be my glory ever
’Til my ransomed soul shall find
Rest beyond the river

Near the cross a trembling soul
Love and mercy found me
There the Bright and Morning Star
Shed its beams around me

CHORUS

Near the cross O Lamb of God
Bring its scenes before me
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadows o'er me

CHORUS

Near the cross I'll watch and wait
Hoping trusting ever
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river

CHORUS

Fanny Jane Crosby | William Howard Doane
© Words: Public Domain; Music: Public Domain

Nineteenth Day of Lent (Wednesday, 11 March 2026)

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Waiting is not a theme we necessarily associate with Lent. In fact, waiting is often seen as the exclusive theme of the Advent season as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s first coming and also anticipate his second. During Advent, waiting is a theological reality tied up in God’s grand plan of salvation. It is powerful and unique and filled with the promises of God.

But the kind of waiting we think about during Lent is different. It’s tied to the wilderness, and it’s a waiting that brushes up against some darker themes and harder places. As we contemplate our sin and our need for God we are often brought to the very end of ourselves, and that can often be a very barren place, spiritually speaking. Lent strips away our masks and our coping mechanisms and asks us to be honest about where we are and what we need.

And it asks us to wait on God in the midst of our self-examination.

This is not a bad thing, but it is a difficult thing. God is patient with us, but we are not always patient with him. We often forget that spiritual formation is a lifelong journey, and that sometimes the progress seems slow. But when it seems slow, and we are asked to wait, we often find it is there is he doing his most important work.

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.”—Lamentations 3:25 (NRSV)

In our waiting God has the freedom to bring to death any reliance on ourselves so that we might rely only on him. Through it all we need to remember that God is purifying us and calling us back to what is central: his love for us and his desire for us to dwell in that love. In the midst of our waiting we cling even more tightly to the promise that the work God is doing within us both necessary and good, and we trust that through this season we will be drawn closer to Jesus so we can be made more like him.

During Lent we give the Holy Spirit permission to pry our fingers away from anything to which we hold on too tightly, so that we may find ourselves being held by the one who will never let us go.

Just as the sun falls down
Your unfailing love will be found
Just as the sun does rise
Your mercy will answer my cries
More than the watchmen wait
I'll wait for you

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) How is your Lenten journey exposing the places in your heart and soul where God is inviting you to deeper trust and deeper surrender? Do you find that difficult? How are you waiting on God through this season?

2) The Psalmist speaks of waiting on God with “our whole being.” What does it mean to wait on God in that way? What parts of ourselves are most resistant to that invitation?

3) Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”—Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

Eighteenth Day of Lent (Tuesday, 10 March 2026)

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Over the course of our life we Jesus we utter a lot of prayers, and those prayers can take all sorts of forms. Some prayers are a single-word cry, like “Help!” Some prayers are liturgical, handed down through the centuries by faithful saints whose beautiful words still echo the stirrings of our soul. Others are connected to the rising needs of a moment, offered up not with eloquence or form as they are poured out of the emotional pulse of our need.

Then there are those prayers that, on the surface, even seem a little “odd.” If you were to write them out on paper and read them to someone else they may make little to no sense at all, but they make perfect sense to you. That’s the response I first had to the prayer that sits at the heart of today’s song: “I wanna be where my feet are.” Disconnected from the message of the song those words make little sense, but when we stop and consider them in context, and we also consider the invitation within them, they become quite profound.

I once heard someone say that the biggest problem with people in the modern world is that they refuse to live in the moment—they are either reliving or rehashing the past, or they are looking forward to the future with a mixture of hope and fear. When we live like that we often miss the “sacrament of the present moment,” to borrow a phrase from Jean-Pierre de Caussade. And yet it is in the present moment where we are most alive to God.

One of the invitations of Lent is to stop looking back, to stop looking forward, and to sit with the reality of what God is doing in us right here, right now. In the present moment we are most able to understand the living presence of Jesus and the extent of his mercy and compassion towards us. The kind of centering prayer we’re invited to practice with this song is all about embracing today. As the Psalmist says:

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”—Psalm 118:24 (NRSV)

To “be where your feet are” is to be in the moment, in this day the Lord has made. Because what he gives us is now.

I chase my worries
I flee my sorrows
But what you give me
Is now

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) Do you find it hard to be “in the present moment?” What has the most power to distract you and pull you out of what God would have you know and experience here and now? Offer those things to him in prayer, asking him to center you in today.

2) Spend some time reflecting on and praying with these words from today’s song: “The ground below me is how you hold me.” What do those words mean to you? How does it impact your understanding of the prayer “I want to be where my feet are?”

3) Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.”—2 Corinthians 4:16 (NRSV)

Seventeenth Day of Lent (Monday, 9 March 2026)

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In 1861, a wild gambler named Harry Moorhouse walked into a revival meeting in Manchester looking for a fight — and met Jesus instead. Years later, he tracked down the famous evangelist D. L. Moody and asked to preach at his Chicago church.

Moody wasn't impressed. He didn't know if the young Englishman could preach, so he brushed him off — and when Moorhouse showed up anyway, Moody handed him off to his deacons and left town for the weekend.

When Moody returned, he asked his wife how things had gone.

"The people liked him very much," she said.

"Did you like him?"

"Yes — very much. He preached two sermons from John 3:16. I think you'll like him, but he preaches a little differently than you do."

"How so?"

"He tells sinners that God loves them."

Moody's jaw tightened. "Well," he said, "he's wrong."

That night, Moody went to hear Moorhouse himself — determined not to like him. But as Moorhouse preached again from John 3:16, something began to soften in Moody's heart. He couldn't hold back the tears. For seven nights, Moorhouse returned to the same text, the same theme: God loves sinners.

On the final night, Moorhouse closed with this: "My friends, for a whole week I have been trying to tell you how much God loves you, but I cannot do it with this poor stammering tongue. If I could borrow Jacob’s ladder, and climb up into Heaven, and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty, if he could tell me how much love the Father has for the world, all he could say would be, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.’”

Those seven nights changed D. L. Moody forever. He later said: "I have never forgotten those nights. I have preached a different gospel since.”

As we make our way to Jerusalem we must never forget what sits at the heart of our Lenten journey: the love of God. In a season devoted to self-examination and repentance it’s far too easy to slip into a mindset of guilt and shame, forgetting these key words from the book of Romans:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”—Romans 5:8 (NIV)

It is God’s love that compelled Jesus to go to the cross. It is always God’s love at the center of our own journey of repentance and transformation. We forget this at our peril.

Always God’s love.

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Questions for Reflection

1) The consistent and repeated theme of Lent is to repentance and self-examination, a journey that can easily turn into self-condemnation and shame. Do you ever struggle with that? Spend some time in prayer, asking God to send assurance of his deep and abiding love for you and to protect you from any distorted understandings that can sneak into our times of reflection.

2) In today’s song the meditation on God’s love in the first verse leads to expressions of worship in the second verse and eternal hope in the third. Spend some time reflecting on this progression, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you into worship and hope as well.

3) Read and reflect on this verse. Acknowledge that as a well-known verse we can often lose sight of its beauty and power. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”—John 3:16 (NIV)

Third Sunday of Lent (Sunday, 8 March 2026)

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Sundays of Hope and Joy

There are days the brokenness just seems to be too much. As we make our way to Jerusalem with Jesus, taking time to contemplate the weight of our sin and the depth of his sacrifice, there are days when it threatens to overwhelm us. Add to that the hurt and pain of a broken world, especially as we’ve seen it in recent days, and there are times it seems beyond our ability to bear.

It is.

It is absolutely far too much to bear, but for some reason we sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that’s what we’re called to do. That’s what brings us to a breaking point—when we allow the weight of all the brokenness to nearly crush us because we think it’s ours to carry.

It’s not.

Then just when we feel we can’t take another step in our Lenten journey, we come to Sunday. Another “mini-Easter” that reminds us that the the final word doesn’t belong to our sin, and it doesn’t belong to the cross. Just as it doesn’t belong to the forces at work in our world that seek to drown out the truth of what Christ has done. The final word belongs, for now and always, to God.

In the fifth chapter of Revelation, John has a vision of a scroll sealed with seven seals, the opening of which will initiate the final judgments of the end times. Scholars are not in agreement regarding the actual contents of the scroll, but it’s clear it contains a revelation of God’s divine plan for the final redemption of the world. It is mysterious and even a little frightening, but it is also good. God’s plan is always good.

But John is worried. So are the angels gathered around. Why? Because there appears to be no one worthy of breaking the seal on the scroll and revealing its contents. The weight of sin and the schemes of the enemy seem to be having the final word, because only one who can claim victory over those forces is worthy to open the scroll and see God’s plan to fruition. In response to the weight of this moment John begins to “weep bitterly” (v. 4) for fear that nobody will be able to come forward.

But just when all seems lost, the One appears whose victory is sufficient to the task. He comes to take his rightful place and carry out his prescribed work. He alone is worthy, because he alone is the Lamb who was slain. He took sin and death upon himself and forever destroyed their hold over God’s children. He takes the scroll in his hand and those gathered to witness break forth in worship:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”—Revelation 5:12 (NIV)

In a fallen world, and in the face of our own fallenness, we need reminders of the worthiness of Christ and the sufficiency of his work. That’s what the “mini-Easter” of Sunday does for us. When we are discouraged, echoing John and the voices who feared nothing could be done to bring about our redemption, we need to be told again that something has already been done by the only one who is worthy. He alone is able to take the brokenness upon himself by virtue of his sacrifice, and he alone is worthy to rob it of its power by virtue of his resurrection. And one day, he alone will return to welcome the ones he has purchased for God into his presence forever. Reminded of this truth, we can join our voices with the heavenly choir:

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?
Of all blessing and honor and glory
Is He worthy of this?
He is

Song: Is He Worthy? (lyrics here)

Questions for Reflection

1) Among the questions asked in this song is: “Do you feel the shadows deepen?” What shadows are deepening in your life? How are you holding those shadows before God? How does the statement “He is worthy” speak into those shadows?

2) The majority of the lyrics in this song are questions. How are questions worshipful? What questions would you bring to God as an offering of worship today?

3) Read and reflect on these verses. Let them lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”—Colossians 1:15-17 (NIV)

Sixteenth Day of Lent (Saturday, 7 March 2026)

If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

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Saturday Reflections

On Saturdays during our Lenten Devotional time we sill simply sit with an instrumental version of a well-known hymn or worship song. Our weeks are so full, so busy, so noisy…use these Saturdays to prepare your hearts for gathered worship by reflecting on lyrics and Scripture in a space of stillness and simplicity.

Today’s instrumental hymn comes from a rather unexpected source. John Greenleaf Whittier was part of the Society of Friends, known as “The Quakers,” a branch of the Christian faith that does not traditionally sing in worship. To be fair, the words he penned were not intended to be a hymn, but a poem. In fact, they are a part of a much larger poem that spoke to the phenomenon of “religious frenzy,” encouraging the reader to consider quieter forms of connecting with God. The “foolish ways” referenced in the first verse are a criticism of hyper-emotionalism in the church, and in fact, some hymnbooks still use the original language of “feverish ways.”

When we consider this purpose, the invitations found in the hymn become much more noticeable through phrases like:

Deeper reverence
Simple trust
Silence of eternity
Still dews of quietness

This hymn is all about the invitation to stillness and simplicity. This is the purpose of our Saturdays during this Lenten journey—to step away from the noise and clamor of daily life and spend a few quiet minutes in the presence of God as we prepare for Sunday worship.

May God’s “coolness and balm” meet you as you listen, read, and reflect.

Scripture for Meditation:

“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.”
—Psalm 131 (NRSV)

Song: Dear Lord and Father of Mankind (lyrics after video)

Lyrics for Reflection

Read through the lyrics of this hymn slowly and prayerfully. Read them more than once, and pay attention to the movement of your soul as you pray. What words or phrases grab your attention? Why? As you finish, sit in prayerful silence before God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you something of your need and God’s provision that emerges from these words.

Dear Lord and Father of mankind
Forgive our foolish ways
Reclothe us in our rightful mind
In purer lives Thy service find
In deeper reverence praise
In deeper reverence praise

In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord
Let us like them without a word
Rise up and follow Thee
Rise up and follow Thee

O Sabbath rest by Galilee
O calm of hills above
Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love
Interpreted by love

With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call
As noiseless let Thy blessing fall
As fell Thy manna down
As fell Thy manna down

Drop Thy still dews of quietness
Till all our strivings cease
Take from our souls the strain and stress
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace
The beauty of Thy peace

Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm
Let sense be dumb let flesh retire
Speak through the earthquake wind and fire
O still small voice of calm
O still small voice of calm

Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, John Greenleaf Whittier
© Words: Public Domain; Music: Public Domain