Jesus is Lord!!

Week 3 Lenten Devotions

Lent Day 17: Monday March 8

Theme for the Week: The Apostles’ Creed as a Statement of our Faith

Passage for the Day: Philippians 2:9-11

⁹ Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹ and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Reflection:

In the Day 16’s Lenten message, we watched Peter come to know that Jesus is the Son of God. The light bulb went off in Peter’s head as he came to an understanding of who he had been hanging around with.

In today’s reading we hear from Paul’s letter to the Community at Philippi, most likely written some 25 to 35 years after Jesus died on the cross. In the years that passed since Peter’s first revelation, the significance of Jesus as the son of God has become evident to the Christian community. Here Paul writes of Jesus, not only as the Son of God, but as the Exalted One and as Lord. He encourages the Philippians to confess or affirm that Jesus is Lord. This is one of the few Bible texts that actually refer to Jesus as Lord. Texts such as this one shaped the faith of those who created the Apostles’ Creed and inform our own understanding of Jesus as both God’s Son and Lord. You can hear an echo of these words in the beginning to the Second Article of the Creed: “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord…”

Prayer Themes: Pray for the faith to confess that Jesus is Lord. Pray for an understanding of what it means that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. Pray for others to come to know Jesus as Lord. Thank God for Jesus as my Lord.

The Lord our God is One!

Week 3 Lenten Devotions

In this coming week--the third week of Lent, we will be reflecting on The Apostles’ Creed as a statement of faith. There are three parts to this creed. In stating this creed, we confess or affirm our believe in the God who creates us, saves us from sin and makes us holy. The Ten Commandments have shown us our sin, driving us to need the Good News that God in Jesus Christ saves us. The Apostles’ Creed shows us this Good News.

Lent Day 13: March 3

Theme for the Week: The Apostles’ Creed as a Statement of our Faith

Passage for the Day: Deuteronomy 6:4

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

Reflection: In this ancient creedal statement from the Hebrew Scriptures, we re-state the words first given to God’s people as they finished their forty year wilderness sojourn. In these few words, we remember that God is OUR God and that there is only one God. The same God who claimed the Israelites as God’s people and rescued them from slavery in Egypt is the God who claims each of us in baptism and saves us from slavery to our sins. This ONE God is the God who creates us, saves us and makes us holy.

Prayer Themes: Pray that I may confess my faith with confidence in God’s power to create me, save me and make me holy. Thank God for God’s faithfulness to God’s people. Pray that others may be brought to the faith confessed in the Apostles’ Creed.