Lent as Lament and Love: Walking to Emmaus Together

Devotional

Day 1: The Call to Love Others as a Mark of Faith

The fifth mark of a Methodist is to love others, a call that extends even to those we might consider enemies. This love is not conditional or self-directed, but is made possible through divine grace. It is a radical love that flows from a pure heart, cleansed of pride and malice. Such love bears fruit in kindness, humility, and forgiveness, reflecting the very character of God. This obedience is not a burden but a life-giving response to the love we have first received. [04:37]

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28, ESV)

Reflection: Consider a relationship where you find it difficult to offer love or kindness. How might God's grace be inviting you to take one small, practical step toward forgiveness or reconciliation this week?

Day 2: Embracing the Spiritual Discipline of Lent

Lent is a season for intentional spiritual practice and self-examination, grounded in biblical traditions of sacrifice. It is a time to create space for God, not merely by giving something up, but perhaps by giving of our time and presence to others. This season encourages a deeper understanding of forgiveness and strengthens both individual faith and community connections. It is an invitation to a shared experience that draws us closer to God and to one another. [10:00]

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18, ESV)

Reflection: Instead of focusing on deprivation, what is one way you could intentionally give your time or presence to someone else as a spiritual practice during this Lenten season?

Day 3: The Sacred Dignity of Lament

Lament is a sacred and biblical form of prayer that gives voice to our deepest hurts and confusions. These prayers of protest draw attention to the suffering and injustice in the world, asking God to act. They provide a God-given way to process our anger, dismay, and sorrow, both individually and corporately. In doing so, lament grants a sacred dignity to human suffering and affirms that all our emotions have a place before God. [13:20]

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?” (Psalm 13:1-2a, ESV)

Reflection: Where in your life or in our world are you feeling a sense of anger or sorrow that you have been hesitant to bring to God? What would it look like to honestly express that to Him in a prayer of lament today?

Day 4: Interpreting Scripture in Community

Understanding God's word is not a task meant for isolation but is a journey we undertake together. Engaging with scripture in community allows us to help one another, share insights, and overcome challenges we could not face alone. This collaborative effort mirrors how we are called to live out our faith—supporting each other, sharing our resources, and working towards a common understanding of God’s will for us. [45:36]

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV)

Reflection: When has someone else's perspective on a passage of scripture or a point of faith helped you understand it more deeply? Who in your faith community could you engage with in a conversation about scripture this week?

Day 5: Recognizing Christ in Our Shared Journey

Sometimes we walk with Jesus without immediately recognizing His presence alongside us. It is often in looking back on our journey—in the breaking of bread, the sharing of stories, and the support of community—that our eyes are opened. Christ meets us on the road, in our worship, and in our fellowship, setting our hearts on fire with His truth and love, even if we only understand it later. [47:31]

“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’” (Luke 24:30-32, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a recent experience in community or worship. In what ways might Christ have been present with you in that moment, even if you did not recognize Him at the time?

Sermon Summary

Lent opens as a lived season of discipline, dislocation, and deeper presence. The Five Marks of a Methodist—love God, rejoice, give thanks, pray constantly, and love others—become a practical framework for spiritual formation rooted in grace. Grace enables love that refuses conditionality; obedience flows from love and the Spirit equips each command with life-giving power. Wesley’s call to a “pure heart” reframes holiness as cleansing from envy, malice, and pride so that mercy, meekness, and long-suffering become visible fruit.

The wilderness motif threads the season: forty days echo Jesus’ testing, Israel’s desert formation, and Exodus fasting. Lent receives a call to be experienced rather than merely observed—an invitation to dislocate usual comforts, practice spiritual disciplines, and invest time and presence in others. Evil gets named not as a person but as destructive patterns: bullying, abuse, neglect, and manipulation that harm the most vulnerable. Naming evil creates space for forgiveness toward persons while resisting systems and actions that perpetuate harm.

Lamentations emerges as the Lenten companion: five concise poems that model how faithful protest and raw grief address catastrophe and exile. Lament gives scripture-shaped dignity to anger, confusion, and sorrow, and reframes tears as an alchemical capacity for empathy that fuels communal care. Reading and practicing lament becomes a means to process suffering, appeal to God, and hold both grief and hope together.

Scripture interpretation requires community work. An interactive reading of Luke 19 illustrated how assembling texts with one another deepens understanding and resists isolated interpretation. The Emmaus story and shared table fellowship underscore recognition of Christ in broken bread and opened scripture; bread and cup enact presence, remembrance, and mutual belonging. Homemade communion bread and shared soup emphasize hospitality, hands-on practice, and the ordinary holiness of meal-making together.

Prayers and pastoral care thread through lament and rejoicing alike: named intercessions for bereavement, illness, transitions, and service work point toward a reconciliatory ministry that trusts God’s guidance. Practical mission, stewardship, and creative ministries—makers and bakers, plarn weaving, and a Clear Story giving initiative—translate theological convictions into communal practices that sustain worship, care, and witness.

Key Takeaways

1. Love others as grace requires Grace rescues love from conditionality and ego-driven discipleship. When love flows from receiving grace, obligations become life-giving rather than burdensome; commandments then serve flourishing. The “pure heart” Wesley names clears the ground for mercy, humility, and patient forgiveness to take root. [04:07]
2. Lament names what must change Biblical lament offers a faithful protest that both tells God the truth and forms communal memory. Lament refuses silence about injustice, giving grief a sacred structure that channels anger into plea and witness. Practicing lament deepens empathy and clarifies the moral contours of what needs repair. [12:11]
3. Lent as embodied wilderness Lent asks for real dislocation: time away from comfort to practice self-examination, fasting, and presence to others. The wilderness experience resists easy explanations and cultivates patience, interior honesty, and spiritual resilience. Entering this season intentionally reorients desire from consumption toward attentive formation. [34:02]
4. Table fellowship opens eyes to Christ Breaking bread with others trains recognition: Christ often appears in the ordinary acts of hospitality and shared scripture. Communion and meal fellowship bind memory, teaching, and mutual care into embodied worship that transforms daily life. Shared meals become a classroom for reconciliation and sustained community life. [46:12]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:21] - First Sunday in Lent
[01:06] - Isaiah 58 and Ark Imagery
[03:03] - Ministry of Reconciliation
[04:07] - Five Marks: Love Others
[07:54] - Jesus in the Wilderness: 40 Days
[10:59] - Introducing Lamentations
[12:11] - Lament as Protest & Processing
[17:15] - Responsive Reading: Lament 1:19-22
[22:36] - Prayers of the People
[33:37] - Interactive Scripture Exercise
[46:12] - Emmaus, Table Fellowship & Communion
[55:12] - Fellowship, Food, and Mission Announcements

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading: Luke 19:28-40 (ESV)
And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Observation questions

What specific instructions did Jesus give to the two disciples he sent ahead into the village?
How did the owners of the colt react when the disciples began to untie it, and what was the disciples' response?
What did the multitude of disciples shout as Jesus rode down the Mount of Olives, and how did the Pharisees react to this?
What was the interactive exercise the congregation did with the strips of paper, and what did it demonstrate about reading scripture? [35:00]

Interpretation questions

The crowd proclaimed Jesus as king, yet he was riding on a colt, not a warhorse. What does this contrast say about the nature of his kingship and kingdom?
Jesus says that if the disciples were silent, "the very stones would cry out." What does this imply about the necessity and inevitability of proclaiming who Jesus is?
The interactive scripture reading required the community to work together to assemble the story correctly. Why is interpreting scripture in community, rather than in isolation, so important? [45:36]
The sermon described Lent as a season of "dislocation" and being in the "wilderness." How does the experience of working together to understand a passage mirror the Lenten call to rely on each other and the Spirit?

Application questions

Grace rescues love from being conditional and ego-driven. [05:28] What is one relationship in your life where you find yourself setting conditions for your love, and how can you begin to let grace reshape your approach to that person this week?
Biblical lament is a form of faithful protest that gives a sacred structure to grief and anger. [12:11] What is a current situation—personal, in the church, or in the world—that you have been silent about but that you feel God might be calling you to lament? What would it look like to bring that honestly to God?
Lent asks for real dislocation from our usual comforts to practice self-examination and presence to others. [34:02] What is one comfort or routine you could intentionally set aside during Lent to create space for God and to be more present to the people around you?
Christ often appears in the ordinary acts of hospitality and shared scripture, like in the breaking of bread. [46:12] Who is someone you could share a simple meal with this week, and how could you intentionally make space to recognize Christ's presence in that time together?
The call to love from a "pure heart" cleanses us from envy, malice, and pride, making room for mercy and patience. [06:13] What "unkind temper or malign affection" most often trips you up in your relationships, and what is one practical step you can take this Lent to "put on bowels of mercy" instead?
The work of interpreting scripture and living out faith is not meant to be done alone but in community. [45:36] How can you more actively engage with others in your small group or church to understand the Bible and live it out, rather than trying to figure it all out on your own?

Sermon Clips

So to carry that idea forward, Wesley changes the metaphor from light to fruit later on. Rooted in the love of God, we now bear the fruit of that love. The evidence that we are doing this is that we keep God's commandments, not only some or most of them, but all, from the least to the greatest. This isn't legalism, rather it is obedience that flows from the realization that every command of God is life giving. Every command of God comes with the grace to carry it out. Every command of God comes with the presence of the Holy Spirit to assist us in fulfilling it. We do all of this, Wesley says, because our obedience is in proportion to our love, the source from whence it flows. [00:06:34] (65 seconds) #RootedInLove

So reverend Stephen Harper in his little book, The Five Marks of a Methodist, says a few things about that, and he quotes John Wesley. As with the first commandment, Harper says, to love God with our whole heart, mind, and being, we are brought back to the necessity of grace if we are to love in this way. Apart from grace, we will love other people conditionally, and worse still, we will set the conditions for giving our love. When this happens, our discipleship becomes ego driven rather than spirit directed. [00:05:04] (45 seconds) #LoveByGrace

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