Tag Archive for Holy Week

Holy Week Devotional Resources

For many of us, Holy Week services are the most meaningful of the entire year. How can we celebrate its world-changing events without meeting together? Here is one tool that might prove useful to you and your people.

Click this link to download Holy Week Devotional Resources 2020. For each day of Holy Week, it provides:

  1. One or more scripture readings from the lectionary.
  2. A link to a devotional reflection.
  3. A link to a hymn. The hymn page includes a recording of the hymn — see the “Listen” link in the upper right-hand section of the page.

May God’s Spirit speak and bless you as you pause to consider all Christ did for you in His suffering, death, and resurrection.

ThinkSingPray

ThinkSingPray 

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Palm Sunday, Prep for Holy Week 

 

Monday –      Easter Is the Story of a King (long version)
         Hymn: Here Comes Jesus! He’s Our King! (recording) (printed)

Tuesday –     Recognized as King
         Hymn: See the Servant (recording) (printed)

Wednesday – The Triumphal Entry
         Hymn: Who Is He? (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    Reflection on Psalm 118
         Hymn: Psalm 118 (recording) (printed)

Friday –          The Christ of Holy Week
         Hymn: The Heart of Christ (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     Prepare for Holy Week
         Hymn: As You Love (recording) (printed)

 

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
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The Christ of Holy Week

from A Christ-centered Year

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10, NIV)

During Holy Week, Jesus is the Love of the Father,
humbly submitting to death on the cross.

Watch as Jesus burns with zeal for His Father’s house and
cleanses the temple.

Listen as He urges His disciples to
pray boldly,
patiently endure persecution, and
remain faithful.

Breathe the alabaster fragrance of a woman’s lavish worship
in preparation for Jesus’ burial.

Be humbled as He bows to
model servanthood and
washes your feet.

Stand helplessly as He is arrested and led away.
Hear His silence in the face of brutal injustice.
Sense His deep loneliness.
See His agony.
Watch Him die.
Feel the awful stillness as a huge stone seals in His lifeless body.

This is the measure of Jesus’ love for the Father.
This is the measure of His love for us.
This is the new standard for our love for each other:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Here Is Love
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Prayer in Gethsemane

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” 

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. 

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” (Matthew 26:36-46, NIV) 

As Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples, we sensed His burden. Now it seems to be almost crushing Him. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (v.38). Physically, He is facing extended torture and an excruciating death. Emotionally, He is already under tremendous pressure, and soon complete isolation and humiliation will be added. Spiritually, He is about to experience a sense of separation from the Father Who has been His constant companion and strength.

It is Jesus’ final hour or hours before his arrest. How does He spend them? He prays. His life has been filled with prayer. He has seemed in almost constant communication with His Father. He came to Gethsemane to pray so regularly that Judas knew where to find Him, even though he had left during the meal.

What can we learn about Jesus from His prayer in Gethsemane?

  • When burdened or pressured, pray. Jesus didn’t resort to recreation or diversion or bodily rest. He prayed.
  • He was honest with God about His feelings. “Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me” (v.39).
  • It’s OK to struggle, IF we keep our eyes on the Father and continue to trust Him and stay committed to Him.
  • You may have heard people say that we’re supposed to give our concerns to God in prayer, then leave them there; don’t ever go back to them. But here Jesus kept coming back, repeating the same prayer. Some burdens are so heavy that we can’t just pray about them once and forget them. They keep pressing on our minds and emotions. Jesus’ example teaches us to keep bringing our concerns to God whenever they come to mind. That’s not doubt. It’s faith. Jesus didn’t have anything new to communicate, but He kept bringing His burden to His Father.
  • “Your will be done” in v.42 is the exact same Greek phrase used in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10. Jesus modeled and lived out the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer isn’t just words. It is an attitude toward God, a relationship with Him, a lifestyle. If you want to understand its meaning for life, look at the example of Jesus.
  • “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (v.41). When Jesus’ hour of great trial came, He was ready. The disciples, who had spent the time sleeping, crumbled. They scattered in fear. Watch and pray.
  • When every fiber of Jesus’ being was screaming to run the other way, He submitted because He remained focused on the Father and continued to trust Him, step by step. We can too.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: A Garden in the Night
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

A Christ-centered Year

During Advent, Jesus is the Promise of the Father.

During Christmas, He is the Gift of the Father. He is all the fullness of God embodied in a human infant.

During Epiphany, Jesus is the Light of the Father, drawing all people to Himself.

During Lent, He is the Father’s Servant, leading us on the path of obedience and trust.

During Holy Week, Jesus is the Love of the Father, humbly submitting to death on the cross.

During Easter, He is the Life of the Father, overcoming death and sin forever.

On Ascension Day, Jesus is at the Father’s right hand, reigning as Sovereign Lord and King.

On Pentecost, He pours out the Promise of the Father, baptizing every believer in the Holy Spirit of God.

During Ordinary Time, Jesus helps us order our lives by His teaching and example. He gives us His Spirit as a down-payment while we eagerly await His promised Advent.

Brothers and sisters, let’s constantly celebrate all God has done for us in Jesus Christ! Let’s make this year a Christ-centered year.