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Multimedia Lent Devotional – Friday after Ash Wednesday

March 6, 2025

2025:

Friday after Ash Wednesday:
• Scripture (Jeanne Vick) – Psalm 51:3-6, 18-19
• Reflection (Patricia Dotson)
• Prayer (Jim Roberson)
• Videos: (Matthew 9:14-15)
• Music: “Create In Me” (Paul Zach) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikBHTpemuHw

2024:

Friday after Ash Wednesday:

Isaiah 58:1-9a – “Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’ Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.”

Today’s Scripture invites us to consider, not whether we will fast, but how we will fast. In the Bible, fasting is closely connected with making some kind of request before God, often in a time of mourning, such that physical necessities (like food) fade into the background. In Isaiah 58 God challenges the use of fasting as a way to get his attention. God urges us to show that we love him by the way we treat the people around us. God doesn’t want us to just talk about mercy, compassion, and justice, but to do something about them. You and I cannot fix the entire world, and we’ll only get worn out and discouraged if we expect to do that. God calls us into a life of love. To be loved is to enter into and be immersed in the divine dance and eternal embrace of the Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit. To love is to choose to will the good of the other, expecting nothing in return. And every single act of mercy, compassion, and justice, done in love, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, can and does change the world. We may never see the result of our actions, and it’s good to learn to be okay with that. God does not require us to produce results, but to show our love for him by demonstrating God’s love to the people all around us in very practical ways. Let’s pause for a moment and reflect on each of God’s instructions here (as they’re worded in The Message translation), noticing where the Holy Spirit is nudging us into action: break the chains of injustice … get rid of exploitation in the workplace … free the oppressed … cancel debts … share your food with the hungry … invite the homeless poor into your homes … put clothes on the shivering ill-clad … be available to your own families. These are hard to do, but not impossible. We do them one small step at a time, in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. We present our whole selves, our whole lives, to God with a “Here I am” and do one small act of mercy, compassion, or justice after another. And as we do, God promises to completely permeate us with light, restoration, godliness, and abundance, and, best of all, God assures us of his presence and power by reminding us, “Here … I … am.”

2023:

Friday after Ash Wednesday:

  • Scripture (Ally Vick) – Matthew 9:14-15
  • Reflection (Karen Sculley)
  • Prayer (Michael Sculley)
  • Video: Matthew
  • Music: “Forty Days and Forty Nights” (The Gesualdo Six)

Matthew 9:14-15 – “Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.’”

When asked about fasting, Jesus responds by describing a wedding. In Jewish culture at that time, it was not permitted to fast or engage in any acts of mourning during a wedding feast. Wedding were celebrations of rejoicing and festivity! But fasting was also an important practice along with prayer and repentance, prompting John’s disciples’ question. Over the centuries, many people have fasted, thinking that in doing so they are unlocking God’s power or fulfilling a formula, as though God could be manipulated by magic. Fasting literally means “to practice self-denial.” God tells us clearly that fasting is not about what you don’t eat but about the good that you choose to do. True fasting is equated with the fast that God chooses and desires: “to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts . . . sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.” (Isaiah 58:6-7, The Message)

In this season of Lent, let us fast, give, and pray, certainly, but let us align our desires with God’s desires and act accordingly.

Each short Multimedia Lent Devotional is an invitation to set aside time each day during the season preceding Easter. Lent is a solemn 40-day period we observe as we seek to draw near to God prior to the great celebration of Easter. During Lent,

  • we intentionally practice sober reflection, serious repentance, and sincere restitution, in which we more fully recognize our brokenness as humans, looking always to Jesus Christ as our Savior and sanctifier;
  • we seek to live lives marked by simplicity, self-denial, and surrender, in imitation of Christ Jesus, who fasted for 40 days in the wilderness before He began His public ministry;
  • we look for ways in which we express love for neighbors and nations in need in practical ways through generously giving of our time, talents, and treasures.

This collaboration is brought to you by Liberty Vineyard Church

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