Tag: devotional

Journey to the Cross 2023: beginning our Lenten journey

Matt EricksonLeave a comment

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
(Joel 2:12-13)

Join us tonight, February 22, at 6:30 PM, in-person or via live stream for the beginning of our Lenten journey at Eastbrook Church with our annual Journey to the Cross service. Each year, we invite everyone to fast during the day and break the fast by participating in the Lord’s Supper together at this service. For more information on fasting, explore the resources I have pulled together here.

This also begins our Lenten (and beyond) devotional journey, “Fractured,” written by the Eastbrook community that accompanies our new sermon series. You can access the devotional online, as a downloadable PDF, via the Eastbrook app, or through a limited-run of paper copies. I’ve included the entry I wrote for today in the devotional below.

For more information on the importance of Lent and the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, consider reading this post: “What is Ash Wednesday and Lent?“

Dust to Dust

Read Genesis 3:14-19

“By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)

The journey of Lent begins with a sober reminder: we are dust and we will return to dust. Earlier, we’re told in Genesis 2 that “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (2:7). The man (adam) was formed out of the dust (adamah), or mud, and filled with the breath of God before being placed in God’s Garden in the land of delights (Eden). The earthiness of humanity in Genesis 2 feels freighted with purpose and beauty from God.

But in Genesis 3, after the man and woman assert their autonomy from God, a series of curses come upon humanity and the creation. Now, the man will work the soil with great trouble instead of the labor of delight. This sweaty toil will continue until the man (adam) returns to the dust (adamah).  The idea of being made from dust now holds a heaviness for us with a dark destiny at its end.

Most of the time we avoid the dark destiny of our dust-formed lives. There are entire industries and vocations dedicated to distracting us from death. This may seem like a good thing until some unexpected diagnosis or fearful event brings us face-to-face with our mortality. Suddenly everything shifts. We must consider our end and are often unprepared for that reality.

The journey of Lent begins with an invaluable gift to counteract our escapist tendencies. The traditional beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday combines the application of ashes with the stark statement of Genesis 3:19, “for dust you are and to dust you will return.” It is a reminder that the fractures of sin touch our lives and we, too, are lost apart from the intervention of God. It is true, as Paul writes, that “the wages of sin is death.” It is good to remember that reality. It is good to see our sin and its weight. It is good to consider the seriousness of death that we might live in humility before God and others. Thank God for the remainder of that statement from Paul: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

So, friends, let us enter this journey of Lent in all humility and sober reflection. Let us pray with the psalmist, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12)

Journey to the Cross 2022: beginning our Lenten journey

Matt EricksonLeave a comment

Join us this Wednesday, March 2, at 7 PM, in-person or via live stream for the beginning of our Lenten journey at Eastbrook Church with our annual Journey to the Cross service. Each year, we invite everyone to fast during the day and break the fast by participating in the Lord’s Supper together at this service. For more information on fasting, take a look here.

If you are planning to join us online, please pick up a packet with materials, including communion, at Eastbrook on Sunday morning, February 27, or from the Church Office 8 AM-4 PM Monday, February 28-Wednesday, March 2.

This also begins our Lenten (and beyond) devotional journey, “Scandalous Jesus,” written by the Eastbrook community that accompanies our new sermon series. You can access the devotional online, as a downloadable PDF, via the Eastbrook app, or through a limited-run of paper copies.

For more information on the importance of Lent and the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, consider reading this post: “What is Ash Wednesday and Lent?“

Joining the Journey of Advent: ‘Tis the Reason Advent Devotional from Eastbrook Church

Matt EricksonLeave a comment

How do you prepare for Christmas? Do you put up Christmas lights indoors or outdoors, decorate your apartment or house, cut down a Christmas tree to bring it home, or buy presents for family and friends?  Are there certain traditions you return to each year that help you get in the mindset of what Christmas is all about?

One traditional song begins with these words: “Deck the halls with boughs of holly…’tis the season to be jolly.” ‘Tis the season…the appropriate time for joy and celebration. But we all know how quickly we can lose focus. Caught up in the rush of the season, losing our bearings in Christmas concerts, holiday parties, online or in-person shopping, and so much more, we forget why we are doing it all. 

We’ve all likely heard someone say or read a bumper sticker that said, “Jesus is the reason for the season.” This is so very true, but can feel so very trite. Yes, we celebrate Jesus’ birth as a monumental marker in human history and the centerpiece of God’s salvation story. Jesus is the reason for our season of joy and celebration. But hopefully we know the Gospel story of Jesus’ birth has a depth and richness far greater than cute phraseology or bumper sticker theology. As seekers and disciples, we want to get inside that richness and depth. Like finding a vast and thrilling new territory, we want to step inside and explore the why of Jesus’ incarnation. ‘Tis the reason…the significant meaning behind our joy and celebration.

Advent is the season before Christmas that helps us do just that. Coming from the Latin word adventus (“appearing”), Advent gifts us with four weeks to explore the expanse of the reason for the season. In Advent we look back with wonder at Jesus’ birth roughly 2,000 years ago. We also enter into the history of the chosen people, Israel, whose prophets anticipated Jesus’ birth in the messages. Simultaneously, we stand as the new chosen people, looking forward to Jesus’ future return at the end of human history. 

This year, instead of looking at the typical infancy narratives, our Advent journey will uniquely take us through the middle of the Gospel of Matthew. There, we see Jesus turning toward Jerusalem while offering hints about and glimpses into the reason he has come as Messiah. His suffering will bring peace, His glory will bring joy, His healing will come to those with faith, and His resurrection will bring hope. 

You can join in the Advent journey through a daily devotional from Eastbrook Church as a downloadable PDF, online, or through the Eastbrook app. This devotional can be used individually, in groups, with friends, or with your family as a tool for the Advent exploration of the reason for Jesus’ incarnation. 

So, let me invite you to step into this new and glorious territory, exploring it through the four weeks of Advent. May we have a fresh encounter with Jesus through Advent on our way to the celebration of Christmas.

Journey to the Cross 2021: beginning our Lenten journey

Matt EricksonLeave a comment

Join us this Wednesday, February 17, at 7 PM, in-person or via live stream for the beginning of our Lenten journey at Eastbrook Church with our annual Journey to the Cross service. Each year, we invite everyone to fast during the day and break the fast by participating in the Lord’s Supper together at this service. For more information on fasting, take a look here.

You can access the Journey to the Cross Program here and the kids packet for the night here.

This also begins our Lenten (and beyond) devotional journey, “Becoming Real,” written by the Eastbrook community that accompanies our new sermon series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. You can access the devotional online, as a downloadable PDF, via the Eastbrook app, or through a limited-run of paper copies.

For more information on the importance of Lent and the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, consider reading this post: “What is Ash Wednesday and Lent?“

Journey to the Cross 2020: beginning our Lenten journey

Matt EricksonLeave a comment

Join us this Wednesday, February 26, at 7 PM for the beginning of our Lenten journey at Eastbrook Church with our annual Journey to the Cross service. We invite everyone to fast during the day and break the fast by participating in the Lord’s Supper together.

This also begins our 40-day devotional journey, “Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament Prophets,” written by the Eastbrook community around themes of Jesus’ life and ministry through the lens of the prophetic literature in the Hebrew Bible. You can access the devotional online, as a downloadable PDF, via the Eastbrook app, or through a limited-run of paper copies.