Dear Friends:
Welcome to Covenant Presbyterian
Church’s Lent Devotional Guide for 2025. Our theme for our season of Lent this year is “Behold the Man” using the words of Pilate when he presented Jesus to the hostile crowd in Jerusalem two thousand years ago. It is our intention to look carefully at Jesus of Nazareth—who He was, what He did, what He said—to gain a fuller understanding of Him and a deeper relationship with Him. We think this will be a good way to prepare for Easter.
And in a real sense that is what this Lenten devotional book is all about. In Old Testament Prophecies, in New Testament
Commentary and in the Gospels’ story of
Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are Antonio Ciseri, Ecce Homo (Behold the Man!) – 1871 invited to “behold the Man” and to consider His rightful place in our world and in our lives. Our tradition of preparing and offering these booklets as a gift to our church members and friends has proved to be a valuable tool for many of us as we prepare our hearts to receive the gift of Easter. Easter is, by our understanding of world history and from our gracious place within God’s Family of Faith, an annual event that deserves our undivided attention and our dedicated preparation. We hope that you will find the thoughts and prayers of our Covenant servant leaders—elders, staff and other gifted writers—helpful and inspiring as you look forward to Easter and “behold the Man” who came to save us from sin and death and accomplished His work by going to the Cross and rising from death.
The name “Lent” comes from an Old English word that means “lengthen” and points to the reality of lengthening days as we approach Easter. Day by day, the sun shines longer through the days of Lent, the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, excluding Sundays. In this booklet, we offer a Bible reading, personal reflection, suggested response and prayer for each of these 40 days. This collection of devotions is divided into three parts: 1. Old Testament Prophecies Pointing to Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, 2. New Testament Commentary on Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, and 3. the New Testament Narrative of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection.
Once again this year we are adding a sentence at the conclusion of our devotional thoughts, responses and prayers for each day: Today I took the following action of service for the benefit of someone else, to the glory of God and as part ofmy preparation for EasterWe want this to be the season not merely of “giving things up for Lent,” but of “gluing for Lent.” It is not our expectation that each of us will be willing and able to fill in the blank with a personal act of service at the end of each and every day of Lent, but that thinking along these lines each day will lead us to offer and note for ourselves such acts a few times over the next few weeks. To aid us in this Lenten experiment in intentional service, we offer a list of suggestions on the following page.
We think that our simple, intentional acts of kindness during this season, done with an eye toward Jesus and His ultimate giving for us, will be a vital part of getting ourselves ready for April 20 th.
I am grateful to those who have helped make this guide a reality for us again this year.
May you be blessed by what you discover and what you are reminded of in the pages that follow. And may God be glorified by what you choose to do as a result.
Behold the Man!
Pastor Jay Hull for the CPC Elders, Staff, Worship Ministry Team and other Writers Lent 2025