Ash Wednesday
February 17, 2021
“Repent and Believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:1-20)
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first of the forty days of Lent. And while we’re not able to meet in person today, due to adverse travel conditions, we still are able to meet here, online, to meditate on God’s Word. And we’re thankful for that.
One thing we’re encouraging our people to do this year for our Lenten devotion is to “Read Mark.” That is, we have recommended a schedule for reading through the Gospel of Mark over the forty days of Lent. The readings average only about seventeen verses a day, so that’s very manageable. We’ve included the reading plan as a bulletin insert the last couple of Sundays, I’ve posted the schedule on my Facebook page, and I’ve sent it out to our members for whom I have email addresses. If you would like a copy of the “Read Mark” devotional plan, let me know, with your email address, and I can email it to you.
The first reading today, to begin our readthrough of this gospel, is from Mark chapter 1, the first twenty verses. And not only does it get us started in Mark, it also works to get us going in Lent. For Lent is a penitential season, a season of repentance, as we hear now in the words of our Savior, “Repent and Believe in the Gospel.”
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