April 16 Lenten Devotional "Prepare Your Heart"

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN. . .On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”   He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’”  So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. (Matthew 26:17-19)

CONSIDER. . .Today is the last full day of Lent.  Tomorrow at sundown we begin the great "Three Days" or Easter Triduum, which stretches from sundown on Holy Thursday to sundown on Easter Sunday. The Triduum liturgies include several major services and can be understood as one continuous act of worship commemorating the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, so that we mark our own dying and rising of the past year.

The above scripture is the beginning of preparations for the final events of Jesus' life on earth. Jesus instructed the disciples to go to Jerusalem and get ready for the Passover meal. They immediately and willingly obeyed Jesus. They did as he asked and made final preparations for an intimate Passover dinner with Jesus and his closest friends.

SO WHAT. . .These are important days. Prepare generously and freely your heart, mind and home for the celebration of Easter. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the preparation for meals and worship services that we miss the opportunity that is before us to spend time with Christ.

• Are our minds more on Easter ham and coloring eggs or on Christ's sacrifice for us?
• Do we view our opportunities for worship as just another thing to do before the Easter Egg Hunt or as opportunities to grow closer to Christ?
• Where will you find quiet time in the next three days to be still and listen?

PRAYER. . .Loving God, lead me into the Triduum with an open heart and a seeking spirit. Help me to prepare myself to more fully enter into the life, death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus. Amen.