Lent Devotional 2019

Find Your Program Apply Online Visit Campus Request Info

About Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Rooted in the Reformed tradition, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is committed to the formation of women and men for theologically reflective ministry and to scholarship in service to the global Church of Jesus Christ.

Become a Student

Certificate Programs

Special Programs

Faculty

In addition to their on-campus duties, our faculty are experts in their fields and are available to preach and teach. Learn more about their topics of research and writing and invite them to present at your congregation or gathering.

Events

The Seminary hosts a wide range of events—many of them free!—on topics of faith including church planting, mission, vocation, spiritual formation, pastoral care and counseling, archaeology, and many more. Visit our calendar often for a listing of upcoming events.

Visit PTS

Interested in the Seminary? Come visit us!

Stay in Touch with PTS

Sign-up to receive the Seminary's newsletters: Seminary News (monthly), Church Planting Initiative (monthly), Continuing Education (monthly), World Mission Initiative (monthly), Metro-Urban Institute (quarterly), and Kelso Museum. Alums, there's also one for you!

Lent Devotional APRIL 18, 2019

Scripture

Jeremiah 20:7-18

7 O LORD, you have enticed me,
        and I was enticed;
   you have overpowered me,
        and you have prevailed.
   I have become a laughingstock all day long;
        everyone mocks me.
8  For whenever I speak, I must cry out,
        I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
   For the word of the LORD has become for me
        a reproach and derision all day long.
9  If I say, “I will not mention him,
        or speak any more in his name,”
   then within me there is something like a burning fire
        shut up in my bones;
   I am weary with holding it in,
        and I cannot.
10 For I hear many whispering:
        “Terror is all around!
   Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
        All my close friends
        are watching for me to stumble.
   “Perhaps he can be enticed,
        and we can prevail against him,
        and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the LORD is with me like a dread warrior;
        therefore my persecutors will stumble,
        and they will not prevail.
   They will be greatly shamed,
        for they will not succeed.
   Their eternal dishonor
        will never be forgotten.
12 O LORD of hosts, you test the righteous,
        you see the heart and the mind;
   let me see your retribution upon them,
        for to you I have committed my cause.

13 Sing to the LORD;
        praise the LORD!
   For he has delivered the life of the needy
        from the hands of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the day
        on which I was born!
   The day when my mother bore me,
        let it not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man
        who brought the news to my father, saying,
   “A child is born to you, a son,”
        making him very glad.
16 Let that man be like the cities
        that the LORD overthrew without pity;
   let him hear a cry in the morning
        and an alarm at noon,
17 because he did not kill me in the womb;
        so my mother would have been my grave,
        and her womb forever great.
18 Why did I come forth from the womb
        to see toil and sorrow,
        and spend my days in shame?

Devotional

Joel Peterson, M.Div. / Pastor, Eldersville United Methodist Church, Burgettstown, Pa.

God’s call upon the lives of the prophets didn’t come with the promise of peace and prosperity or the guarantee that anyone would want to listen to their words. And Jeremiah wasn’t afraid to be honest with God about the inhospitable working conditions he endured. The word of God had taken over his body so that the prophetic warning of violence and destruction was always on his lips. Jeremiah wanted to stop preaching, but the words were like a fire that could not be contained. As others heard Jeremiah’s prophecy of doom and gloom, the words burned up his reputation and destroyed his body.

No matter our specific vocation, we know from experience that the call of God compels us to diverge from the path of least resistance. As the love of God fills our bodies, we can no longer be silent to the forces of death and unrighteousness in our world. We become disillusioned with the way things are, and a passion to make things right ignites within us. Sometimes we encounter outside resistance, but prophetic voices often encounter more painful resistance from within the Christian community.

There is no more appropriate time than Lent to confess our struggles to God honestly. When we hold these feelings in, we risk burnout. But when we, like Jeremiah, are blunt with God, the weight of the message’s efficacy is lifted from our shoulders. We’re reminded that we are vessels of God’s word. The word itself and the work of transformation are God’s.

Prayer

Out of the depths we cry to you, O Lord. You have placed causes and concerns deep in our hearts, yet the world has told us to be silent. As your prophetic word burns inside us, give us also your words of grace. Renew us, strengthen us, and equip us to be your servants, now and to the end of the age. Teach us once again to sing your praises, all the while knowing that you will succeed in bringing justice and righteousness to our world. Amen.

Lent Devotional APRIL 18, 2019

Scripture

Jeremiah 20:7-18

7 O LORD, you have enticed me,
        and I was enticed;
   you have overpowered me,
        and you have prevailed.
   I have become a laughingstock all day long;
        everyone mocks me.
8  For whenever I speak, I must cry out,
        I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
   For the word of the LORD has become for me
        a reproach and derision all day long.
9  If I say, “I will not mention him,
        or speak any more in his name,”
   then within me there is something like a burning fire
        shut up in my bones;
   I am weary with holding it in,
        and I cannot.
10 For I hear many whispering:
        “Terror is all around!
   Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
        All my close friends
        are watching for me to stumble.
   “Perhaps he can be enticed,
        and we can prevail against him,
        and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the LORD is with me like a dread warrior;
        therefore my persecutors will stumble,
        and they will not prevail.
   They will be greatly shamed,
        for they will not succeed.
   Their eternal dishonor
        will never be forgotten.
12 O LORD of hosts, you test the righteous,
        you see the heart and the mind;
   let me see your retribution upon them,
        for to you I have committed my cause.

13 Sing to the LORD;
        praise the LORD!
   For he has delivered the life of the needy
        from the hands of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the day
        on which I was born!
   The day when my mother bore me,
        let it not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man
        who brought the news to my father, saying,
   “A child is born to you, a son,”
        making him very glad.
16 Let that man be like the cities
        that the LORD overthrew without pity;
   let him hear a cry in the morning
        and an alarm at noon,
17 because he did not kill me in the womb;
        so my mother would have been my grave,
        and her womb forever great.
18 Why did I come forth from the womb
        to see toil and sorrow,
        and spend my days in shame?

Devotional

Joel Peterson, M.Div. / Pastor, Eldersville United Methodist Church, Burgettstown, Pa.

God’s call upon the lives of the prophets didn’t come with the promise of peace and prosperity or the guarantee that anyone would want to listen to their words. And Jeremiah wasn’t afraid to be honest with God about the inhospitable working conditions he endured. The word of God had taken over his body so that the prophetic warning of violence and destruction was always on his lips. Jeremiah wanted to stop preaching, but the words were like a fire that could not be contained. As others heard Jeremiah’s prophecy of doom and gloom, the words burned up his reputation and destroyed his body.

No matter our specific vocation, we know from experience that the call of God compels us to diverge from the path of least resistance. As the love of God fills our bodies, we can no longer be silent to the forces of death and unrighteousness in our world. We become disillusioned with the way things are, and a passion to make things right ignites within us. Sometimes we encounter outside resistance, but prophetic voices often encounter more painful resistance from within the Christian community.

There is no more appropriate time than Lent to confess our struggles to God honestly. When we hold these feelings in, we risk burnout. But when we, like Jeremiah, are blunt with God, the weight of the message’s efficacy is lifted from our shoulders. We’re reminded that we are vessels of God’s word. The word itself and the work of transformation are God’s.

Prayer

Out of the depths we cry to you, O Lord. You have placed causes and concerns deep in our hearts, yet the world has told us to be silent. As your prophetic word burns inside us, give us also your words of grace. Renew us, strengthen us, and equip us to be your servants, now and to the end of the age. Teach us once again to sing your praises, all the while knowing that you will succeed in bringing justice and righteousness to our world. Amen.

About Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Rooted in the Reformed tradition, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is committed to the formation of women and men for theologically reflective ministry and to scholarship in service to the global Church of Jesus Christ.

Become a Student

Certificate Programs

Special Programs

Faculty

In addition to their on-campus duties, our faculty are experts in their fields and are available to preach and teach. Learn more about their topics of research and writing and invite them to present at your congregation or gathering.

Events

The Seminary hosts a wide range of events—many of them free!—on topics of faith including church planting, mission, vocation, spiritual formation, pastoral care and counseling, archaeology, and many more. Visit our calendar often for a listing of upcoming events.

Visit PTS

Interested in the Seminary? Come visit us!

Stay in Touch with PTS

Sign-up to receive the Seminary's newsletters: Seminary News (monthly), Church Planting Initiative (monthly), Continuing Education (monthly), World Mission Initiative (monthly), Metro-Urban Institute (quarterly), and Kelso Museum. Alums, there's also one for you!