2021 WEPC Daily Readings for the Season of Lent
February 17 - April 3, 2021

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and it lasts until the Saturday before Easter Day. The last week of Lent is called Passion Week, which includes both Maundy Thursday (the institution of the Lord’s Supper) and Good Friday (the crucifixion of our Lord).  Reminiscent of Jesus’ fasting for forty days in the wilderness, the Lenten season lasts forty days, not counting Sundays.  Lent is a time to ask God to confront our own mortality and sinfulness; to ask Him to show us our need for grace; to grow in repentance; and, to reflect on the amazing truth of the Church’s participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This year, our texts and readings are selected from Charles Wesley’s Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (1762). 

Wesley was an itinerant evangelist who grew ill in his mid-50’s. He had to take a leave of absence from preaching and spent time recuperating in Bristol, England in 1760–61. As he rested, Wesley read through the entire Bible and wrote a remarkable series of short poems– an average of about five per day! Unlike his work on the Psalms which were paraphrases of Scripture, these short hymns have an intimately personal and devotional tone. These brief hymns are meant to complement the Scriptural witness and encourage us to approach God in Christ.  

Wesley's reflections remind us that God is at work-- even in our worst times. Even in our suffering.  God gave Wesley grace to see Jesus every day when he read the Scripture. Let's pray for eyes to see Jesus, and faith to turn and trust Him this Lent.