Sometimes it’s nice to have a reading plan that takes you through a month or a semester, but other times it’s great to have something for one week. Here are a couple of reading plan options for Holy Week leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Continue reading Bible Reading Plans for Holy WeekCategory: Church Calendar
Lent 40-Day Reading Plan
The Christian seasons of Lent and Advent are a great time to commit to daily Bible reading as you prepare your heart for Easter and Christmas.
During the six-week Lenten season, Christians have historically focused on the wilderness temptation and sufferings of Christ, including his crucifixion on Good Friday, ultimately leading to his resurrection on Easter Sunday. It’s a season of being emptied of ourselves as we reorient ourselves on the fullness of life in Christ. It can be a time of spiritual refinement and refreshment as we walk through our own wilderness season eager to receive God’s grace. In this time, followers of Jesus ask God to rid us of our fleshly desires and satisfy with the glories of the gospel of Christ.
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Holy Week Reading Plan & Resources
Today begins what the Church has called Holy Week or Passion Week. The time from Palm Sunday to Easter (Resurrection) Sunday has provided Christians with a week to give special attention to the person and work of Christ. It interrupts our normal rhythms and intentionally puts Jesus before us so we can reflect on the events leading up to and including his sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection. Below is a reading plan for the week, as well as activities and resources to help you leverage this significant week in the Church Calendar.
What is Lent?
“Each year the season of Lent asks us to embrace a spiritual gravity, a downward movement of soul, a turning from our soul-sufficiency and sinfulness. In such quiet turning, we are humbled and thus made ready to receive from God a fresh and joyous grace.” Bobby Gross[1]
Lent, not to be confused with lint (that fluffy stuff in your dryer vent or jean pockets), is a season within the Church calendar preparing our hearts for Easter. Similar to how Advent each December allows us to meditate on the incarnation leading up to Christmas Day, Lent gives us six weeks to consider Christ’s humility in the wilderness temptation and his human trials as we move towards Good Friday and Easter. During this season, the Christian follows Jesus by pursuing humility in our own life, believing he must come before us. As John said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Darkness. Then Light.
The first words of Holy Scripture describe the story’s opening drama of creation, creation by God speaking forth light into the dark abyss. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…and darkness was over the face of the deep…And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light’” (Gen 1:1, 3). Bruce Waltke recognizes the Bible’s theme here and expresses it as “God irrupting into chaos to establish his rule over everything.” The creation account emphasizes the God who speaks light into darkness and breaks the silence with the power of his voice.
HOW IS JESUS OUR IMMANUEL (GOD WITH US)?
“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” (Matthew 1:21-23)
Each Christmas, or Advent season, we sing about Jesus our Immanuel. God with us. We find comfort in the incarnation behind Christmas. God’s stepping down to Earth to be with us by becoming one of us in Jesus. But how is Jesus really God with us?
What is Pentecost Sunday About?
Over at Gospel-Centered Discipleship, I have a blog up about why pentecost matters for mission. The days of Ascension or Pentecost are just as significant as Christmas and Easter, and yet Christians know very little about them. My hope is we can use this day to better remember and lean into God’s work for us, in us, and through us.
Celebrating Ascension Day: 4 Things Jesus is Doing Right Now
The Ascension of Jesus has become a forgotten doctrine in most churches. We think of Jesus in terms of his past work at the manger, cross, or empty tomb but neglect his ongoing work from the throne. Jesus has not kicked up his feet to enjoy the retired life until his return. Reclaiming our understanding of the ascension helps us answer what Jesus is doing right now, and why his reign gives us rest.
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A Word on Self-Denial and Fasting
With the start of Lent this week, here are a few quick thoughts on self-denial and fasting.
Like almost any discipline, fasting and self-denial can be misused in various ways.[1] They can be done without discernment or wisdom, such as fasting from food when you’re not physically healthy. They can be done merely out of ritual and without meaning. They can be viewed legalistically where we use our performance to get something we want from God. All good things are prone to misunderstanding and misuse. Our hope in this guide is that any self-denial through fasting is done meaningfully, purposely, wisely, and graciously.
What is the Liturgical (Church) Calendar?
“The Church Calendar—also called the Liturgical Year— seeks to redeem our time and space through the seasons of Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Through readings, prayers, songs, fasts and other practices, these seasons help to reorient our hearts and minds away from the false stories of the world and back toward the one true story of the Bible—the Christian story.”[1]The Village Church
“Over the centuries, the church has fittingly sacralized [set apart] time by means of the liturgical calendar with its practices and celebrations, and we can fruitfully appropriate the pattern in our personal discipleship and devotion.” Bobby Gross[2]
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