The Fifth Sunday in Lent – Lenten Devotion – Sunday, March 22, 2026
Worship This Morning - 9:30 a.m.
"A Thirst Quenched"
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“Seven Words: Simple, Powerful, Renewing Words, In Grace Alone”
Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Medema
Lord listen to your children praying
Lord send your Spirit in this place
Lord listen to your children praying
Send us love
Send us power
Send us grace
“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.””
Do you have someone you can talk to? Who will listen? Who will listen and not jump in? Who will listen and not draw their own conclusions? Who will listen, just listen, to your needs, wants, passions, concerns, disappointments, dreams, faith, trust?
As we begin the fifth week of Lent, our journey through Jesus' seven last words brings us to the fifth time Jesus speaks from the cross, to these two simple powerful words, longing for renewal: "I thirst."
What do you thirst for? How has your thirst changed this Lenten season? What do you tell others you thirst for? Who do you have to talk to? Who listens to you, about what you long for, hope for, thirst for?
Mary and Martha thirsted for Jesus. They thirsted for Jesus to come to their side, to heal their brother. They knew when they sent a message, Jesus would receive it and do all he could.
Jesus must still thirst for us to call on him, to send messages to him, to cry out to him, to long for him, to believe him, to thirst for him. So let us trust in new ways, when we send our messages he receives them, when we cry out he hears us. Talk to him and hold fast to these seven simple powerful, renewing words: "The Lord listens to his children praying!"
Let us pray: Lord, I do not always call on you. Even though I thirst for you to hear me, I do not always join your children in praying to you. Quench my thirst again, for I long to talk to you, to really talk to you. By your Spirit, I know you listen, sending me your love, your power, and your grace. In your name, I pray. Amen.
