Page 4 - Lenten Devotional 2023

A Word About This Devotional

This devotional is designed to explore our shared experience of welcoming and being
welcomed. Sunday meditations will focus on what it means that we are all created in
God’s image. Throughout each week, you will learn how members of First Lutheran

Church responded to this question and what it means for them. Daily stories of
welcoming and being welcomed will be accompanied by Scripture, reflection questions
and activities you can do with family members or friends. Saturday devotions will be

based on reflections on the hymn, All Are Welcome, written by Marty Haugen.

We hope these daily devotionals deepen your faith in a loving God who has created all

and welcomes all. We pray that through this deepening of faith the Holy Spirit stirs up
in you a desire to reach out, invite, welcome and encourage those seeking a relationship
with Christ. As our Welcome Statement reminds us, we seek to create a place where all

are welcome, where all are safe, accepted and can be their authentic selves. Let us all be
courageously vulnerable in our relationships with others.

The Welcome Statement of First Lutheran Church
Each person is a unique creation of God and, through grace, is a child of God. The people of

First Lutheran Church welcome all because God welcomes all, without regard for race or
culture, sexual orientation, gender identity or relationship status, physical or mental

challenges, imprisonment, addictions, socio-economic circumstances, or anything else that too
often divides us. First Lutheran Church is a spiritual community that celebrates the gifts of
God that can empower us to engage in the struggles of life, to care for each other, and to serve

Christ where we work and live. Our unity is in Christ.