I am Bishop Bruce Ough and I am pleased to greet you as we enter into Lent.  This is a forty-day season that begins with ashes pressed upon our heads and ends with the triumphant song, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”

As we begin this journey, it is my privilege to introduce the Dakotas Cabinet Lenten Study on the devotional life in the Wesleyan tradition.

I begin with Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  In the fourth chapter, Paul writes:  “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with Thanksgiving.  At the same time pray for us as well that God will open us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ.”

These words are Paul’s final instructions to the Colossians  --  “devote yourselves to prayer.”  And, this is the call the Cabinet and I are issuing to every United Methodist in the Dakotas as we enter this season of Lent  --  “devote yourselves to prayer.” (Colossions 4: 2-3)

The pattern of Lent was set by Jesus during his forty days of solitude, prayer and fasting in the Judean desert.  This was an essential period of preparation for his public ministry.  It was a time of denying his preferences for the sake of his kingdom purposes.  It was a season of radical attentiveness to God.  This radical attentiveness and devotion to God remains the standard for all disciples of Christ.  READ MORE OR DOWNLOAD A PRINT COPY OF THIS MESSAGE

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Ash Wednesday 2014 from Dakotas UMC on Vimeo.