Second Sunday in Lent: Ready to declare on the housetop, if it may be for the glory of God

Opening Sentence

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son." Luke 15:18, 19

Collect of the Day

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalter: Psalm 24, 29

Lessons: Genesis 41:14-45, Romans 6:3-14, John 5:19-24

Dear Brother -- With regard to my own character, and my doctrine likewise, I shall answer you very plainly. By a Christian I mean one who so believes in Christ as that sin hath no more dominion over him; and in this obvious sense oft he word I was not a Christian till May 24th last past. For till then sin had the dominion over me, although I fought with it continually; but surely then, from that time to this it hath not -- such is the free grace of God in Christ. What sins they were which till then reigned over me, and from which by the grace of God I am now free, I am ready to declare on the housetop, if it may be for the glory of God.

If you ask by what means I am made free (though not perfect, neither infallibly sure of my perseverance), I answer, "By faith in Christ; by such a sort of degree of faith as I had not till that day."

John Wesley

(A letter to his brother Samuel)

Beneath the Cross of Jesus