Forty years ago, while at Vicarage at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Truman Minnesota, I was given the task of preparing for Lenten Services in 1985.   It was a difficult time for the community as the Farm Crisis of the 1980s was in full force.   When I picked out the hymns, scripture readings, and themes for the services all was going well.

And then, I remembered a certain hymn that we sang once in a while at my home congregation in Michigan.   I never really paid too much attention to it. In reality, its melody was a little too sad and slow for my taste, and, its words really didn’t  seem to say what I was feeling at the time.

However, during the Farm crisis, every once and a while a few of those lines kept coming to the surface of my mind when dealing with sin, sickness, and every death.

“I walk in danger all the way” was the start of it which lead me to the comforting words of “I walk with Jesus all the way.”

Recently, it is so comforting not just to sing but more so to hear God’s Word.  So many times, we hear Jesus say, “Fear not, for I am with you.  How often I have spoken these words at Faith Lutheran Church:

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.”

As I prepare for Lent 2025, I often go back to the sad and slow hymns and familiar promises of God and prayer.

May we all remember the Father’s promise: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

I would encourage us all to think of Jesus this Lent.  He stood calmly against those who opposed Him. He knew His mission. He sought your will.  He knew what it meant for us eternally; so He just went through with it regardless of the danger and of the cost.

Our Lenten Prayer “Father, give us such courage. Give us the courage of Jesus Christ this Lent 2025.”

In Jesus, 
Pastor Don Treglown