Introduction to Lent 2025 Devotions
March 05, 2025
Isaiah 58:1-12 | Psalm 51:1-17 | 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 | Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
by Destiny Magnett
The Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage Movement was launched at Dominus Flevit, the site where Jesus wept over Jerusalem, on January 14th, 2024. Co-imagined by Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon (Churches for Middle East Peace), Jarrod McKenna (Aotearoa Christians for Peace in Palestine), James Harris, Lisa Sharon Harper (Freedom Road), and Suzan Wahab (Palestinian Christians in Australia), the movement was designed with the following intention:
During Lent, as we meditate on the life and passion of Jesus, might we also deepen our solidarity with what our Palestinian sisters and brothers are experiencing daily. We are committed to taking seriously the body of Christ in Palestine’s costly testimony to the truth of what is happening. Like Israeli human rights organisations and Jewish peace groups, we too want to accurately name what Palestinians are undergoing as fitting the legal definition of apartheid and military occupation. We heed the wisdom of experts who overwhelmingly identify genocidal intent in the ongoing war against Gaza and we are committed to its prevention. As Jesus teaches, we are seeking to “simply let our yes mean yes” and speak plainly the truth. We do so following the lead of so many Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians who have been on the forefront of the nonviolent movement, in calling for an enduring ceasefire and an end to occupation so a healing peace can finally begin.
Over the course of Lent 2024, Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages took place in more than a hundred cities around the world and on all seven continents (yes, even Antarctica!). The power of thousands of individuals coming together in prayerful, embodied, solidarity for peace was truly a testament to the power of the spirit. This booklet tells just a few of these stories.
This Lenten season, one year later, our work continues. As we reflect on the beginnings of this movement, we invite you, once again to come walk with us. There is still so much violence unfolding in the Holy Land everyday. Whether we walk together in spirit, body, mind, or some combination– let the Lenten Season inspire us to be courageous in our witness and faithful in our solidarity.
To learn more about the movement, its mission, and how to lead your own march, visit https://www.gazaceasefirepilgrimage.com/
Ash Wednesday Devotion
by James Harris
Come with us, walk with us
In the footsteps of Jesus
He shall reign with justice and peace
And he shall reign, let Your Kingdom come
He shall reign with justice and peace
Come walk with us, in the footsteps of Jesus
—Hymn by Ngatiawa River Monastery
In late 2023, my then-two-year-old son started asking for “Jesus songs” at bed time. There was one he particularly liked: a simple Taizé-style repetitive hymn by Ngatiawa River Monastery. Come with us, walk with us, in the footsteps of Jesus. The purpose of these simple hymns is that they burrow deep into your soul and carry you as you carry them throughout your day. And he shall reign with justice and peace. This night time ritual became my sanctuary. As I held my son close, I’d contemplate all of the families torn apart by violence in the Middle East and plead that God’s Kingdom of justice and peace would come.
On one of these days, I received an email from Palestinian Christians in Australia (PCiA), who were fundraising for Gazans who were arriving into the country. With our bedtime song ruminating in my soul, I thought: I can’t do everything. But I can do something. I am going to walk the length of Gaza in prayerful solidarity and fundraise for PCiA. I put a date in the calendar and committed. I told myself that even if I didn’t fundraise a single penny, I could still stand before my children, my Palestinian friends, and our God—the God of the oppressed—and say at least I did something. I had walked in prayerful solidarity. I had no idea at that moment that this simple mustard seed would grow into the global Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage movement, with thousands of Christians walking across 100 cities, in 20 countries, on every continent. The call to action was clear—and directly from the deep prayer in my heart—come, walk with us in the footsteps of Jesus.
The lectionary’s Gospel readings for Lent start with Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. His forty days in the desert purposefully mirrors the forty years the Israelites spent wandering. The text outlines three temptations. For each of these, Jesus responds with wilderness narrative verses from Deuteronomy. Theologian Ched Meyers states that while in the desert the Israelites were tempted to recreate systems of domination and he draws links between each of Jesus’ temptations and their own. Meyers states that these “archetypal characteristics of the Domination System [are]: the economics of exploitation (Lk 4:3), the politics of empire (4:5f), and the symbolism of omnipotence (4:9-11).” Meyers then points out that later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus reframes these in reverse order in the opening of the Lord’s Prayer:
May Your Name be hallowed;
May Your Kingdom come;
Give us each day our daily bread (Lk 11:1-4).
Pilgrimages, like Jesus’ sojourn into the desert, are an outward expression of an inward journey. As we walk Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimages, we express our prayerful and embodied commitment to a lasting peace in the Middle East built on the foundation of justice. A common saying on the world’s most well-worn pilgrimage trail, the Camino de Santiago, is that the real Camino starts when you get home. That is to say: the real journey starts when you outwork your inward journey in your day-to-day life, after the physical pilgrimage is over. The same is true for the Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage movement. We walk each step of the pilgrimage, declaring that we will continue to walk the long road toward justice in our everyday lives.
Lent is a desert season. It reminds us that in our waiting, in our yearning for justice, we can be tempted to recreate systems of domination—but just as important—that through the Spirit, we can overcome injustice without the tactics of oppressors. The desert of Lent reminds us that the way to redemption is through the power of the resurrection, not the power of the sword. In our despair, it can be tempting to take the final result on ourselves, but the desert reminds us that God’s work of redemption is ultimately His. He is King. We are simply called to put one foot in front of the other.
To quote Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, from what has become known as the Romero Prayer,
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
Japanese theologian Koyama Kosuke wrote a book called The Three Mile An Hour God. The premise is simple: God is love, and love incarnate in Jesus had a speed. A walking pace of three miles an hour. Kosuke argues this is still love’s pace, and the pace God invites us into. As we attempt to embody our faith in the context of immense injustice, may we remember that we are workers, not the Master Builder, and that our call is to ruthlessly put one foot in front of the other, walking the long, hard road to a just peace, knowing Sunday is coming. The desert season of Lent reminds us that, on a life of pilgrimage, we can be a part of bringing down systems of domination without becoming them.
So, come with us, walk with us, in the footsteps of Jesus.
He shall reign with justice and peace.
James Harris is a co-founder of the global Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage Movement. His initial walk raised over $5,000 for relief work by Palestinian Christians in Australia, and soon after, with the support of friends, the movement grew. He has had many roles supporting refugees, including with World Vision and Save the Children.