Our Gift to You: Holy Week Devotions
“Of First Importance: Christ’s Death and Resurrection for Us”
This Holy Week, walk with us through one of the Christian church’s earliest creeds ever written, 1 Corinthians 15:3-11.
Through eight devotions, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, we will meditate on the historical foundation and testimony of Christ’s death and resurrection. Each step of the creed reveals both the humility of Christ’s cross and the certainty of his empty tomb.
Join us as we explore the truths that anchor our faith, truths that comfort our consciences, truths that prepare our hearts for the cross and empty tomb, truths of first importance.
These devotions are written by MLC faculty members, and the image has been created by MLC sophomore Hannah Christensen.
Read Online- Coming Soon!
About the artist:
About the image: Hannah Christensen writes, I have painted Christ, with his eye as the focus. He is looking directly at the viewer because his death and resurrection are personal. Reflected in his eye are those Jesus saw as he hung from the cross, those who put him there as well as those who cared for him, such as his mother and disciples. We can find ourselves in that reflection too, for it reinforces the theme, “Of First Importance: Christ’s Death and Resurrection for Us.” Christ’s wounds and the crown of thorns represent his death, and the gray background represents the tomb from which he rose. Warm colors are used throughout the artwork to represent the hope that Christ’s death and resurrection give us.
Past Devotions Available
We have devotional booklets available from previous years. We’ll fill requests as supplies last.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER PAST DEVOTIONS
(based on availability)
Booklets from Previous Years
Advent Devotions
All Things New (Advent 2025)
All Things New is our newest devotion book for you! These 25 Advent devotions are available to your congregation members as a free printed booklet.
As we gather around the manger this year, we’ll ponder Jesus’ words in Revelation 21:5, “I am making everything new!”
Is that even possible? How can God fix this world, so marred by sin? How can he possibly make something good out of so much evil, something new out of so much brokenness?
In these devotions, we’ll see that through the coming of Christ—his birth at Christmas, his presence in our hearts through faith, and his triumphant return at the end of the world—God indeed makes all things new.
Glory in His Grasp (2024)
As we gather around the manger this year, we’ll meditate on that ancient hymn Paul writes in Philippians 2:6-11. We’ll contemplate how Christ “emptied himself . . . being born in the likeness of men.” We’ll stand in awe at how the Son of God, co-equal with the Father, chose for a time not to cling to the full and constant use of his glory and power: “He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” And we’ll rejoice in the Second Advent, when our Lord in all his glory will come once again.
The Mysteries of Christmas: Many Millennia, Many Mysteries, One Messiah (Advent 2023)
The coming of Jesus has always been shrouded in mystery. In his first coming, as a baby in Bethlehem, thousands of years of mysterious promises were resolved and realized—and not always in ways God’s people expected. His second coming—at the End of All Things—is also shrouded in mystery. No one even knows the day or hour he’ll reappear. These 25 meditations look back on the mysteries of the Messiah’s first coming and look ahead to the mysteries of his second.
Word Made Flesh: The Historical Reality of Christmas (Advent 2022)
This Advent, discover how the Gospels of John the Elder and Luke the Historian record the details of the incarnation—God becoming man—in our booklet, Word Made Flesh: The Historical Reality of Christmas. Each devotion is prompted by a question about the historical accuracy of the Christmas account. Each reminds us that Christmas is not a sweet children’s story or fairy tale. It is a historical event. In our skeptical times, John and Luke help us reaffirm the objective reality of Christmas.
We Have Seen His Glory (Advent 2021)
In these 25 devotions for December 1-25, we’ll first explore the ways Christians have seen Christ in the Old Testament appearances of “the glory of the LORD” and “the angel of the LORD.” Then we’ll look at New Testament passages that take up the theme of Christ’s glory as well. Perhaps the apostle John’s words say it best: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Jesse Tree (Advent 2020)
The Jesse Tree is MLC’s newest Advent devotion book. Similar to an Advent calendar, the booklet contains 25 devotions accompanied by 25 ornaments you can hang on your Christmas tree or on a “Jesse tree” of your own making.
Enjoy this new booklet that retells the Old Testament stories leading to the birth of our Savior, Jesus, who was a descendant of King David and David’s father, Jesse: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”
The Jesse Tree – supplementary materials (Advent 2020)
Children’s Stories: These have been carefully crafted for younger children by Martin Luther College education majors. Each includes a clear connection from the Old Testament story to our Savior Jesus.
Printable ornaments: Available in color and blackline.
Click here to download children’s stories and printable ornaments, or request a copy of cardstock ornaments for your family or classroom.
Christ Is the World’s Light (Advent 2019)
The 25 Advent devotions, one for every day December 1-25, can accompany the lighting of the candles in a traditional Advent wreath. Our anticipation will grow as we study more Scripture and light another candle each week of December: the Prophecy Candle, the Bethlehem Candle, the Shepherds’ Candle, the Angels’ Candle, and the Christ Candle.
Names of Jesus (Advent 2018)
This booklet contains 25 Advent devotions, one for every day December 1-25, that explore the scriptural names of Jesus, reminding us of who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
Isaiah Had Foretold It (Advent 2016)
This devotion booklet containing 25 spiritual encouragements, one for each day of December until Christmas.
The Coming of Christ: Promise Made, Promise Kept (Advent 2015)
The 25 devotions in this booklet were authored by current students at MLC, as well as pastors, teachers, staff ministers, and lay leaders who have studied at MLC. They are intended for use December 1-25.
God’s Indescribable Gift (Advent 2014)
The 13 devotions in this booklet were authored by President Zarling and 12 MLC graduates serving throughout the synod’s 12 districts. They are intended for use from Christmas Day through Epiphany (Dec 25-Jan 6).
Holy Week Devotions
The Foolishness of the Cross (2025)
The Foolishness of the Cross is the newest devotion book we’ve created for you. It contains a devotion for each day of Holy Week, April 13-20, written by MLC faculty.
The cross of Christ is the setting for the greatest reversal in history—an altar of humiliation transformed into the ultimate stage and revelation of the King of kings. To the world, it seems absurd that God would save through weakness, suffering, and death. Yet believers come face to face with God in all his power, providential might, and glory nowhere as clearly as at the cross.
These devotions will help us see how the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
We thank Michael Wiechmann, art instructor at Minnesota Valley LHS, for creating our thought-provoking image.
The Savior We Need (Holy Week 2024)
Two thousand years ago, God’s people were expecting the Messiah to be a conquering hero who would rescue them from their Roman oppressors. Instead, he came as a suffering servant who died at the hands of those Romans. This is what Paul called the foolishness of the cross. But the Bible makes it clear that the Jesus those people received—the Jesus we are blessed to call our Savior today—is far greater than any we could ever have designed on our own. These devotions will show us that he truly is the Savior we need.
7 + 1 Words from the Heart of God (Holy Week 2023)
In these devotions, we’ll ponder Christ’s seven words from the cross— plus an additional Easter word. As Jesus suffers, what are his thoughts bent toward? What is he most concerned about? What is he personally experiencing? His own words give us a glimpse into the heart of the omnipotent God himself, who somehow feels sorrow and suffering as he defeats sorrow and suffering. Some of Jesus’ words are somber. Some are sublime. Others signify victory. And all of them matter.
God’s Suffering Servant (Holy Week 2022)
In these eight devotions, the prophet Isaiah introduces the Messiah as God’s Suffering Servant. Our Lenten “watch” will turn the spotlight on that Servant in his hour of suffering—the pain and scorn heaped on him, the antagonism of enemies, and the faithlessness of friends.
My Song Is Love Unknown (Holy Week 2021)
These eight Holy Week devotions lead us deeper into the truths of Jesus’ love for us through the poetry, imagery, and music of Lent and Easter hymns. Links embedded in the devotions will allow you to hear the hymns performed for you by MLC College Choir, College Chorale, Women’s Choir, Männerchor, Wind Symphony, Hosanna Ringers, and Professor Craig Hirschmann on the organ.
Christ in the Tabernacle (Holy Week 2020)
This booklet consists of eight devotions for Palm Sunday through Easter, each explaining a component of the tabernacle and how Christ fulfilled all that was foreshadowed there.
Behold the Lamb of God (Holy Week 2019)
This booklet contains eight devotions written by MLC faculty that tell the story of the Lamb in prophecy and fulfillment, from Mount Moriah to Mount Zion.
Places of Christ’s Passion (Holy Week 2018)
The eight devotions for Holy Week, Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday, are accompanied by the painting of James Tissot.
Lenten Truths from Unwitting Witnesses (Holy Week 2017)
Containing eight uplifting messages for Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday, this beautiful book is enhanced by the artwork of Lucas Cranach, Reformation painter and friend of Martin Luther.
The Passion of the Christ in Prophecy (Holy Week 2015)
The eight devotions in this booklet were authored by MLC professors. All expound on Old Testament lessons and are intended for use from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday.
He comes in the Name of the Lord! (Holy Week 2014)
The eight devotions in this booklet were authored by MLC professors. All expound on New Testament lessons and are intended for use from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday.
Reformation Devotions
I Shall Not Die, But Live
(Reformation 500)
This devotion booklet was created in 2017 in celebration of the Reformation 500. It contains 31 uplifting messages as a gift from the Martin Luther College campus family. We pray that our Lord would strengthen your faith through his Word.
