The theme we will explore this Lenten season is centered around the phrase “for us.” Ash Wednesday is the official beginning of Lent and that service will be Wednesday February 18, 2026, at 7pm. We will use hymn LSB 544 as our Series Hymn and reflect upon the passion of Our Lord who gave himself for us.

“For us” is not simply a pithy line to use because it is easy to repeat. It is a confession of who God is and what He brings in giving us His Son. It helps us understand why God would send His Son to die for us.

The phrase “for us” also captures much of the Reformation’s theological emphasis—and Luther’s understanding of Scripture in particular. Luther went from searching for a righteous God and finding only stern rebuke to seeing God in the form of a little baby and as the one who became one of us for us so that we might become like Him.

Our Lenten preaching series hymn “O Love, How Deep” (LSB 544) was originally a twenty-three-stanza poem written in the fifteenth century by an unknown author. In the nineteenth century, an Anglican cleric named Benjamin Webb translated the hymn into English and then chose six stanzas for use in English hymnody. The doxological stanza was added later.

Some hymns tell a story, others teach, and still others create pictures in our minds of the great works of God. Some hymns do all three, weaving together a tapestry that is beautiful yet simple, wondrous yet easy to understand. “O Love, How Deep” is that kind of hymn.

Although it does not appear in the first stanza, the most pointed and beautiful language in the hymn is expressed in the phrase “for us.” The phrase is reminiscent of the language of the Nicene Creed: “Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.”

Historically, Lent developed as a season of preparation for Holy Baptism. Liturgically and theologically, Lent is the church’s refocus on the significance of Holy Baptism. The daily drowning of the old Adam in us through contrition and repentance, which characterizes the entire Christian life of discipleship, is deliberately intensified during Lent as a renewal of faith and life in Christ. This repentance is always the divine work of the Holy Spirit through the Law and the Gospel. The Law crucifies the old Adam, and the Gospel raises up the new man in us. Thus, a Lenten focus on the cross and Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ is not aimed at an emotional response but is a pointed proclamation and confession of the Law and the Gospel, a preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Lent is properly penitential when it brings the cross to sinners and sinners to the cross of Christ as the fountain and source of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

We have a daily devotion available for everyone at church to take home and use in addition to your regular devotions. If you do a daily devotion in the morning, use the “For Us” devotional in the evening or the other way around. We also have an Arch Book that accompanies our theme for your children.

See you on Sunday!

In Christ,
Pastor Ottmers