2020 Resources for Lent
February 25th, 2020 | Community Updates
Lent began last week on Ash Wednesday, February 26th! Which means it’s time to think about how you will be observing this season of penitence, fasting, prayer, generosity, confession, and repentance. Here are some resources to help us observe a fruitful Lent together as a community.
What To Do During Lent
In addition to participating in community prayer and worship, Lent is also a time for people to engage in three specific disciplines:
- Fasting (intentional abstaining from food or other kinds of consumption for the purpose of feasting on Jesus)
- Prayer (intentionally participating in the life of God, walking with him, listening to him, both in solitude and in community)
- Generosity (direct participation in the generosity of God through giving away our resources in love to our neighbor)
Here are a few resources to help you discern how you and your family can participate in Lent:
1. Try the Common Rule
One resource you might want to check out for Lent is something we came across recently called The Common Rule. It’s a collection of 4 daily habits and 4 weekly habits specifically geared to help modern people create a life with enough space for God to shape us in his love.
Download the Common Rule For Lent and talk it over with your family.
2. Bring clothes to donate
Like last year during Lent we are conducting a sock + underwear drive for West Seattle Helpline, an organization dedicated to serving people in the West Seattle area who are at risk of homelessness and all of its insecurities by providing them with clothing, beneficial relationships, and networks of resources within the community. We are a part of the WS Helpline’s “Circle of Neighbors.”
Look for the barrel in the lobby on Sundays to donate new socks and underwear for men, women, and children (all sizes needed).
3. Pray every morning
Lent is a great time to start or recommit to a regular practice of daily prayer. But, if you’re like most people, it’s hard to know where to start.
During Lent, we encourage everyone to try practicing a Morning Prayer Liturgy from Brian Zahnd. It’s a set of prayers that guides us into a way of relating to God that can facilitate genuine encounter with God and steady formation over time.
There’s still room for intercession about the things that you care about, but it places those things within a larger framework that helps place them in their proper setting. It takes about 30 minutes (or up to an hour, if you add time for contemplative prayer).
Download the Morning Prayer Liturgy and print it out two-sided to create a booklet.
4. Fast
Fasting is one of the most scandalous Lenten disciplines to modern Americans, because we’re immersed in a culture where indulging desire is assumed to be the healthiest thing to do in most situations. So discern your own fast, but remember that Sundays are feast days – it’s like a mini-Easter, even during Lent!