Resources for Lent

February 27th, 2019 | Community Updates

Lent begins this coming week on Ash Wednesday, March 6th! Which means it’s time to think about how how you’ll be observing this season of penitence, fasting, prayer, generosity, confession, and repentance.

Here are some reminders and resources to help us observe a fruitful Lent together as a community.

Ash Wednesday Service

To observe the beginning of Lent, we will have an Ash Wednesday service on March 6th at 7pm (including the imposition of ashes) in our Chapel. This service kicks off the season of Lent, in which we remember Jesus’ life on earth and prepare for Easter. We will begin shortly after 7:00pm with a brief explanation of Lent and devotion, followed by the imposition of ashes, and the opportunity to participate and interact at a few spiritual formational stations.

Lent Is… from Mary’s Meals

Jump over to the Lent Is…page online at the Mary’s Meals website and sign up for their weekly Christian devotional. This weekly newsletter will guide you to a deeper understanding of why it’s important to be drawn towards caring for people in poverty during Lent.

The Lent Project

Click over to Biola University’s page for the Center of Christianity, Culture and the Arts. Immerse yourself in a 53-day aesthetically guided meditation on Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

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

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 connection to networked 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

We encourage everyone to practice fasting in some way during Lent. You can pick up a short article at the Connection Point in our Worship Center lobby about how to discern a Lenten 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!