Today we are the brink of Lent 2013.
It seems to have come quickly this year,
dependent as we are on the shifting calendar for Easter Sunday.
Yet, here we are!!
Are you ready?
If you’re not quite there, that is just fine,
because Lent itself is a time of preparation,
a set-apart time, for reflection, repentance, refreshment.
So come as you are, ready or not —
the season welcomes you, Jesus welcomes you.
Sometimes people ‘give something up’ for Lent –
like particular foods, treats, habits.
And sometimes, people add things for Lent,
like new patterns for scripture reading,
prayer, generosity, penitence.
The Foundations for Laity Renewal have brought us a gift for this season.
It’s a beautiful devotional booklet,
free for the asking,
with contributions from a wide variety of writers
connected with the Foundations and their subsidiaries,
most particularly, The High Calling and Laity Lodge.
Many of the names will be familiar to you, I’m sure,
and I was privileged to contribute one day’s meditation, too.
I encourage you to head over to this site,
fill in your name and then open the link they send.
It will be a rich addition to your Lenten experience this year, I promise.
If you’d like to read through the introduction and opening thoughts
you can click here, and go directly to The High Calling to read
Mark Roberts’ good words.
I’m glad you mentioned adding things for Lent (especially, spiritual disciplines) because that is more often the direction in which I’ve been led. This year I will not be harsh with myself, but will observe the best I can.
Amen to the ‘not harsh’ part, Megan. For way too long, the emphasis has been more toward self-flaggellation rather than transformation and growth. And that really is the purpose of this season – a time of commitment to the wilderness, which more than a place of deprivation is truly a place of growth. So adding is a great option. Blessings of the season, Megan.
Thank you for sharing this Diana. I’ve been pondering Lent for a while now. I’m heading over there.
I’m so glad this is a good ‘find’ for you, Linda. May this be a blessed season for you.
I’m still trying to get my head around the whole concept of Lent. My upbringing didn’t have any observance of any of the church ‘seasons’, and the church I went to next didn’t observe Lent. I now attend an Anglican church that does observe Lent, but there is very little teaching for the until now Lent-less Christian, so I still have only the most sketchy of understandings!
Hoping for some enlightenment from you 🙂
Donna, Last year I did a daily Lenten devotional. This year, I do not have the time nor the emotional space to do that, so I am recommending that people download this beautiful booklet, to which I contributed one essay. The intro does some basic teaching about the season, so I suggest you start there. It is such a rich addition to the Christian journey to better understand and follow the ancient rhythms of the church calendar. I encourage you to research it and ask your priest and/or a trusted friend from church to offer you some instruction. It’s a good thing – really it is!!