Lent is a time of examination and reflection that reorientates us back to the life-giving practices of our faith.
The tradition of ‘giving up’ something for lent is a prompt that asks if there are any habits or behaviours that get in the way of our relationship with God, each other and creation, and if so, what might we try in these 40 days to change or transform our interactions? We might equally ‘take up’ a discipline that inspires our faith, deepens our practice, or reconciles and builds up our relationships.
How will you observe lent this year? Find a few suggestions and resources below:
1. Reflect, meditate, journal or take a photo in response to a lenten word-a-day...
2. Fast and Feast!
3. DOING JUSTICE 4 LENT: Lent is a time of examination and reorientation toward the promised life of Easter. Compelled by God’s saving love for all people and all of creation, these short, weekly reflections light a lenten path to a fairer, safer and more sustainable future. Written by The Rev’d Deborah Bird – Anglican Priest Maleny , and designed by ACSQ Justice Enabler, Peter Branjerdporn, from Doing Justice – an expression of the Social Responsibilities Unit of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland. Follow them on Facebook. Sample below. The complete set available here.
4. ‘REPAIRING THE BREACH’ examines what it means to be people of healing in a broken world. Prepared by the fabulous peeps of ABM. Join a lent group in our parish (Montville Wed 10am, Maleny Wed 1.30pm, Kenilworth Thurs 10.30am) or read individually at home.
Repairing The Breach5. WITNESS AT THE CROSS by Amy Jill Levine
Experience Holy Friday from the perspective of those who watched Jesus die: Mary his mother; the Beloved Disciple from the Gospel of John; Mary Magdalene and the other women from Galilee; the two men, usually identified as thieves, crucified with Jesus; the centurion and the soldiers; Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Jews and Romans, friends and strangers, the powerful and the powerless, the hopeful and the despairing. The story of Jesus’s death is not something we just read: we think about it, and we experience it; we hear the taunts of the soldiers, the priests, and the passersby even as we hear the famous “seven last words” from the cross. Amy-Jill Levine shows how the people at the cross each have distinct roles to play and from each, we learn how those meanings and messages cross the centuries to any who would come to the cross today.
Available at bookstores, on kindle or you can borrow a copy from Rev’d Deb.
6. FIGHT LIKE JESUS How Jesus Waged Peace through Holy Week by Jason Porterfield
At the start of Holy Week, tears streamed down Jesus’ face as he cried out, “If only you knew the things that make for peace.” From that moment, until a week later when he triumphantly declared, “Peace be with you,” Jesus spent each day confronting injustice, calling out oppressors and contending for peace. But what if–despite all our familiarity with the events of Holy Week–we still don’t know how Jesus makes peace?
Available through bookstores, on kindle or you can borrow a copy from Rev’d Deb.
7. Finish each day of lent with the Ignatian Examen as a prayer practice.
8. Follow ‘Spirit Matters’ – the meditations and reflection of spiritual director Fr Phillip Carter through lent.
9. Find more ideas in Sarah Bessey’s 40 Simple Ideas for Lent or Rachel Held Evan’s 40 Ideas for Lent.
