Please use these to help your Lenten Journey this Year

We will continue to add to these so keep checking back!

What is Lent?

Lent is a season of the Church Year that calls Christians to focus on repentance and personal devotion in light of the coming celebration of Easter. The forty-day period of Lent connects with many Scriptural events important in the history of salvation: the forty days of the flood, the forty years of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, Moses’ forty days on Mount Sinai when he received the Law, and Jesus’ forty days of temptation in the desert.
The season of Lent is decidedly somber. In the Church’s worship, a penitential tone is expressed in various ways, both liturgically and visually:
  • Vestments are changed to purple, a color associated with mourning.
  • Ornate crosses and other adornments are veiled in the church and all floral decorations are removed. (Crucifixes are left uncovered.)
  • The shout of praise “Alleluia” is eliminated from all acts of worship.
  • The Eucharist begins with an acclamation that acknowledges our need for mercy. The Celebrant says, “Bless the Lord who forgiveth all our sins,” and the people respond, “His mercy endureth for ever.”
  • The Gloria (“Glory be to God on high”) is neither sung nor said, and the service music changes to more penitential settings.
  • The Decalogue (The Ten Commandments, see The Book of Common Prayer, page 317) is read or sung at the beginning of Sunday Eucharists.
  • The priest’s final blessing over the congregation is replaced with a solemn prayer focusing on the Lenten journey.

We see in this invitation that there are six specific ways in which Christians are called to deepen their devotion in this season:
  1. By self-examination. This means setting aside time to intentionally reflect upon one’s thoughts and actions, acknowledging the ways in which we fall short of God’s goodness and love.
  2. By repentance. To repent means to have “a change of heart” and to “turn around” from actions and attitudes contrary to God’s will. This means honestly confessing our sins to God and receiving his forgiveness.
  3. By prayer. This calls us to take part in the Church’s corporate acts of worship as well as the setting aside of time for personal prayer.
  4. By fasting. To fast is to abstain from certain foods or all food for a period of time. The reasons for fasting are listed later in this handbook.
  5. By self-denial. Denying oneself in Lent means giving up certain luxuries, even legitimate pleasures, in order to focus oneself spiritually.
  6. By reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. In Lent, believers are especially called to read and reflect on Scripture in a daily way.
Lent puts into practice the words of Jesus: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (St. Matthew 16:24) Lent is a time for cultivating spiritual disciplines—whether giving something up or taking something on—that foster spiritual growth.
​Ash Wednesday
Morning Ashes to Go-8-8:30am
Service, February 22, Noon:
This will be the only service of Ash Wednesday this year—a Holy Eucharist, with ashes, no music. Livestreaming and recording available.
Evening Ashes to Go- 5-5:30

A Bit of Episcopal Humor:

Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families

“Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families”:
These are simple one-page devotions for four-times a day in the prayer book pages 136-140.
Experiment with saying these during Lent.

​“Loving your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31):
Your compassion and service for those in need is a ready resource for renewal close-at-hand.

​Attend Holy Eucharist
​as many of the Sundays of Lent as you can.

Lent Madness
Lent Madness by Forward Movement has become a popular bracket competition and fun, engaging way for people to learn about the men and women comprising the Church’s Calendar of Saints. Vote for your favorite saint and see who wins the golden halo in 2022. Who says you can’t have fun in Lent?

Living Well Through Lent 2023

Living Well through Lent 2023by Living Compass offers daily reflections in print and by email. Look for their Facebook page for an online community to follow up on weekly reflections. 
You can download the reflections here

Way of Love: Life Transformed

Way of Love: Life Transformed offers a set of seven Adult Forums that relates the Easter Vigil readings to the seven practices of the Way of Love. Way of Love: Life Transformed is also available as a single day retreat.

Bless the Lent We Actually Have

A daily devotional specifically for Lent from Dr. Kate Bowler, a New York Times best selling author, podcast host, and professor at Duke Divinity School.

The Way of the Cross at Grace Episcopal Church

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Join us at Grace to walk The Way of the Cross or follow it online.  It will be available to walk starting on Ash Wednesday and continuing through Easter Sunday.  The walk begins by near the Playhouse and follows along the back ring road through our graveyard.  The link for the online version can be found below:

The Soul's Journey Stations of the Cross

The Soul’s Journey, offered through Forward Movement, presents beautiful imagery of the stations of the cross with reflections by well-known faith leaders to help participants relate this story of self-sacrifice and profound love to their own lives.

Portraits in Faith

 This unusual website offers a remarkable glimpse into the personal experience of faith of many people from 27 countries, with photos, videos, and insightful texts. There are Christians and other religious. Some experiences will be remarkably identifiable and others very different. The interviewer’s questions range along these lines:
o Tell me about your earliest memory of faith.
o What was the first time in your life you felt like you had to, or chose to rely upon God (as you understand God)?
o Tell me about a time you doubted your faith, and what happened. o What are you most grateful for?
​o What is your greatest wish? o Do you have a message? 

Episcopal Relief Lenten Reflections

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​This year, the Lenten Meditations will focus on that transformation. These reflections are organized into Episcopal Relief & Development’s priorities: Women, Children and Climate, and include a focus on our Disaster Resilience & Response work. We invite you to read them throughout Lent and share with those close to you. As a part of our goal to become a carbon-neutral organization, Lenten Meditations are now delivered only via email and as downloadable PDFs. Both options are included below.

​Open Church

Wednesday
April 5
2-4pm:
Bring some reading, use the prayer book resources, pray, or just be quiet for a while in this sacred space.

Holy Week

Palm/Passion Sunday Services
April 2,
9am &11am Grace Church.
Suzanne is trying to organize a possible Palm Sunday Pageant.  Please contact her at christianed@gracekeswick.org if you have children or grandchildren who might want to participate.

Maundy Thursday Service
April 6
7pm

Good Friday Service
April 7
noon

Easter Day
 April 9
9 am All Saints Chapel & 11 am Grace Church

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Flowering Cross
Please bring flowers to add to our Cross which will be in front of the entrance of our church prior to the 11am service
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​Easter Egg Hunt
We will have our annual Easter Egg Hunt following our 11am service. Contact Suzanne at christianed@gracekeswick.org if you can help hide eggs or help with the hunt.
There will be empty eggs you can take home to fill and return a few weeks prior to Easter Sunday.