Lent.
A Resource Guide for your 40-Day Lenten Journey
An Introduction to Lent.
Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent is an old English word meaning “lengthen” and refers to the lengthening days of spring. The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.
Lent is a time of prayer, repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. It is also a time for almsgiving — the act of donating money or goods to the poor, or performing other charitable acts. Almsgiving is a key practice during Lent, one of the three main practices of Lent, along with prayer and fasting.
Today, many Christians around the world observe Lent as a way of deepening our faith, focusing on relationship with God, growing as disciples and extending ourselves— often choosing to give up something (fasting) so that we can give more of ourselves (and resources) for the sake of others.
Additionally, Lenten season is an opportunity to soberly remember and create space for the grief & suffering still ever present in our personal lives, and our world today. Fasting is a powerful discipline that allows us to practice solidarity with those on the margins and enter into one another’s suffering.
By intentionally practicing spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting and almsgiving) throughout Lent, we invite God’s mercy and power into that suffering & grief; believing that the coming of Easter will both symbolize and materialize the hope we have in Christ’s healing and liberating power for our world.
5 Questions to Ask Yourself:
When I wake up on Resurrection Sunday morning, how will I be different? What am I preparing for?
Is there something in my life—a habit, a grudge, a fear, a prejudice, an addiction, an emotional barrier, a form of excess—that keeps me from loving God with my heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving my neighbor as myself? How might I address that over the next 40 days?
Lent is a time to listen to God, but sometimes God speaks through others, particularly the poor, oppressed, marginalized, and suffering. To whom should I be listening this season? How can I cultivate a listening posture toward others whose perspective and experiences might differ from my own?
Is there a spiritual discipline—fasting, praying the hours, lectio divina, the examen, giving to the poor, volunteering in service to others—that I’ve always wanted to try? How might I alter my daily routine to include one of these disciplines?
The cycle of death and resurrection is central to the Christian faith. In what ways is that cycle present in my life right now? Where might there be necessary change, suffering, death and decay, and how might new life emerge from those experiences?
This year, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5th 2025. The following resources below are available to help guide you on your 40-day Lenten journey.
Ash Wednesday
March 5th, 2025
Ash Wednesday is the day in the church year when we mark the beginning of the season of Lent. The observance of Ash Wednesday reminds us of our frailty and mortality — that we are ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Genesis 2 reminds us that God formed humans from the dust of the ground and breathed on us the breath of life. Genesis 3 reminds us that from dust we are and to dust we shall return.
Ash Wednesday is rooted in the Hebrew tradition of repentance, reflection and fasting. Ashes on the forehead symbolizes penance in the Bible. Job repents “in dust and ashes”. Esther, Samuel, Isaiah and Jeremiah repent in sackcloth and ashes. Christians adopted the practice as well. The practices in Scripture of repentance, reflection and renewal were communal. The repentance was by an individual on behalf of or with a community and connected to communal liberation (salvation, healing, flourishing).
How might we approach Ash Wednesday and Lent more broadly with a communal lens?
Practice the ritual of Ash Wednesday.
Create ashes and smudge one another’s foreheads as an act of remembrance. Ashes mark the sign of the cross on our forehead while we hear the words, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” The ashes signify our frailty and mortality and the cross of Christ our liberation by God’s grace. As you do this, try a few new things.
Tell your family about our connectedness to the land and our creator, and hold space for the people of the land you are on. Ask Creator to help you grow in an embodied faith.
Practice vulnerability with one another and share the things that have caused you personal grief and collective grief. Make space to sit with God and the things that have affected your hope.
Remember those who are surrounded by dust and ashes due to war, genocide, famine and poverty, and allow the images of their reality draw you to lament and cries for justice. Ask God to grow your desire for solidarity with other marginalized communities.
Click the button below for a printable Interactive Ash Wednesday Meditation & Liturgy that you can use at home by yourself, with your family, or with your co-op to accompany your “Ash Wednesday Take-Home Kit.”
Resources for Lent.
The following are a few different resources to help guide you during your 40 day journey. There is not one way to be intentional during Lent, and we hope that out of the the diversity of resources provided below, there will be something that resonates with you.
Regardless of however we choose to participate, God desires to meet with each of us throughout these 40 days (and onward). Take some time today to ask God what you might be called to further press into this Lent, and perhaps share it with a friend or co-op member.
Though we’re not doing an official church-wide fast this Lenten season, deepening spiritual discipline is even better when done with others!
Devotionals:
Everything In Between Lent Devotional (e-book by Sanctified Art) - Read, look, and sing your way through the pages of this devotional at your own pace this Lent. Each week (beginning with Ash Wednesday and concluding with Easter Sunday) offers art, reflections, poetry, and hymns inspired by scriptures in the Gospel of Luke. We encourage you to engage in the weekly art and reflections at your own pace, imagining where God might be meeting us beyond black and white binaries and the categories we create. This Lent, we're trusting that God shows up in shades of gray, rainbow hues, and everywhere in between.
Reclaiming My Theology Lent Devotional - Lent Devotional by Brandi Miller and Reclaiming My Theology offers a guide through the Lenten season that utilizes art, reflections, devotions, practices and activism practices to reflect on morality, Jesus, and the journey to Easter via the cross.
“Do not harden your hearts,” instructs the psalmist in Psalm 95:8, typically read in Catholic Ash Wednesday services. But as the creators of this free Lenten email series point out, it’s hard to avoid becoming numb these days. Through daily reflections, this series explores how to “turn our frustration into holy frustration in a way that keeps our hearts open and our action oriented to God’s voice and to one another as we seek connection and justice in our world.” Created by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, a Jesuit organization that educates and forms advocates for social justice, the series features a diverse group of Catholic contributors, including Sr. Norma Pimentel, Fr. James Martin, S.J., and Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J.
Disabling Lent: An Anti-Ableist Lenten Devotional - Confront ableism this Lent. For every Sunday in Lent and each day of Holy Week, this guide offers a longer reflection on a Bible verse or passage from folks in the disabled community and their allies. The reflections are sharp and deeply personal: “If I am not careful, it is harder for me to like my body, let alone, love it,” confesses pastor and organizer Letiah Fraser on Ash Wednesday after describing how cerebral palsy affects her body. “Do not rush to offer me absolution. Not until your own ableism is acknowledged.” Created by Unbound: An Interactive Journal on Christian Social Justice, the devotional is free and available as a PDF download or audio streaming at justiceunbound.org/disablinglent.
Ashes to Rainbows: A Queer Lenten Devotional - Unbound and More Light Presbyterians have partnered to create a Lent devotional written by queer people of faith and allies. Ashes to Rainbows: A Queer Lenten Devotional offers reflections for Ash Wednesday, each Sunday of Lent, and Holy Week. This queer devotional features an array of voices and perspectives, thought-provoking theologies, and a new way to think about the time in which we call Lent. Join us on this lenten journey as we reflect, challenge, and await the resurrection of the Christ who loves us all…no matter who God created us to be.
Articles:
Lent: An Invitation to Liberation - Article by Chasing Justice, mobilizing a BIPOC led community to collectively live a lifestyle of faith and justice.
Why Christians Fast During Lent - An excerpt on generosity and solidarity from “Hunger for Righteousness: A Lenten Journey Towards Intimacy with God and Loving our Neighbor” by Phoebe Farag Mikhail.
How My Faith Radically Changed What I Eat - Lent & fasting reflection by Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners and author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community.
40 Ideas for Lent - Blog post written in 2015 by the late Rachel Held Evans
Music & Art:
Prayer in Color - Coloring & calendar print-outs for prayer in the form of coloring & art
Common Hymnal - Socially conscious online library of Christian music & resources
Sanctified Art - Creative Ministry Resources for Lent & Easter