LENT

Resources

Sermon Starters

Stories

 

RESOURCES

Resources for Lent from Imagine No Malaria 

Lent and Easter Resources from the WPA Ann Conf

Lenten resource Global Ministries available for Substance Abuse

Lenten Practices for Leaders 

Bishop Marcus Matthew's Letter of Lent, Upper NY Ann Conf 

Resources from UMCom for Lent and Easter

 

New Subject Guide for Lent and Easter

The season of Lent is here, and now is the time to request resources that your church will use during the Lenten season. The Media Center has published a new subject guide featuring all of our resources that focus on Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection and the Christian church’s observance of Easter and Lent. The subject guide includes video and print resources for adults, youth, and children to study and celebrate Lent and Easter. View the Easter/Lent Subject Guide now, and get your requests in as soon as possible while availability is high. If your group would like a broader overview of the life of Jesus, please view our Subject Guide on the Life of Jesus.

--from the North Carolina Ann Conf.

 

On the Journey with Jesus

A new FREE devotional resources is being offered by the Illinois Great River Ann Conf to its lay and clergy members. The pastors need not do anything to subscribe to the devotional; the devotional will be sent to the pastor's IGRC email account each morning. Laypersons may subscribe to the daily devotional by visiting the IGRC E-Newsletter subscription page. Visitors will be prompted to enter their email address. If they are subscribed to other mailing lists, they will receive an email to update their preferences. Make sure that "On the Journey with Jesus 2011 Lenten Devotional" is checked in order to receive it.

Persons who want to read the Daily Devotional online, may do so by visiting: www.igrc.org/lentendevotional. The day's devotional will always be at the top. A link will also be provided on a new Facebook group, "On the Journey with Jesus Lenten Devotional"  to the devotional and members of the group will be automatically notified when the new devotional is posted.

We hope you will put your feet on Jesus' road this Lent, and join us on the journey.

--from the IGR Ann Conf

 

LENT Resources from GBOD

 Resources for Lent

Weekly resources are among the Lectionary Planning helps

 

Society of St. Andrew Offers Lenten Devotional Program and Ecumenical Study

"We’ve a Story to Tell"  is inspired by the Christian journey and its impact on our personal lives. These daily devotions were contributed by a variety of writers from different denominations who share how their personal walk with Jesus has impacted their lives.

Through daily devotions, scriptures, and prayers, this program offers an opportunity to strengthen your walk with Christ while joining in ministry to feed the hungry. All materials are offered at no cost and there is no obligation. However, participants are asked to seriously consider giving sacrificially - a donation of just $1 a day during the season of lent - $47 - would enable the Society of St. Andrew to salvage over 2,000 servings of fresh produce. That is because the Society of St. Andrew’s low operating costs allows fresh nutritious produce to be saved and delivered for only 2 cents a serving. Last year’s Lenten Devotions program was responsible for providing over 2 million servings of food to families in need in our nation.

An optional “Good Friday Fast” booklet is also available for use in partnership with the daily devotions or as a stand alone program.

More information about the Society of St. Andrew and its hunger-relief programs is available online at www.endhunger.org or by email at sosainfo@endhunger.org.

All materials for the Lenten devotional program are free from the Society of St. Andrew. For a church sample kit or a personal packet, order online: www.endhunger.org/lent.htm; by phone: 800-333-4597; or by email: church@endhunger.org.

--from the New England Ann Conf.
 

SERMON STARTERS  FOR LENT

A Journey to Hope
Easter

Scriptural Focus: Mark 16:1-8 (The Message)

 

A Journey to Hope
Thursday in Holy Week

Scriptural Focus: Mark 14:12-26 (The Message)

 

A Journey to Hope: Suffering
Sixth Sunday in Lent

Scriptural Focus: Psalm 31 and Mark 14
 

A Journey to Hope: Money
Fifth Sunday in Lent

Scriptural Focus: The Book of Mark

 

A Journey to Hope: Temptation
Fourth Sunday in Lent

Scripture Focus: Mark 14:32-40 (The Message)

A Journey to Hope: Work
3rd Sunday in Lent

Scriptural Focus: Mark 10:35-44 (The Message)

 

A Journey to Hope: Self-Esteem
2nd Sunday in Lent

Scriptural Focus: Mark 11:1-11 (The Message)

 

A Journey to Hope: Relationships
1st Sunday in Lent

Scriptural Focus: Mark 10:13-16 (The Message)

 

A Journey to Hope
Ash Wednesday

Scriptural Focus: Mark 8:31-37 (The Message)

STORIES

THE ANTICIPATION OF EASTER: A MESSAGE FROM BISHOP PAUL L. LEELAND

My Dear Friends:

The anticipation of Easter is saturating everything we do as we give glory to God for his “inexpressible gift!” Of course our anticipation grows in light of awareness of Jesus’ resurrection. We know that Jesus is just as present with us in this moment as he was with the disciples in the locked upper room. In their astonishment and unbelief, Jesus stood before their “frightened” presence and breathed peace and joy into them by saying, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Lk 24:39

With those words, Jesus assured us that the resurrected body is not some energetic continuation of life after death, but is the promise of a resurrected body; “For a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” There is a deeper understanding of our praise on Easter Sunday morning when we join our sisters and brothers in worship, sharing together the Apostle’s Creed, “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.”

Like the disciples, we too are frightened; but Christ has overcome our fear. We too have many questions that arise in our hearts; but Christ has opened our understanding. We too are worried; but Christ has bestowed his peace. We too need the assurance and calming promise of God’s love. We reflect the glory of God’s love when we too embrace resurrection. “God raised the Lord and by the same power will raise us up also.” I Cor 6:14

During the weeks of Lent we have been encouraged to participate in Lenten disciplines, or acts of penance. These acts historically have been faithful expressions of our desire to prayerfully say we are serious about being open to the changes God will create in our lives. Some have chosen to do something each week for someone who is sick; to say “I’m sorry” to someone who is alienated from them; to spend extra time in silence speaking and listening to God; to visit someone who is homebound; or to offer charitable offerings for those in much greater need.

Whatever choices we have made, these weeks of Lent have given us time to do something different and new. We may have denied ourselves some personal pleasure, but the choices have turned our thoughts to God. Each decision represented a change in our normal behavior and each change represents the grace of God to create a changed heart; a renewed life; a foretaste of resurrection. These small and sometimes imperceptible changes remind us of the changes God creates in us to sanctify our lives. We are slowly being changed into the image of Christ for the service of others. We begin to behave just as we were in heaven under the reign of God. May his kingdom come; his will be done, just as it is in heaven.

This Easter may we “look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Jesus “opened their minds” and commanded us, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you.” Lk 24:46-49.

Let us pray that the churches of our Alabama-West Florida Conference may show, in very clear ways, the truth of Christ’s triumph over death. May we pray for God’s grace to be faithful in living our Christian faith and that the event of Easter will deeply change our lives, renewing our families, and blessing us with the new beginning we need.

Christ is risen! Jesus is our Lord, now and forever. Alleluia!

--Easter Blessings, Bishop Paul L. Leeland, Resident Bishop, Alabama-West Florida Conference

 

A Wellspring of Lenten Generosity

The water I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.  -- John 4:14

During Lent, we join United Methodist everywhere in generosity through The One Great Hour of Sharing. For over 55 years, The One Great Hour of Sharing has made it possible for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to keep its promise that every gift goes 100 percent to those in need.

It is the privilege of every United Methodist Church to invite and receive this offering so that our healing and restoring presence in the world might be vital and strong.

We in Mississippi have received much through UMCOR. Recovery work continues in the wake of the tornadoes of 2010. Six years after Hurricane Katrina, recovery work continues in the Seashore District.

Our participation in The One Great Hour of Sharing is a way of saying thank you -- to God and to our church. Our generosity will comfort and help others, just as we have been comforted and helped.

Thank you for your participation during Lent in The One Great Hour of Sharing. Resources are available by linking here.

With gratitude for our partnership in Christ's ministry,

--adapted from "Gleanings" by Bishop Hope Morgan Ward

LENT

I have an admission to make: it isn't long before the ashes are imposed on my forehead before I itch to wipe them off. I'm not sure what triggers this; perhaps the stares of people on the streets, or the sight of myself in the rearview mirror on the way home from church. I tell myself I need to leave them on--not because of what they mean, but perhaps on the off-chance I run into someone I know and I can feel good about myself having endured those same stares I wish to avoid.

The ashes are an all-too-real reminder of where we come from, our mortality, and the fact that at the end of the day all those pious things we have done; whether it be giving some of our wages, leading mission trips, or working for general good in the world--all those things will also, to a degree, become dust. That though we work for the reality of God's Kingdom, as Jesus said, we will always have the poor with us.

I often feel many in the church misinterpret Lent as a period of self-deprecation, endless mourning for their sin, and a time where we are to be idle and wait for God. Often this is how we frame our Lenten sacrifice: we will happily give up things like caffeine, but mainly so when others ask why we are so grumpy and tired, we can tell them of our harrowing and bleary-eyed sacrifice over the next 40 days (I came to the realization several years ago that God probably couldn't care less about my petty self-indulgent sacrifices, and would probably be more moved by intentionally trying to add God's love in my life and in others.)

The true meaning of our sacrifices in Lent is this: losing something in order to make room for God to move more in our lives. Much like a tree, from time to time, has to enduring a cutting or pruning of the limbs in order to facilitate further growth, so it is the same with our lives. We sacrifice in order to discover something new.

So in this season of Lent, are we sacrificing in order to sit idle and wait for God, or are we sacrificing in order to begin a journey of discovery with God? To find new things that God is doing in our lives, and give ourselves up to the movement of the Spirit. From ashes we come, and to ashes we shall return--yes--but what will we do on this earth before we leave? How many other finite lives can we show the love of God to in order that they, in turn, can carry that love to others?

The ashes are a gritty, dirty, and stark reminder of our finality, but they also a sign of a question from God to us: what will you do, even though your days may be few? When we ask this question, and live it day-to-day in our lives, we will find God and practice a piety in which the world has rarely seen.
This Lent, I encourage you to give generously to many of our mission partners who are under the umbrella of an organization called Mission2Gather. You can visit their website at www.mission2gather.com or click here for more info.

--adapted from Rev. Matt Lacey, N AL Ann Conf

Lent: an old concept that holds new value 

It’s probably not a word you’ve heard recently. But to English-speakers a thousand years ago, it was the everyday word for “spring.” As Old English evolved into Middle English, lencten became leinte. And as Middle English continued to change into the
language we speak today, the word eventually became lent.

We don’t use lent as a way to say “spring” anymore. But we do use it to refer to a season of the Christian calendar that overlaps with springtime itself.

I’m talking about the season of Lent, of course. It is the 40-day period leading up to Easter. Lent is a time when Christians have traditionally prepared for the great holiday of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead by engaging in disciplined practices such as fasting and intentional times of prayer.

Just as Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness prepared him for his public ministry, the 40 days of Lent prepare us for the event that culminated his time on earth and inaugurated the church’s public ministry in the world.

Ah, but Lent seems hopelessly out of step with the modern world. Our culture just isn’t very conducive to any kind of disciplined practice. And fasting? Good luck.

Contemporary culture worships at the altar of innovation. We have a never-ending hunger for the “new.” We assume that the latest version of anything must surely be better than the older version.

Companies that market consumer products play into this cultural addiction. Whether it’s candy, cars, or computers, advertisers want you to know that the product on offer now is much, much better than the one that was available yesterday.

This kind of thing can get plain ridiculous. The company that makes my razor wants me to buy a new version that fits five razor blades on the head of its razor—you know, just to make sure that every whisker is cut as close as possible. I’m not sure what that fifth razor blade is going to catch that was missed by the first four, but . . . oh, never mind.

In a world where we are fast approaching a half-dozen blades on a single razor, how could a concept as old as Lent ever hope to compete? The very name itself sounds strangely archaic— which it is, of course—and the season of the Christian year it describes is even older.

Most of us today want our Christianity on-the-go. We don’t have time to do much more than get to church on Sundays. Asking ourselves to commit to a real (gasp!) discipline is simply beyond the pale.

Isn’t it?

Actually, I think we are seeing signs that people in our culture are tiring of the insatiable hunger for the new. We should at least ask ourselves whether we have found anything truly redemptive in the past few decades of conspicuous consumption. Has it made us happy, in the deepest sense of that word?

My guess is that for most people the answer is “no.” Our problem is that we don’t know how to take our foot off the gas pedal. Advertisers tell us what we ought to want, and the satisfaction-is-just-a-mouse-click-away ease of the Internet age keeps our brains occupied with little synaptic spurts of pleasure.

But it’s not real happiness. It’s a mirage that has made us think we should be satisfied with a bowl of Cocoa Puffs when there’s filet mignon to be had.

Here’s where Lent invites a serious reconsideration. The purpose of Lent is to prepare us for what God is doing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Witnessing that work on Easter Sunday will surely elicit praise and worship from us. But it calls first for deep preparation that will give us a greater understanding of the mystery of resurrection.

Through the disciplined preparation of Lent,we can start to catch a glimpse of a life lived according to something other than the ever-shifting winds of culture. That life finds value not in the new but in the old—in the ancient, in fact. The life of discipleship is not about innovation; it’s about the renovation of our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And that’s a possibility worth slowing down for.

--By Andrew C. Thompson, UMR Columnist  

 

A story of philanthropy for youth during Lent

Not every piece of news or information makes the final cut, but that doesn't mean it's not valuable and there aren't plenty more stories of faith in action to be told. At St. Paul UMC in Bloomfield Hills Rev. Robert Schoenhals and wife Jill Warren put their money where their mouths and hearts are. In this "Letter to the Editor" style entry see how God is moving in one church.

I have 2 middle school students and we just had the lesson on serving God/money and the rich young man (Matthew 6:24, 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18:18-30). We did an exercise where we started out with confetti - each representing $1 - equally distributed. Then I asked them to throw it in the air and then "compete" to see who could accumulate the most. Since each piece of confetti represented a real dollar - you can imagine how excited they were. The winner with the most received $1 for every piece of confetti collected (up to $1,000) and the 2nd place winner received half. They were so excited - the winner collected 1,103 pieces of confetti! (Guess I should've counted it all beforehand since $1,500 was my limit). The students have to give it all away - using what they've learned about United Methodist Social Principles and Christian stewardship.

I'm using proceeds from my spouse's retirement fund that we drew down this month to fund the project. They'll be choosing their recipients throughout the season of Lent. I'm really excited, too, to generate enthusiasm for kids who usually don't have access to much more than a few dollars at a time.

We're using our Facebook page (parents are asked to be friends, too) to share project ideas - which gives the students another way to stay connected with Christian principles throughout the week.

We have 100+/- members with average attendance of around 65 or so.

Also throughout Lent - we raise Painted Lady caterpillars and watch them change - and they hatch at Easter and are released into their new life outside (if it's warm enough). I've been doing this project for more than 15 years and every year kids really enjoy it.

--Adapted from a story in the MI Area Reporter by Jill A. Warren of St. Paul UMC

Forty Days of Fruitful Living

Based on Five Practices of Fruitful Living, Forty Days of Fruitful Living guides the individual or small group through daily readings designed to inspire and encourage. Perfect for use during Lent or throughout the year, Forty Days of Fruitful Living will help cultivate the essential practices of a life lived in grace - to receive God's love, to love God in return, to grow in Christ, to serve others, and to give back.

--Indiana Conference

 

We’ve a Story to Tell - Lenten Devotional Program

The Society of St. Andrew, a domestic hunger-relief ministry that provides nutritious fresh produce to feeding agencies across the country, also offers spiritually nourishing devotions each Lent and Advent season. This upcoming Lent, the theme We’ve a Story to Tell, is inspired by the Christian journey and its impact on our personal lives. These daily devotions were contributed by a variety of writers from different denominations who share how their personal walk with Jesus has impacted their lives.

Through daily devotions, scriptures, and prayers, this program offers an opportunity to strengthen your walk with Christ while joining in ministry to feed the hungry. All materials are offered at no cost and there is no obligation. However, participants are asked to seriously consider giving sacrificially - a donation of just $1 a day during the season of lent - $47 - would enable the Society of St. Andrew to salvage over 2,000 servings of fresh produce. That is because the Society of St. Andrew’s low operating costs allows fresh nutritious produce to be saved and delivered for only 2 cents a serving. Last year’s Lenten Devotions program was responsible for providing over 2 million servings of food to families in need in our nation.

An optional “Good Friday Fast” booklet is also available for use in partnership with the daily devotions or as a stand alone program.

All materials for the Lenten devotional program are free from the Society of St. Andrew. For a church sample kit or a personal packet, order online: www.endhunger.org/lent.html; by phone: 800-333-4597; or by email: church@endhunger.org.