The journey through Lent into Easter is a journey with Jesus. We are baptized into his life, self-giving, and death. Then, we rise in hope to life transformed.

This Lent, you are invited to walk with Jesus in his Way of Love and into the experience of transformed life.

Racial Reconciliation

Prophetic Voices

Across our church and our society, we are having profound dialogues about race, truth, justice, and healing. “Prophetic Voices: Preaching and Teaching Beloved Community” explores where that dialogue intersects with our faith. Join us and our invited guests as we share prophetic voices and explore the lectionary through the lens of social justice. Available in English. This season launches in early 2024.

Prepare to become the Beloved Community

Organized around the four sections of the Becoming Beloved Community labyrinth (telling the truth, repairing the breach, practicing the way, proclaiming the dream), this Lent curriculum can help your small group to engage in racial reconciliation and reflect on Jesus’ coming among us.

Formation

d365

These devotions are written by ministers, professors, students, teachers, missionaries, denominational leaders, and others who work with and care for students. Typically, an author writes on a single theme for one week. In these devotions, you will read honest struggles and questions, all in the context of real faith. As you read the thoughts of the writers, think about your own response to the Scripture for the day. Let the writer’s words serve as background for your own conversation with God.

From Episcopal Church Partners

Church Publishing

From Church Publishing, Living the Way of Love offers forty brief reflections about the seven Jesus-centered practices identified by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry in ‘The Way of Love’ initiative. Mary Bea Sullivan tells stories from her own and others’ experiences as a starting point for discussion about how to seek and find a deeper connection to God. Rotating through each practice so that each is covered once a week, going deeper into the practice throughout the forty days, each reflection ends with questions designed to spur further discussion and assist readers in making the practices their own. Perfect for using as a Lenten devotional or at any time of the year, the book includes a guide for creating a personal rule of life, and a downloadable Facilitator’s Guide.

Forward Movement

From our friends at Forward Movement, join Tim, Scott, and celebrity bloggers for 2024’s Lent Madness. Fill out your bracket on the Saintly Scorecard and get ready to vote in the Round of 32, the Saintly 16, the Elate 8, the Faithful 4, and ultimately, the grand prize, the Golden Halo itself.

Episcopal Relief & Development

From Episcopal Relief & Development: “This Lenten Season, Episcopal Relief & Development invites you to join us as we meditate on the commandment to love our neighbor and consider the meaning of this fundamental instruction in our daily lives.”

Lent

The word “Lent” comes from an Old English word meaning “spring,” the time of lengthening days.

Early Christians observed “a season of penitence and fasting” in preparation for the Paschal [Easter] feast, or Pascha (Book of Common Prayer, pp. 264-265). The season now known as Lent has a long history.

Originally, in places where Pascha was celebrated on a Sunday, the Paschal feast followed a fast of up to two days. In the third century this fast was lengthened to six days. Eventually this fast became attached to, or overlapped, another fast of forty days, in imitation of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness.

The forty-day fast was especially important for the following people:

• Converts to the faith who were preparing for baptism.
• Those guilty of notorious sins who were being restored to the Christian assembly.

In the western church (Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran churches, and so forth, wherever they are located on a map), the forty days of Lent extend from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, omitting Sundays. The last three days of Lent are the sacred Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.

In the eastern church (various Orthodox bodies, wherever they are located on a map), the 40 days of Lent are the 40 days previous to Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday before Easter. The Orthodox churches counts Sundays in their 40 days, so our Lenten seasons end up being about the same number of days.

Today Lent has reacquired its significance as the final preparation of adult candidates for baptism. Joining with them, all Christians are invited “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 265).

(With some modification, this comes from Lent.)

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6210 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.