What I’m Doing–and Not Doing–for Lent, and Why

When I started my Etsy shop I realized I was doing a liturgical-crafter's version of Holiday Inn: I basically wanted to work "holidays only" (Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter) and be lazy the rest of the year. I was weaving purple and white stoles, putting together AltarBoxes and weekly devotionals and prayers, and suddenly I was personally …

Singing Lent: The Wondrous Story

Through this season, O God, we have been singing your story--from our hymnal, and from your Word. This week, we follow Jesus into Jerusalem, still singing and storytelling along the way. Now, here, his story takes a turn, for from here we can survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of Glory died. Because …

Palm Sunday/Passion Week: Something Old, Something New: The Lesson

Palm/Passion Sunday texts at http://www.textweek.com Isaiah 50:4-9a          Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29          Psalm 31:9-16 Phil. 2:5-11          Luke 19:28-40          Luke 22:14-23:56 Morning by morning [the Lord] wakens--wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.  Isaiah 50:4b While the Passover tells …

Singing Lent: “All the Way My Savior Leads Me”

When I was first planning this series for Lent, I had this big idea--to use familiar hymns and the stories behind them, paired up with traditional lectionary scripture readings for the season, and I just knew that somehow magically--I mean, in a Spirit-led way--the hymns, their histories, and the scriptures would meld together in a …

Lent 5: Something Old, Something New: The Harvest

Lent 5 texts at http://www.textweek.com Isaiah 43:16-21          Psalm 126          Phil. 3:4b-14          John 12:1-8 Then our mouth was filled with contempt, and our tongue with shouts of outrage; then it was said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them.' NOT …

Singing Lent: “Grace Greater Than All Our Sin”

Several years ago, a small group of us met on Tuesday mornings to pray together. Our model was an ancient practice of praying the scriptures called lectio divina, sacred reading. It focuses on one scripture passage, and the passage is read over again several times, each reading followed by a period of silence and listening. …

Lent 4: Something Old, Something New: The Land

Lent 4 texts at http://www.textweek.com Joshua 5:9-12          Psalm 32          2 Cor. 5:16-21          Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 "On the day after the Passover, that very day, they ate the produce of the land..." (Joshua 5:11) Forty years after Egypt. Forty years of walking, of raising up …

Singing Lent: “Love Lifted Me!”

I didn’t realize until just recently that I am missing something that many people seem to have… at least, the people I’ve been around my whole life, church folks. It’s strange, actually, that I didn’t notice it sooner; I’ve always been aware that most people didn’t move around as much as my family always did …

Lent 3: Something Old, Something New: The Feast

Lent 3 texts at http://www.textweek.com Isaiah 55:1-9         Psalm 63:1-8          1 Cor. 10:1-13          Luke 13:1-9 "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:2) God's invitation in Isaiah 55 doesn't read …

Singing Lent, Week 2: “To God be the Glory”

Knitters have a special name for the act of unknitting rows of stitching; they call it “frogging” because you have to tell yourself to “rip it, rip it.” I frogged the knitting in this picture, turned it back into yarn, not because it was bad or riddled with mistakes, but because it was just Never …