Lent: Poems, Mixtapes, Prayerbooks – Oh My!

I’ll be honest, one of the reasons why I love Lent and the Church Calendar is because it is a helpful corrective for my own personal lack of personal discipline. I’m not especially skilled at putting together my own structure, and so I really flourish when structure and pattern is placed on me from the outside.

This is especially true with spiritual practices. To engage with a Church season like Lent, I often need to give myself a blog series to keep me thinking on a theme for the season (see above, under “Lent Posts“, and also check out this year’s series). I really do well with reading plans, prayerbooks, music albums, etc. If you find yourself in the same boat, here are some resources for this year’s Lent that some of you may find helpful.

Liberti Church Lent Resources

My church has some really helpful ways to engage during Lent. The primary way is their annual Prayerbook, made in partnership with Restoration Living, featuring art, reflections, and a daily prayer liturgy for the season. You can download it in PDF, Kindle, and Mobile formats. We are also doing our annual Easter Outreach, in which we raise money for clean water wells in South Sudan, as well as purchase, pack, and deliver Easter meals to families in the region who cannot purchase their own. Please consider giving or serving in some way.

What I am doing

Prayer & Scripture

For my own devotional time this season, I’ll be using the above Prayerbook liturgy, as well as using readings from a really simple and helpful daily reading app called Every Day Bible. This reading plan is also linked to an online group for my church. You can join the reading group and add your own thoughts, questions, discussions, or reflections.

Music

It’s been a couple of years since I put out another Church season Mixtape; so with the distance, I’m finding the free Lent Mixtapes a I made a few years especially helpful and moving in this time. Also, there are two albums that are free, beautiful, and especially relevant to this time. The first is Songs for Lent by New York Hymns. The other is (perhaps) my favorite album of all-time (no exaggeration), Cool Hand Luke’s Of Man. And again, it’s all free and perfect for this season.

Reading

Through the Lenten season, I’ll also be reading through a beautiful set of poetry selections and reflections by Malcolm Guite in Word in the Wilderness. Also, the Every Day Bible Reading Plan above also includes (for free) the relevant devotions in the year-long Connect the Testaments devotional.

Other Resources

There are plenty of other reading plans and resources available out there on the interwebs to help you engage in this time. I tend to use resources that are connected to Logos Bible software, but most people use the YouVersion Bible app. With that app, they have lots of Lent-specific reading plans and free devotionals for this time of year. And lastly, if you want some more ancient and tried-and-true methods of participating, this Ignatian Spirituality Lent guide is a good set.

I hope these ideas and links help you and encourage you in this time to engage in Lenten reflection and meditation deeply and intentionally. Let me know what you do to engage in Lent!

[image credit: Marc Chagall, “Exodus”]