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A Lent-to-Easter Devotional
The Road to Joy contains 15 devotions from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The reading plan can be used as a full Lent study or adapted to be used in the days surrounding Easter to reflect on the death and resurrection of our Savior. Meditate on the cross and discover the hope and joy we have in Christ in the midst of the trials and sorrows of this world.
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Lenten Practices
- Consider fasting, except for Sundays (which are days of celebration!)
- Abstain from eating meat on Fridays (or skip a meal altogether)
- Find new ways to be generous toward those in need.
- Spend time reading with special attention the Gospel narratives about the final week of Jesus' life.
- Try practicing a form of prayer known as the Daily Examen.
- Reflect deeply on any ongoing sin in your life, and daily take that to God in repentance.
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Read & Watch
- The Lent Experience by Eric Ferris (RightNow Media)
- It is Finished by David Dorn (RightNow Media)
- Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen by Judy Bauer
- Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter by Various
- To Dance with God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration by Gertrud Mueller Nelson
- Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
- Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home by Traci Smith
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Music & Podcasts for Lent
- An Lenten playlist on Spotify
- An Lenten playlist on Apple Music
- No. 3: Lord, Have Mercy, album by A New Liturgy
- Quietime Lent, album by Eric Nordhoff
- Lenten Hymns, Vol. 1, album by Aaron Hale
- Poets & Saints, album by All Sons and Daughters
- Brother, album by The Brilliance
- Sunnybrook Consider This Podcast | I Tell Myself No: The Meaning of Lent
- Podcast : Ash Wednesday + Fasting + Discernment with Jenn Giles Kemper and Lacy Clark Ellman on the Sacred Ordinary Days podcast
- Podcast : Lent + Prayer with Jenn Giles Kemper and Lacy Clark Ellman on the Sacred Ordinary Days podcast
- Podcast : Lent + Almsgiving with Jenn Giles Kemper and Lacy Clark Ellman on the Sacred Ordinary Days podcast
- Podcast : Holy Week + Easter + Prayer with Jenn Giles Kemper and Lacy Clark Ellman on the Sacred Ordinary Days podcast
- An Lenten playlist on Spotify
Fasting & Penitence
When fasting, we train our bodies to resist its compulsive desires. We don't fast because food is bad, or because entertainment is never a good thing. Instead, we fast as a way of disciplining our minds and bodies to resist temptation, to discover new opportunities to turn to God in prayerful dependence, and to remind ourselves that we are not slaves to our sinful appetites (again, nothing against food!). As a church, we ask you to consider using the season of Lent to practice a fast of some sort: skipping a meal once a week, giving up sweets or caffeine for the whole season, or abstaining from social media or other forms of entertainment.
Our prayer is that fasting, prayer, and reading the Scriptures will allow us to enter a season of increased penitence. As our hearts are prepared to focus on the grace of Jesus' cross, we can joyfully pray that God will turn our hearts toward him in repentance.
This Lent, let us look closely as the conditions of our hearts. Let us grow closer to God by giving up certainly worldly pleasures, and let us turn toward in him in repentance as we prepare to celebrate the central event of human history—the empty tomb!