Lent
Lent is the 40-day period of preparation for Holy Week.
The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday. During Ash Wednesday services or “Ashes to Go” offerings, we remember the fact of our mortality as a prompting toward self-examination.
View resources and news related to the season:
- Societ of St. John the Evangelist – Lenten devotional materials
- Archbishop of Canterbury’s Book, selected each year.
- Episcopal Relief and Development – Lenten Meditations – order booklets in English or Spanish (free)
- Lent Madness – Learn about the saints! Fill out a bracket and vote for your favorites to win the Golden Halo.
- Trinity Institute – from Trinity Wall Street – 2017’s topic is Water Justice, along with Lenten resources: a study guide and sermon series with discussion questions.
- Video meditation on Ash Wednesday, by Trinity Cathedral Media at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Phoenix, AZ
https://youtu.be/sB_OflgtJwg?t=16s?rel=0
Bishop Mayer visits Church of the Resurrection, Decatur
On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, April 3, 2022, Bishop Scott Mayer visited the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Decatur. He confirmed Hope Adams and Will Adams. The Rev. Tony Hiatt is the priest in charge. Sarah Walker is the musician. The service was live streamed, as it is every Sunday, on their Facebook page. Read the bishop’s sermon, or watch it on Facebook – it begins at the 27.26 mark in the recording. See more photos in the…
Ash Wednesday services
The Christian Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues for 40 days (not counting Sundays) before culminating in Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday 2022 is on March 2 this year. Easter Sunday is April 17. On Ash Wednesday, Episcopalians, along with many other Christians in different traditions, wear a smudgy cross of ash on our foreheads to remind us of our mortality. This ancient ritual links us to countless generations who have turned humbly to God…
Ash Wednesday and Lent 2021
UPDATED TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2021– In person imposition of ashes in the locations listed below have been canceled, with the exception of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Keller, which will proceed as scheduled. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues for 40 days (not counting Sundays) before culminating in Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday is on February 17 this year. Easter Sunday is April 4. On Ash Wednesday, Episcopalians, along with many other Christians in different traditions, wear a smudgy cross…
Join a Palm Sunday Procession in your car
UPDATE: The Car Palm Procession has been postponed to 1 pm Tuesday, March 31, 2020, because of rain. Thanks for your help with this. We need your help. The diocese is offering online worship services for the duration of the public health crisis caused by the coronavirus Covid 19. The suspension of in-person worship services will include Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter. Online worship services for each of this are being planned, but it will involve taping some things…
The Rev. Dr. Robert Pace to lead online worship, preach Sunday
UPDATED March 31, 2020: Read the sermon Pace preached on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 29, 2020. The Rev. Dr. Robert Pace, 53, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, and the first person in Tarrant County to test positive for the coronavirus Covid 19, has recovered enough that he will lead online Morning Prayer and preach from Trinity this Sunday, March 29, 2020, the Fifth Sunday of Lent. It will be the first time he’s led worship at…
Episcopalians worship together in cyberspace on Lent 4
On the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Episcopalians across the diocese worshiped together, but maintained safe physical distancing. Worship was done online, with Good Shepherd, Granbury, offering Drive-in Worship; St. Christoper, Fort Worth, offering Drive-In Communion; All Saints’, Fort Worth, offering Drive-Thru Communion; St. Luke’s, Stephenville, offering Morning Prayer; and the diocese offering Morning Prayer at St. Luke’s in the Meadow, Fort Worth. St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Keller, offered a pre-recorded worship service with sermon. Read the sermon the Rev. Karen Calafat preached…
Grace and creativity in worship during Covid 19 crisis
The leadership and clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth are responding in grace-filled and creative ways to physical distancing and suspension of in-person worship services in response to the coronavirus Covid 19 crisis. These include Drive-in Worship, Holy Communion Drive-Thru, live streamed Eucharists, and live streamed Morning Prayer services, as well as non-worship offerings such as the daily reading of children’s stories by the Rev. Bradley Dyche, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Stephenville. “The church buildings…
The Rev. Dr. Robert Pace released from quarantine
Please rejoice with us. The Rev. Dr. Robert Pace, 53, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, has had two negative tests for the coronavirus Covid19. The Tarrant Public Health Department has signed an order releasing him from isolation and quarantine on March 19, 2020. His wife, the Rev. Dr. Jill Walters, will restart a two-week quarantine, but they will not have to remain separated from one another. He is still recovering from pneumonia, and it will take some time…
Drive-in Worship at Good Shepherd, Granbury
The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Granbury, is planning a drive-in worship service on at 9:30 am Sunday, March 22. Bishop Scott Mayer has called the diocese into a Lenten Fast from in-person worship for the time being in response to the coronavirus Covid 19 crisis. Good Shepherd’s innovation is one example of the creative ways Episcopal clergy and congregation leaders are keeping in touch with their congregations. They will continue the Drive-In Worship as long as needed. Bishop…
The third Sunday in Lent, doing church differently
On the Third Sunday in Lent, the Rev. Dr. Robert Pace, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, the first person in Tarrant County to test positive to the Covid-19 coronavirus and who, as a result, has been in isolation since March 10, joined hundreds of other Episcopalians across the diocese in online worship. On Saturday, Bishop Scott Mayer called the people of the diocese into a Lenten Fast from public worship, suspending in-person worship for at least the next two weeks.…
Bishop calls diocese into Lenten fast from public worship
Bishop Scott Mayer has sent a letter to the diocese suspending in-person worship for at least the next two weeks, calling us into a Lenten Fast from public worship. He wrote, “It is important for the Church to model responsibility during this very serious moment. It is going to take all of us to slow the spread of this virus – which will save lives. . . “The love of neighbor needs to be our guide in this moment. In…
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry calls for prayer for the nation
From the Episcopal News Service: As the season of Lent approaches, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invites Episcopalians and people of faith to turn and pray on behalf of our nation: “In times of great national concern and urgency, people of faith have returned to ancient practices of repentance, prayer and fasting as ways of interceding with God on behalf of their nation and the world. This is such a moment for us in the United States. “On Ash Wednesday I…
Are we there yet? Bishop Mayer’s invitation into Lent
Bishop Scott Mayer invites the diocese into the Discerning Communal Mission and Ministry this Lent and Eastertide. Watch it below or on YouTube.
Ashes to Go and traditional services for Ash Wednesday 2020
Ash Wednesday is February 26. It is the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent, a time of reflection and prayer lasting 40 days. It culminates in Holy Week and Easter, which this year is April 12. Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Lutheran, Methodists, Presbyterians and some Baptists observe Ash Wednesday. Clergy make the sign of the cross in ashes on people’s foreheads as a visible symbol of human mortality. Watch a short video of how the ashes are made by burning…
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visits St. Christopher
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visited St. Christopher, Fort Worth, March 20-21, 2019. She celebrated and preached at a Eucharist and spoke at the Lenten Soup Supper on Wednesday, March 20, and met with the diocesan clergy on Thursday, March 21. Bishop Jefferts Schori played a significant role in the continuation of this diocese following the departure of a former bishop, many clergy, and several lay leaders from The Episcopal Church. She called a Special Meeting of the Convention at which…
Ash Wednesday to Easter – a message from Bishop Mayer
Bishop Scott Mayer has issued a new video — Ash Wednesday to Easter, the Way of Love. In this two-minute video, Bishop Mayer invites us to take on a Lenten practice and “settle into it,” because doing so will make Easter even more meaningful. He suggests the Small Group Curriculum found among the digital resources that have been developed around Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Way of Love. They all are at https://www.episcopalchurch.org/way-of-love You can watch the video below or on YouTube.