Lent (Page 2)
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
Observe Episcopal Relief and Development Sunday on March 10
On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry invited all Episcopalians to join together in observance of Episcopal Relief & Development Sunday on March 10, 2019. “As we follow in the footsteps of Jesus this Lent, we know that living out God’s love for the world is our ultimate goal,” said Curry. “I invite all congregations to devote a Sunday in Lent to reflect on the life-giving work of Episcopal Relief & Development and to demonstrate God’s love by…
Ashes to go at Sundance Square
Bishop Scott Mayer and the Rev. Hunter Ruffin distributed ashes at Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth on Ash Wednesday, which also was Valentine’s Day. They were present from 11 am to 1 pm, during which time nearly 60 people stopped for the imposition of ashes, or a prayer, or simple conversation. Most wanted ashes. A security guard on a bike stopped and asked for prayers. Construction workers doffed hard hats to receive ashes. Business women and men stopped. Workers…
Bishop Mayer invites us into Lent
Bishop Scott Mayer talks about Ash Wednesday being on Valentine’s Day this year, and how that offers a starting place for reflection. This video is close captioned. Watch on YouTube or below:
All invited to join Women of the Passion in retreat
Everyone — men as well as women — is invited to take part in a half-day Lenten retreat at St. Luke’s in the Meadow, Fort Worth, from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm Saturday, March 25. A light lunch will be served, so please RSVP to martelmarsha@gmail.com so enough food can be prepared. “Women of the Passion: A Journey to the Cross” is based on a book of the same name. It will start with registration at 8:30 am. At 9 am,…
Martin Smith to lead retreat exploring “Who We Really Are”
Refresh your spirit and your mind during Lent. Episcopal priest, author and retreat leader the Rev. Martin L. Smith will offer a retreat in our diocese on Saturday, April 1. Smith will lead participants in reflecting on “Who We Really Are: Exploring Our Baptismal Identity.” Thomas Merton reminds us that “in prayer we experience what we already possess. We start where we are and deepen what we have, and we realize we are already there.” In this quiet day of reflection and prayer,…
Join us for Lenten programs
The liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues for approximately 40 days before culminating in Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday was on March 1 this year. On Ash Wednesday, priests take ashes made from the burning of palms from the previous Palm Sunday and make the sign of the cross on people’s foreheads as a symbolic reminder of our mortality. Lent traditionally has been a time of retreat, reflection, and repentance, a time to clear away the distractions of…
Bishop and clergy reaffirm vows
Bishop Scott Mayer and the clergy of the diocese gathered Tuesday at a worship service at St. Luke’s in the Meadow, Fort Worth to reaffirm vows they made at their ordinations. The bishop blessed oils (called chrism) for anointing at baptism and for healing. During the service, he anointed the hands of the clergy. At a luncheon in the parish hall, the bishop visited with the clergy and engaged in an informal Q&A session. Read Bishop Mayer’s sermon at the 2016…
Lenten Quiet Day at St. Martin’s, Keller on March 19- UPDATED
Men, women, and teens are invited to a Lenten Quiet Day from 9:30 am to 2 pm on Saturday, March 19, 2016. This Lenten Quiet Day offers time that is set apart to stop and rest and be with the Lord. The meditations will use beautiful Lenten icons and the deep symbolism written in the art will be shared. The day starts at 9:30 am with Morning Prayer in the church sanctuary. A soup and bread lunch will be served at noon. The quiet…
St. Luke’s in the Meadow offering Taize services
All are invited to worship in the style of Taizé on the first Friday of each month at 6:30 pm. at St. Luke’s in the Meadow. Fort Worth. Taizé is an ecumenical style of worship, involving singing and silence, designed to facilitate a spirit of contemplation. The use of candles, icons and Biblical chants create a meditative environment. It was born at the Taizé Community, an ecumenical monastic order in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. It is composed of more than one hundred brothers, from Catholic…
News coverage of Ash Wednesday features Episcopalians
Ash Wednesday news coverage in the Fort Worth – Dallas area featured congregations of our diocese. Ellen Bryan of NBC Channel 5 News interviewed the Rev. Karen Calafat of St. Luke’s in the Meadow, Fort Worth, about the burning of palms to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday and about Ash Wednesday in general. St. Luke’s offered Ashes to Go in front of the church across from Meadowbrook Elementary School and Meadowbrook Middle School. St. Alban’s, worshiping in Theatre…
Retreat on prayer practices offered
St. Alban’s, meeting at Theatre Arlington, is offering Pray All Ways, a retreat on prayer practices. The first session on Saturday, March 26 from 9 am to noon, will explore praying with beads. The Rev. Kevin Johnson explains: For millennia beads have been used as a tool to aid in prayer. For this Lenten mini-retreat, come create your own set of special prayer beads while learning about Christianity’s rich history of using them. Lent is an excellent time to explore practices that…
Invitation to a Holy Lent
As Ash Wednesday approaches, Bishop Scott Mayer invites us into a holy Lent. Lent is the liturgical season that begins with Ash Wednesday and continues for approximately 40 days before culminating in Easter Sunday. On Ash Wednesday, Episcopalians and other Christians join in the ancient ritual of having a cross of ash put on our foreheads as a reminder of our mortality. There are many ways to observe Lent, several of which are mentioned in the Prayer Book liturgy for…
How to make ashes for Ash Wednesday
It is the season of ashes. On Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, Episcopalians join other Christians around the world in participating in an ancient ritual. We have crosses of ash placed on our foreheads as an outward and visible sign of our mortality. Those ashes come from the burning of palms from Palm Sunday. Last year, those graceful green and blessed palms marked our remembrance of the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Now, dried and yellowed, the palms…
Join us for Ash Wednesday and Lent
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues for approximately 40 days before culminating in Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday is on February 10 this year. Lent traditionally has been a time of retreat, reflection, and repentance, a time to clear away the distractions of the world and to focus on our relationship with God and with one another. People often choose to give something up for Lent. But there are other ways of observing Lent. The Rt. Rev. J. Scott Mayer,…
Bingo, Mardi Gras, Solemn Evensong coming up at All Saints’, Fort Worth
February at All Saints’, Fort Worth, will feature several events in addition to their regular worship schedule. Bingo Night – All are welcome to Bingo Night from 6 to 8 pm Friday, February 5. Pizza, popcorn and dessert will be served, with proceeds benefiting All Saints’ 2016 Belize Mission. Mardi Gras – Come let the good times roll at the Pancake Supper & Mardi Gras Celebration beginning at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, February 9, in DeWolfe Hall.There will be a traditional pancake feast with…
More resources for Lent
We are delighted to share two additional Lenten resources. Praying in color for a personal devotion Praying in Color offers adults and children a way to mark the day-by-day journey of Lent daily praying & drawing with a calendar template. The author says, “It doesn’t involve making false promises to myself about sitting down for thirty minutes a day and praying/studying/meditating and then feeling guilty when I fail… I think of each mark or stroke of color as a wordless prayer.”…