I am wondering how you are observing Ash Wednesday and preparing to observe Lent...or whether you are?
On this blog, we shared information about printed devotionals by RevGals and Pals: on January 30 (Ruth Everhart and Mary Ann McKibben Dana) . Note also that Lauren Winner's new book Still: A Mid-Faith Crisis has an online study guide for Lent, available at this link.
And, here's a late-breaking release: Ring member Derek Maul has published Reaching Toward Easter: Devotions for Lent. It's available through Upper Room Ministries and more information can be found at his blog, here.
There are a wealth of online resources, also.
Ring member, Presbyterian pastor, spiritual director and devotee of the Ignatian Exercises, Robin, shares a post here an Ignatian Prayer Adventure, created by several bloggers at Loyola Press:
If you are looking for a Lenten prayer practice, several Loyola Press bloggers have put together An Ignatian Prayer Adventure, an experience that looks as if it will be terrific. It will appear in a variety of formats across a number of sites, starting on Sunday (day after tomorrow).
A post outlining the structure can be found here. (And there's a link in my sidebar.) I wish there were one blog on which all the relevant daily posts were being gathered but, alas, such is not the case. For someone as disorganized as I, it will be a challenge to locate what's happening from day to day, but I plan to keep up as best I can. (You can subscribe to all the blogs involved, if that would be helpful to you.)
This online series will follow the structure of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, so if you've made the Exercises, the framework will be familiar to you and, if you haven't, it will offer you a taste of what may become a way of life.
Here are some other online ideas for Lent via one of the participants in the Ignatian Prayer Adventure.
Jan at Yearning for God compiles a list in this post.
There is a Facebook Group called "40 Days of Lent Challenge" that promises to post a "calendar of questions to consider or daily tasks to help us all grow in the grace of Jesus Christ and joyfully serve others for the sake of the world." This is a ministry of Faith Lutheran Church in Dickinson, TX.
And you: How have you/will you observe Ash Wednesday? What are your plans for Lent? Share in the comments, or feel free to link to your own blog post. Instructions to do that can be found here.
I've been following the Ignatian Prayer Adventure and blogging my responses here
ReplyDeleteI'll be attending Ash Wednesday service this evening at 7.
I love Lent! I posted about my affection for the season, my congregations' Lenten plans and my personal Lenten journey here.
ReplyDeleteNow to get on with it - or else I won't be ready for the first Bible study today or worship tonight.!
A blessed Ash Wednesday to the RevGals! Many thanks, Mary Beth, for sharing these Lenten resources. I have a blessing for Ash Wednesday here at The Painted Prayerbook, where I'm offering daily reflections and art throughout Lent.
ReplyDeletePeace to you as we enter the season.
Here's another online daily devotional
ReplyDeleteRobin and Mary Beth, thank you for your responses to Ignatian Prayer Adventure. I'm praying the Adventure but a lay lurker, no blogging.
ReplyDeleteHere are three fresh poems on Ash Wednesday from our ring members:
ReplyDeleteDust to Dust from MaineCelt,
Ash Promise from liz,
and <a href="http://reflectionary.blogspot.com/2012/02/cinder-in-my-eye.html>the cinder in my eye</a> from yours truly.
If there are others, please link to them here!
I am using ring member Rachel Hackenberg's book Writing to God: 40 Days of Praying with my Pen for my personal Lenten journey. I really like it!
ReplyDeleteI also borrowed an idea from Pastor Cherie, who commented on Ask the Matriarch a couple of weeks ago - I started a Facebook group for walking through Lent together. It's a "closed" group (so that the postings are not visible to the whole FB community) but it's open to anyone (church members or not). I'm planning to post Scripture regularly (daily?) along with questions for reflection. I'm hopeful that people will offer their own reflections as well as questions about the text.
Thanks for the nod, revgalpals. I'm here in Nashville today, speaking at the Upper Room Chapel Ash Wednesday service. Many blessings on you all as you Reach(ing) Toward Easter....
ReplyDelete- DEREK
I downloaded Derek's Lenten book onto my Kindle while on BE5 - didn't realise he was a ring member. Also planned my outline for Lent on the Serenity Deck with a Kiss on the Lips in my hand. It all seems so decadent now that Lent has started. Was imposing ashes tonight thinking: "I wonder what these folk would think if they knew where this service was prepared. Haha!
ReplyDeleteI will blog daily in Lent as part of my Lenten discipline.
I appreciate the links to so many great Lent resources! I've put together a creative arts lenten retreat. I'm doing it on my own, partly with a few folks from church, and virtually with others who have signed on. I'm really looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out for the Ignatian retreat -- which I didn't see until just now, as my major Lenten discipline this year is to stay OFF the internet during working and family hours.
ReplyDelete