Why Prepare For Lent?

God keeps God's promises.

God can be trusted.

Even So…God shows up.

The stories of the Old Testament are stories that Jesus would have learned, and knew, and followed. Our theme this year is inviting us to be mindful and pay attention to God when God shows up…Even So.

Preparation for Lent is actually a long-standing tradition in the history of the church. You might have heard of this time of Lent prep referred to as Shrovetide, the official name for it on the Christian Liturgical Calendar. And one of the Shrovetide festivities you could even be familiar with is Fat Tuesday, which often involves a lot of Mardi Gras-type merrymaking and/or the eating of pancakes or special delicious doughnuts.

But whether you eat pancakes or make doughnuts or not...doing some specific things to prepare can be incredibly useful in changing how you make your way through the Lenten season.

Especially if you want to have a different experience than you’ve had in the past.

See this guide on how to prepare your mind, body, and spirit into a Lent mindset.

1. Don’t give up. Or…do. Add in. Or…don’t.

Some people like to “give up something for Lent.” Other people...not so much. In these days leading up to Ash Wednesday, you might want to spend some time thinking or journaling about whether you want to give something up or not, and if so what. Here are some questions that may be helpful. We especially hope that you can ask yourself these questions with curiosity and kindness.

Questions to consider:

a) If you “give up” or “take on” something, it is to bring you closer to God and to the truth of our own lives, is there anything in your life right now that’s doing the opposite of that, taking you farther away from God and keeping you at a distance from yourself?

b) What are some things you’re surrounding yourself with on a daily basis, to keep you “cheered up” and distracted, or to help you feel worthy or cool? Is there anything you’re using to dull the pain, keep you too busy to think, making you feel overly “full”?

c) “Lent calls us to turn from the things that can never love us back.” Is there anything in your life now that you’re very attached to, that can’t love you back?

d) What do you wish you had more space for in your life? What do you wish you could take in more of?

2. Claim some Holy Ground

What if Lent was here to give you more space? More time? More energy? An opportunity to just breathe or pray or do absolutely nothing. To simply sit with ourselves, be present, take off our shoes and feel the holy ground under our feet.

We believe that’s exactly what Lent is for and we’ve found that having certain physical objects around during this time can help to focus and reflect.

As you get ready for Lent this year, you may want to set up a corner of a room as your altar/meditation area and fill it with some things that have meaning for you. Or you may want to gather some things into a box or bag that you can take out each day to create a portable altar. We’ve included a candle and some prayer cards to help you create the space you need, but design it however you wish.

3. Give yourself a (15-minute) break

Let’s just agree that we are all too busy to add one more thing to our plates. And doing stuff for Lent, whether that’s reading something every day, or trying to pray or meditate or journal more often, or whatever could seem like that One. More. Thing. How can we find the time without spending 40 days in resentment? Keep it short.

Give yourself 15 minutes to just be.

Maybe read the devotion book or maybe not,

Maybe pray with one of the prayer practices or maybe not,

Maybe just be still or maybe not.

Maybe go for a walk or listen to music or take a nap or maybe not.

Whatever works.

You deserve to take 15 minutes for yourself.15 minutes that will help you feel more connected to yourself and to God and to the world God loves.

God’s Peace to you on this Lent journey.