Lent: 40 Days to Easter

This time of year always inspires questions, especially for those who are new to the ancient Church calendar and a liturgical worship tradition. Below you'll find some helpful resources, links & brief answers to some common questions. If you have any other questions, we're here. And we'll have much more to say as we journey together.  

Happenings

Shrove Tuesday
March 4

  • Burning of the Palms, 5:30pm
    On the night before Lent begins, we burn last year's palms for ashes. All ages are welcome, no RSVP required. This will happen on the church lawn. If you join a Pancake Dinner, they may be burning palms there, too. Look for 🌿.

  • Pancake Dinners - Sign up for one here!

Ash Wednesday
March 5 - 7a, 12p, 6:30p

On this first day of Lent we gather for solemn worship and the imposition of ashes, a reminder of our mortality. We impose ashes in the shape of a cross to signify that in Christ, repentance leads to resurrection and death gives way to life. Childcare 0-5 is available at our 6:30p service.

Lenten Prayer Service / Great Litany
Tuesday, March 11th, 6:30–7:15p

Join us for a special Lenten Prayer Service. First, we will lift our needs and the needs of the world before God using the Great Litany. Afterwards, Village prayer ministers will be available to pray for any individual needs you may have.

Resources

PRAYER & REFLECTION

BOOKS

ARTICLES

For Families / Kids

Almsgiving Opportunities

  • We’d like to encourage you this year to give generously to one of our ministry partners. Find out more about what they do here.

Lent Explained

WHEN is Lent?
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at the Easter Vigil, sundown on the eve of Easter. The 40 days of Lent do not include Sundays, which remain "feast days" or "little Easters." Even in Lent, Sunday is a feast of the Resurrection.

WHAT is Lent?
Lent is the commemoration of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. There he prayed and fasted before being tempted by Satan to shortcut the will of God and secure his own glory. A cross-less glory. This commemoration is a time to join Jesus in prayer, fasting and self-giving. It's a time to reckon with our sins, but also the wondrous depth of God's saving love - to be especially mindful, not miserable. “Lent” comes from an Old English word derived from the German “lang” meaning “long” because, during this season before Easter, the hours of daylight become notably longer.

WHY do we observe Lent?
The importance of this question lies in the recognition that there is nothing we can add to the achievement of Christ by his death and resurrection. Everything we have is a gracious gift from Jesus. So no one has to observe Lent to be a Christian - or even a good one (if there is a such thing)! But the Christian life isn't only about justification & assurance of salvation. It's also about repentance and holiness - the desire to regularly return to and follow God's will for our lives, confronting those sins that wound us and the world we inhabit. When we disrupt our usual pursuits to seek the Lord in repentance, self-giving and self-denial, this embodied posture of faith can be really powerful. So we observe Lent because we want our hearts and lives to be transformed and because we want the world Jesus wants. A transformed world begins with transformed people. That's central to the Gospel.

WHO is it for?
The short answer is "everyone." Everyone who is united to Christ by faith in the fact and power of his death and resurrection. But this question raises a very important detail: Repentance isn't just an individual spiritual journey (our default these days). It's for the Church. We are knit together as one Body. Each of us and all of us together represent new creation and new humanity unfolding in every generation. So Lent is for Village Church and the whole Body of Christ to enter this wilderness again together in humble faith and a keen desire for renewal. 

HOW should I observe a holy Lent?
Pray about it. The traditional ways of observing Lent are through prayer, fasting and giving in a special way. More than anything, lent is about a posture. The things we do during this season help us remain in or recover a posture uniquely focused on Jesus. So when we set aside time for prayer, when we serve or give in a special way, or when we fast from the pleasures we're used to, our attention moves toward Jesus. And he meets us there, as he promised. Inevitably, practices of self-denial reveal some things about us that can be ugly and in need of more mercy and grace. Friends, Jesus never runs out of either.