Lent marks the season before Easter and is a time for repentance and reflection through the practices of fasting, praying, and giving. We believe that through these practices, God shapes us more into the likeness of Christ. In the Apostle Paul’s words, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

During this Lenten season, we encourage you to practice fasting, praying, and giving in ways that both challenge and encourage you. As you consider what you will fast or abstain from, also think of what you might pursue in that place. Perhaps in giving up a certain food, you decide to take a daily prayer walk around your neighborhood, praying for each home and family you pass. You may choose to step away from social media and in its place read through a few books of the Bible. Whatever you choose, we encourage you to make the decision prayerfully and with the wise counsel and support of people around you.

Here at Apostles, we have some resources and class offerings to help you in this year’s Lenten journey. However, don’t feel limited by what we have here! If you would like to begin a small group or study of your own, let us know so that we can help you with resources and encouragement.

Understanding the beginning of lent: Ash Wednesday

Lent: Week 1

Intro to Lent by Father Taylor Ishii

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and alms-giving; and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word” Ash Wednesday Exhortation

To observe Lent is to come face to face with our limits. We remember that from dust we came and to dust we will one day return, a sobering reality check. We experience the struggle to keep our commitments before the Lord. We wrestle with life lived on our own power and the weight of the world around us. We can feel lost in life, unsure of where to turn. But in Lent, God is still making a way if we can slow down to listen.

And it is precisely here that the Church reminds us that Lent is for repentance, for turning back to God. Anglican priest Esau McCaulley says in his introduction to Lent, “the church presumes that life is long and zeal fades, not just for some of us but for all. So it has included within its life a season in which all of us can recapture our love for God and his kingdom and cast off those things that so easily entangle us.”

Lent is the gift that we didn’t know we needed; an invitation to a journey back to God when we’ve wandered. To journey in Lent requires honesty: self-examination about the state of our hearts and the repentance necessary to turn back to God. And the good news of Lent is that we don’t do it on our own, but that God wants to walk with us as we prune out the things that are keeping us from him.

As we begin this season of Lent, we remember that it’s not about doing more things for God, but letting God work through us and refocus our hearts on him and his love.

Spiritual practice: Prayerfully meditate on Psalm 139:23-24 as an act of self-examination and repentance. “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

LENT WEEK 2

Fasting by Father Gabe Holloway

Fasting is a discipline called for in this season but not always well-understood. Following his baptism, Jesus entered into a 40-day fast in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry (Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4). And fasting was something Jesus taught on in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6). So as we follow in the way of Jesus, we should give careful attention to fasting.

While there isn’t a prescribed way to fast, at least in the general sense of abstaining from food, there are some considerations when it comes to this long-held Christian practice.

Why do we fast?

Reasons abound for fasting that can be good and helpful (health and lifestyle), but the primary purpose of fasting in the Christian tradition is to fix our full attention on God that he might re-order our dis-ordered desires. In other words, the aim is that we would desire God above all else, as Christ did. The sin in our lives disrupts this goal, and we often find ourselves led by a hunger not for God and his Kingdom but for ourselves, for the world and its desires (1 John 2:17), and the “pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2).

Our hunger for food gets to the most fundamental of bodily desires. We must eat to live. That isn’t a disordered thing. But in fasting, in setting a time in which we pause the satisfaction of eating food, we give God a unique pathway into our lives that he might reveal to us what is truly disordered. It is not uncommon for those who practice fasting in the Christian tradition to gain clearer and better understandings of their own anger, fear, bitterness, greed, hatred, envy, and so on. God reveals these things as we are faithful to pursue him in our every desire and need, including food and hunger.

How do we fast?

While fasting is generally considered abstaining from all food, there are versions of partial fasting that can be helpful. Abstaining from certain types of food — alcohol, coffee, sugar, meat, etc. — can aid us in this work of unfolding our desires before God. Fasting often includes drinking water and sometimes fruit juices to help with blood sugar levels. And it’s highly recommended to consult your physician before beginning to fast, especially a prolonged fast (24+ hours).

If you haven’t practiced fasting before, consider starting small — abstain from a particular meal one day a week. Perhaps on Fridays, instead of your usual lunch, you might fast and spend that time reading and praying through the Psalms or one of the Gospels, in silence in the sanctuary at church, or taking a prayerful walk around the neighborhood. Whatever you do, fight the urge to distract and busy yourself away from the hunger. Give your hunger to the Lord. Allow him to speak into your life through it.

Finally, consider inviting a pastor or close friend to accompany you in your fast with prayer. Ask them to pray with you and for you and perhaps to check in from time to time to see how things are going. If you want to learn more about fasting, a great place to start is with the Rule of Life podcast by Practicing the Way, and Richard Foster has a entire chapter dedicated to fasting in his classic Celebration of Discipline.  

Lent Week 3

Reflection on Almsgiving by Father Robert Seawell

“Almsgiving in the Bible refers to the voluntary and generous giving of resources to the poor and needy as a spiritual act of mercy and love”

Caring for the poor and needy is a central theme in both the Old and New Testaments, emphasizing care for the vulnerable ‘widows, orphans’ as service to God. 

Of great importance is our giving is done out of a true love for God, without drawing attention to ourselves. When we invest what God has given us to impact the lives of others, we can trust that the results will make a difference both now and for eternity.

Almsgiving is separate from our tithe to the mission and ministry of the local church, although the local church does support through the financial gifts of its members the needs of the community and broader community of the world. 

Here are a few closing thoughts on Almsgiving

• Heart Over Performance: Jesus taught in Matthew 6:1-4 that alms should be given in secret, not to receive public praise.

• Purification and Atonement: Scripture suggests that almsgiving acts as a sacrifice that cleanses from sin, similar to the Old Testament sacrificial system Luke 11.41

• Treasure in Heaven: Giving is seen as investing in "heavenly wealth," as mentioned in Luke 12.33-34  

• Examples in Action: Acts 10 describes Cornelius as a man who gave alms generously, which were remembered by God. 

Almsgiving is thus framed not just as social service, but as a spiritual discipline that fosters love, justice, and detachment from material goods. 

Lent Week 4

Reflection on Prayer by Father Mark DiCristina

Prayer may be understood as an expression of desire, an honest offering or opening of the heart regarding “wanting,” and an aligning of our wanting or will and God’s.  Ultimately, yes, it is about “Thy will be done,” about our trust and consent and submission.  But towards that end God calls and invites us to make our wants and needs, and those of God’s world, known to God, as a participatory action with God, in our own spiritual formation, and also as 1) humans created to care for the world, and 2) as the Church, the Body of Christ, given for the healing and life of the world.

I am giving thanks this Lent for the book, “Thirsting,” by Strahan Coleman, which I recommend to you.  He points to this beautiful paragraph in the section on Christian Prayer in the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church (underline is mine):

2560  “If you knew the gift of God!” 7  The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him. 8     (7 John 4:10; 8 St. Augustine, Homily on John 4)

There could be so much more to be said about prayer, and if you’re stirred please to reach out to me, or any of the clergy, or anyone you perceive to be a little further along in the journey.  

I pray, this Lent and always, that you and I might know the desire of God for us, reverberating within us, deep calling to deep, Spirit to spirit, awakening and intensifying our desire for God, enlivening manifold expressions of “prayer” –

which maybe is all to say

that really

prayer is about

love.

Amen.

Lenten Week 5

Meditating on the Word by Deacon Dan Thompson

"Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."

This is a Collect we pray during Advent and is found in our Book of Common Prayer. In the season of Lent we are offered room again to meditate on the Word of God. This can be guided by daily lectionary readings, weekly reflections on what we have read in church the previous Sunday, or even some Lenten devotion you may find helpful in this season. 

The invitation from the Spirit in meditating on the Word is to allow the passage of Scripture soak deeply into your Spirit. Instead of using a “devotional guide” perhaps challenge yourself to take a small passage of Scripture and slowly read through that passage several times. A common method to follow can be found HERE.

A favorite Psalm of mine is Psalm 23. Quite often I will allow each phrase to slowly sink into my mind and heart and I consider the goodness and abundance of God. 

This Sunday when you look at our readings for the day, listen as they are read and ask the Lord if there is one passage he might invite you to meditate on for the next week. Enter into this invitation with joy and prepare to have the Spirit stir something within you.

Intro to holy week

Father Taylor Ishii

Holy Week is the final lap of our Lenten journey thus far, an invitation to walk with Jesus and experience this momentous week in his life (and ours) in real time. In Holy Week, we slow down to truly enter in and see the gamut of human emotions and experiences on display: joy and sorrow, fellowship and betrayal, and even death on the cross. In the wisdom of the church and its worship, we are taken by the hand to experience our own way of the cross to death and rebirth through the sober yet deeply sacred services of this Holy Week.

The week begins with Palm Sunday, outside the gates of Jerusalem where we reenact his triumphal entry with waving palms and shouts of praise. The cries for the enthronement of a new king quickly turn to shouts of “crucify Him” as we are reminded that the only way for Jesus to be king is the way of the cross, for us and our salvation. It is a window into the complicated nature of our hearts, where we can both praise and ignore God in corresponding breaths.

As we move through Holy Week we arrive at the Triduum (sacred three days) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. It is helpful to view them not as 3 separate days, but rather a culmination of the journey that began on Ash Wednesday. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, or command, and remembers Jesus’ call for us to love one another through the fellowship we have in the institution of the Eucharist and through serving one another in the washing of feet. The joy of the Last Supper leads us to the stark ritual of the Stripping of the Altar to end the Maundy Thursday service. All the flowers, candle, and decorations that adorn the church are removed and only the cross remains in the sanctuary, a foreshadowing and centering of where we are headed on Good Friday.

The irony of the title Good Friday should not be lost on us, the terrible event of Jesus’ death on the cross is known as the best of all Fridays. We reenter the stripped down sanctuary and the clergy are dressed in only their black cassocks, as if for a funeral. It is appropriate to fast from food on this day, even our service does not partake in the Lord’s Supper, as we enter in and reflect on the pain and sorrow that lead us to the wondrous cross. It is a somber time to reflect on God’s great love shown forth in the cross.

Perhaps the most neglected day of Holy Week is Holy Saturday. At its core, it is a day of rest to reflect upon the time between Jesus’ death and resurrection. And as we rest, we wait for God’s final action of raising Jesus to life on Easter Sunday. We have included a short liturgy in our Triduum bulletin to be done at home to mark this time of prayerful rest and waiting.

Spiritual practice: Holy Week isn’t a time to simply do ‘extra’ but to embrace the existing rhythms and services that our church already offers. Slowing down helps us to walk at the speed of Jesus this week, through worship, prayer, and reflection. A unique offering this year at our church is two guided “Stations of the cross” opportunities with  accompanying music in the evening on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Take a Triduum bulletin home and reflect on the prayers and scripture readings as we prepare for Easter