Lent at Resurrection
A 40-Day Journey
a 40-day journey
“Lent” describes a special 40-day period prior to the celebration of Easter Sunday. During this time, all believers are invited to observe a special time of “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” These 40 days invite us to come to the end of ourselves, and in doing so, we find ourselves prepared to receive the endless gifts of Christ as we journey through Holy Week and into Easter.
Join us this Lent as we seek to deepen our walk with Jesus by digging into prayer and Scripture. We invite you to engage with our community in a variety of ways:
Lent Schedule
Event | Times | Dates |
---|---|---|
Sunday Services |
8:30 & 10:30 am* *10:30 Livestreamed | Please note, there will be no livestream on Sundays, Feb 26 & Mar 5 |
Palm Sunday |
8:30 & 11am* *11:00 Livestreamed | Sunday, April 10 |
Special Opportunities
Event | Times | Dates |
---|---|---|
Morning Prayer | 7am, Prayer Chapel |
Weekdays through March 22 Thursdays include a choral ensemble |
Journey with Jesus through Lent |
Tuesdays, 7-8:30pm sign up deadline: Feb 11 |
Weekly audio teaching available on Wednesdays February 21 - March 20 (scroll down for each week's teaching) |
RezFast for Holy Week | 6:30pm | Wednesday, March 13 |
Sundays During Lent
Event | Times | Dates |
---|---|---|
Sunday Services |
8:30 & 10:30 am* *10:30 Livestreamed | February 18 - March 17 |
Sunday, February 18 |
8:30 & 10:30 am* *10:30 Livestreamed | Mark 1:9-13 |
Sunday, February 25 |
8:30 & 10:30 am* *10:30 Livestreamed | Mark 8:31-38 |
Sunday, March 3 |
8:30 & 10:30 am* *10:30 Livestreamed | John 2:13-22 |
Sunday, March 10 |
8:30 & 10:30 am* *10:30 Livestreamed | John 6:1-15 |
Sunday, March 17 |
8:30 & 10:30 am* *10:30 Livestreamed | John 12:20-36 |
Palm Sunday |
8:30 & 11am* *11:00 Livestreamed | March 24 |
Every Lent, Resurrection gives a financial gift to a global partner. Our Good Friday Gift this year is focused on “Love and Care for our Global Partners.” We aim to invest in their health, relationally and spiritually, as they serve on the frontlines, sharing the Gospel and/or equipping the Church, often where there are few believers.
Journey with Jesus
Participate in our five-week prayer experience grounded in Scripture, based on our Transformation Intensive ministry and the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. Pray with the Scriptures and prayer exercises on your own, with a friend, in your household, or small group using our print devotional guide or the instructions below. You can listen to each week’s audio teaching below too.
WEEK 5
The Way to the Cross, Part 2
Jesus invites us to stay with him to the end.
Listen to the audio teaching*available on Wednesdays
- Journey With Jesus 00:00
Questions to reflect as an individual or small group:
What passage of scripture did you connect with most deeply
What did you notice about Jesus’ humanness in these stories?
What surprised you as you meditated on these stories using imaginative prayer?
If you imagined Jesus looking at you from within a story, what was that like for you?
If you wrote out your imaginative prayer experience, consider reading it aloud to another person.
Introduction.
It is a great privilege to accompany someone whom we dearly love as death approaches. This week we are invited to accompany Jesus at his trial, to walk with him on the road to Golgotha, and finally, to remain with him until he takes his last breath on the cross.
This prayer by Peter Faber, SJ (1506-1546) summarizes the grace we are seeking in this upcoming week of prayer:
Jesus Christ, may your death be my life
and in your dying may I learn how to live.
May your struggles be my rest,
your human weakness my courage,
your embarrassment my honor,
your passion my delight,
your sadness my joy,
in your humiliation may I be exalted.
In a word, may I find all my
blessings in your trials.
Silence. Begin with Two Minutes of Silence.
Prayer Exercises. Take 30 seconds to practice Looking at Jesus Looking at Me.
Praying with Scripture. Use the instructions for How to Pray Imaginatively with a Gospel Story to pray with one or more of the Bible selected passages.
Mark 8:27-33, Peter resists Jesus’ impending passion.
Mark 14:3-9, A woman anoints Jesus’ body in anticipation of his death.
John 13:21-38, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be betrayed.
Mark 14:32-42, Jesus prays in the Garden.
Journal Prompt. Take time to write in your prayer notebook about what happened. It may be helpful to write down what you imagine as it unfolds, rather than afterward.
Silence. Close with Two Minutes of Silence.
Examen. Once during the day, pray with the Gratitude Examen.
WEEK 4
The Way to the Cross, Part 1
Jesus invites us to accompany him on the way to the cross.
Listen to the audio teaching*available on Wednesdays
- Journey with Jesus 00:00
Questions to reflect as an individual or small group:
What passage of scripture did you connect most deeply
What did you notice about Jesus’ humanness in these stories?
How did you experience the other characters in the stories?
If you imagined Jesus looking at you from within a story, what was that like for you?
If you wrote down your imaginative prayer experience, consider reading it aloud to another person.
Introduction.
In a growing friendship, there comes a time when the conversation deepens and we talk more honestly about hard things in our lives.We reveal our struggles, our emotions, hurts and scars. In friendship with Jesus, it seems natural to open our hearts to him in this way. But it may not occur to us that Jesus wants to reciprocate that openness and to reveal his heart to us.
For the next two weeks you are invited to pray with the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and to allow Jesus to disclose how he experienced them. Another way of praying with scripture is introduced this week, How to Pray Imaginatively with a Gospel Story. This way of meditating on scripture takes getting used to, but many people find it helps them connect more deeply with Jesus and the disciples.
Be aware that these stories may remind you of your own life experiences. For example, you might remember a time that you were betrayed by a friend. These remembrances help you build bridges of empathy that add emotional depth and richness to imaginative prayer. The memories are a part of your prayer experience, not a distraction.
Silence. Begin with Two Minutes of Silence.
Prayer Exercises. Take 30 seconds to practice Looking at Jesus Looking at Me.
Praying with Scripture. Use the instructions for How to Pray Imaginatively with a Gospel Story to pray with one or more of the Bible selected passages.
Mark 8:27-33, Peter resists Jesus’ impending passion.
Mark 14:3-9, A woman anoints Jesus’ body in anticipation of his death.
John 13:21-38, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be betrayed.
Mark 14:32-42, Jesus prays in the Garden.
Journal Prompt. Take time to write in your prayer notebook about what happened. It may be helpful to write down what you imagine as it unfolds, rather than afterward.
Silence. Close with Two Minutes of Silence.
Examen. Once during the day, pray with the Gratitude Examen.
WEEK 3
The Way of Humility
Jesus invites us to imitate his humility
Listen to the audio teaching*available on Wednesdays
- Journey With Jesus 00:00
Questions to reflect as an individual or small group:
- What passage of scripture did you connect most deeply with and why?
- How did the Two Minutes of Silence go for you?
- How did the Looking at Jesus Looking at Me prayer practice go for you?
- Talk about an experience you’ve had with temptation to pride.
- Talk about a meaningful experience that you’ve had related to humility.
Introduction.
The call to spiritual poverty is universal for followers of Jesus. We are called to acknowledge our creaturely limitations joyfully and to depend on God in true humility, knowing that all our mental, physical, and spiritual powers are gifts from God. But our sinful hearts, the world, and the devil, urge us in the opposite direction. We are tempted toward a forgetfulness of God, autonomy, self-sufficiency, and independence. We are tempted to seize personal power, security, and prestige for ourselves without reference to God.
Jesus shows us a better way. He models a life of dependence on his Father and the Holy Spirit. In the wilderness he overcomes the very temptations that dog us. In the Sermon on the Mount, he unpacks what it means to walk the way of humility. And by his passion and death he demonstrates that humility has power to overcome all the powers of evil and death.
This week is designed to help you discern the various voices that are influencing you, either toward greater humility and dependence on God, or toward pride and self-reliance. As you pray with the scriptures, invite the Holy Spirit to help you reflect on your life. Notice the ways that you are tempted by pride and the ways that Jesus is inviting you toward greater humility.
Silence. Begin with Two Minutes of Silence.
Prayer Exercise. Take 30 seconds to practice “Looking at Jesus Looking at Me”.
Praying with Scripture
Matthew 5:2-11, The Beatitudes.
Matthew 6:19-24, You cannot serve two masters.
I Peter 5:5-11, Clothe yourselves with humility.
James 4:1-10, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Mark 10:35-45, It shall not be so among you.
Journal Prompt. Take time to write in your prayer notebook about what happened.
Close with Two Minutes of Silence.
Examen. Once during the day, pray with the Gratitude Examen.
WEEK 2
The Way of Surrender
Entrusting our desires to God brings freedom.
Listen to the audio teaching*Note this teaching was interrupted by a tornado shelter-in-place warning. We apologize for the incomplete audio recording.
- Journey With Jesus 00:00
Questions to reflect as an individual or small group:
- What passage of scripture did you connect most deeply with and why?
- How did the two minutes of silence go for you?
- How did the Looking at Jesus Looking at Me prayer practice go for you?
- What desires in your life pull you away from the love of God?
- To what might you be clinging too tightly, even good things?
- Did you pray for the grace of holy indifference? If so, what was that like for you?
Introduction.
Strong relationships are built on trust and a readiness to endure hardship. The commitment to stick with someone “for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,” is critical to the longevity of a marriage; following Jesus requires a similar commitment. Jesus asks us to hold our desires for the good life loosely, trusting that his love will be enough for us. Ignatius calls this attitude a “holy indifference.” It doesn’t mean not caring or hoping or dreaming, rather it means entrusting everything to God’s wisdom and care. Trusting that “I will be okay even if I don’t get what I want.” It means opening our hands to receive what we ask for in the Lord’s prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
This week of prayer offers you the opportunity to reflect on where you are by way of trusting God with all that is dear to you. The scripture passages help us reflect on two people in the Bible who trusted God, Job and Saint Paul, and one man who struggled to trust, the rich young ruler. As you pray with these scriptures, allow them to be mirrors that help you see what is in your own heart: When have you trusted God in the past? How are you trusting him now? In what ways are you afraid or unwilling to trust God? Have some honest conversations with God and ask for the grace of holy indifference toward the things that are hardest for you to surrender into God’s loving care.
Silence. Begin with Two Minutes of Silence.
Prayer Exercise.Try the new prayer practice for this week: Looking at Jesus Looking at Me. Once you get the hang of it, it should take less than a minute.
Praying with Scripture. As you pray, pay attention to remembrances from your life that might pop up. For example, the phrase, “redeems your life from the pit,” might put you in mind of how the Lord helped you through a hard time. Make note of that memory in your notebook.
Job 1:20-22, The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.
Philippians 3:7-14, I count everything as loss.
Phil 4:11-13, I have learned to be content.
2 Cor 12:7-10, My grace is sufficient for you.
Matthew 19:16-22, The Rich Young Ruler
Journal Prompt. Take time to write in your prayer notebook about what happened. Try writing your prayer as a letter to Jesus.
Close with Two Minutes of Silence.
Examen. Once during the day, pray with the Gratitude Examen.
WEEK 1
The Way of Gratitude
Gratitude is the foundation of the spiritual life.
Listen to the audio teaching*available on Wednesdays
- Journey With Jesus 00:00
Questions to reflect as an individual or small group:
- What passage of scripture did you connect most deeply with and why?
- Talk about a memory that came to mind this week that you hadn’t thought about in years.
- How did the two minutes of silence go for you?
- Generally speaking, how has cultivating gratitude impacted you this week?
Introduction. Intentionally cultivating a practice of gratitude is a wonderful way to begin the journey of Lent because it is the foundation of our relationship with God. Gratitude orients one’s whole mindset and sense of identity around what is real, solid and true about God, one’s self, and our shared identity as the people of God.
This week’s prayer goal is to establish a habit of gratitude to increase your awareness that everything you have, even the air you breathe, is a gift from God. This habit is like a chiropractic adjustment for the soul that releases you from the illusion that everything that happens in your life depends on you.
You can ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow in gratitude. Ignatius Loyola suggests that you pray for “An interior knowledge of all the good I have received, so that by acknowledging this with gratitude, I may be able to love and serve God in everything, holding nothing back.”
Silence. Begin with Two Minutes of Silence.
Praying with Scripture. As you pray, pay attention to remembrances from your life that might pop up. For example, the phrase, “redeems your life from the pit,” might put you in mind of how the Lord helped you through a hard time. Make note of that memory in your notebook.
Psalm 103:1-5, Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Psalm 100:1-5, We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Psalm 107:1-9, Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
Luke 17:11-19, The one who returned to give thanks.
Philippians 4:4-9, With thanksgiving let your requests be made known.
Journal Prompt. Take time to write in your prayer notebook about what happened. Try writing out your response to God as a prayer of thanksgiving.
Close with Two Minutes of Silence.
Examen. Once during the day, pray with the Gratitude Examen.
For contemplation
Lenten Art
Resurrection artists Michael Skura and Lindsey Bergsma collaborated to each paint depictions of
Jesus in the Wilderness for us to contemplate this Lent.
Additional Resources
What is Lent?
Father Trevor, a priest in our diocese who pastors City of Light Anglican in Aurora, IL, created this wonderful podcast episode introducing the season of Lent. He addresses the questions:
- What is Lent?
- Why should I practice it?
- Where did it come from?
- How do I decide what to do during Lent?
- How do I fast?
- How do I pray?
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