BEST LENT EVER!
Join Us on a 40-Day Journey to Amazing Possibilities
It’s NOT what you give up. It’s Who You Become.
Wednesday, Feb. 26 to Thursday, April 9
COMMUNITY LENTEN PRACTICE
Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Healthy Planet
Ancient spiritual communities and Eastern Orthodox churches today, divide each week into feast, fast and ferial days. Sundays are always feast days, Fridays and Wednesdays are fast days and other days are ferial or “ordinary”.
This Lent we suggest following this practice by preparing simple, meatless or plant-based meals on 2 days each week and then celebrating each Sunday (feast day) with a festive meal. This simple shift in meal preparation will create a rhythm of feast, fast and ordinary days that can open opportunities to reflect and explore the connections between the health of body, spirit and planet.
Lenten Bible Study Forums
Led by our Seminarians, Will and Ansley, each Sunday during Lent in the Parish Library between services from 9:05 to 9:55 am.
The Meaning of Lent
Early Christians observed “a season of penitence and fasting” in preparation for the Paschal feast, or Pascha (BCP, pp. 264-265). The season now known as Lent (from an Old English word meaning “spring,” the time of lengthening days) has a long history. Originally, in places where Pascha was celebrated on a Sunday, the Paschal feast followed a fast of up to two days. In the third century this fast was lengthened to six days. Eventually this fast became attached to, or overlapped, another fast of forty days, in imitation of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. The forty-day fast was especially important for converts to the faith who were preparing for baptism, and for those guilty of notorious sins who were being restored to the Christian assembly. In the western church the forty days of Lent extend from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, omitting Sundays. The last three days of Lent are the sacred Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Today Lent has reacquired its significance as the final preparation of adult candidates for baptism. Joining with them, all Christians are invited “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word” (BCP, p. 265).
Lenten Study Groups
Painting the Stars: Science, Religion and an Evolving Faith
Take time away from daily stress and busyness to seek new ways to experience God’s compassionate, life-giving presence. Explore evolving theories of science and how they intersect with our experiences of God’s presence. Each weekly session will include a short, engaging video by a respected spiritual teacher, readings, personal reflection and discussion.
Two study groups are forming: Wednesdays at 6:30 pm and Sunday mornings at 11:15 am. Facilitators are Andrea Hoslett and David Stayner. Look for sign-up sheets in the parish hall or CLICK HERE to register.
Friday Night Plant-luck Dinners!
To further support this practice, join us each Friday during lent for a community “plant-luck” dinner and discussion at Marj Chapman’s home – 15 Stonehenge Place, Cheshire, CT at 6 pm.
Resources to Support Plant-Based Meals
Web Sites
A Couple of Cooks – Menus, Recipes and more
Hello Nutritarian – Nutrition, Menus, Recipes and more
Eat to Live Daily – Your road to a whole food plant-based life
Guides
Vegan Starter Guide –Targeted to African-Americans and valuable for all
Recipes