Season of Lent Begins February 18th
February 17, 2015
Many new United Methodists come from other traditions that have never celebrated the liturgical year. Most folks in our community know little to nothing about the Church and its historical traditions.
Here is a collection of resources that will help explain some of this season of 40 days known as Lent:
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is the start of the Lenten journey of forty weekdays (Monday through Saturday) that takes the church to the eve of Easter. While Sundays in the Christian Year are always "little Easter" celebrations (and thus we refer to Sundays IN Lent rather than Sundays OF Lent), Sundays are still fast days during this season.
Ash Wednesday is about corporate penitence and facing our mortality. We confront our mortality and our sinfulness, and we do this together. We acknowledge and embrace our mortality through the imposition of ashes as a corporate sign of our corporate acknowledgment and repentance, both individual and corporate. We confess and turn away from our sinfulness through confession and pardon. These two actions—embracing our mortality and acknowledging and turning from our sin—are the heart of this service. They are our primary preparation for Holy Communion that follows, and the taking up of our personal and corporate disciplines of discipling throughout this season.
-From Discipleship Ministries
Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Ash Wednesday http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=70 Chuck Knows Church- Ash Wednesday More Resources for Ash Wednesday- Prayers for Ash Wednesday
- Smudges on the Soul: A Meditation for Ash Wednesday
- Making Ash Wednesday Accessible for Children
- Ash Wednesday Reflections: The Acknowledgement of Sin
- A Corporate Prayer of Confession for Ash Wednesday
- Changer: A Prayer Poem for Ash Wednesday
- Ash Wednesday Litany of Reconciliation and Litany Leading to Prayer

-From UMC.ORG
Lent 101 (Alive Now) http://alivenow.upperroom.org/?s=lent+101 Chuck Know Church Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Lent http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/lections.php?year=B&season=Lent Planning Worship for Lent (Year B) http://www.gbod.org/resources/planning-lent-and-easter-for-worship-and-discipleship-year-b Lenten Prayers 2015 http://alivenow.upperroom.org/2015/01/23/lenten-prayers-2015/ FAQ’s: Lent and Easter http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/faqs-lent-easter