Another Lent in Coronatide

Lent begins again in a few short weeks. Those few green Sundays between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday always seem to go by so quickly. There are eight whole weeks this year where it might be possible to relish in this in-between time but it still feels so fast when everything else feels rushed.

And it does feel rushed even when it feels like nothing is happening as the prayer I wrote for Epiphany 3C proclaims. It still feels like we are waiting for something to happen which for some feels like Advent. I think it feels more like Lent.

We are waiting for resurrection. That is what we dare to believe will come after this long season of Coronatide. We will emerge transformed. That is my prayer, any way. As you prepare your congregation for this season, if you have not already ordered one of the wonderful worship packages out there right now, here are some things that might help your planning.

Before the season begins, you might be looking to flip some pancakes. I am a big fan though I’m not sure how this will fly with where things will be in the pandemic. Still, here are some relay races simply because we need some fun on Shrove Tuesday.

This was the most popular item on my blog last year and I hope it will still be a blessing you this year even if you used it last year. We do like traditions actually. We don’t always have to reinvent and reimagine. We can cherish the familiar ritual of burning palm branches (or in this case whatever is on hand) together. This brief order of worship can be used at-home by individual families, shared in a corporate worship experience online or in-person centered on the daring belief that lighting a fire might prepare us for the work ahead. Download this free resource.

You might explore lighting candles for each Sunday in this season using this Illuminating the Way to Hope in Another Pandemic Lent. Or you might be interested in cooking up this Recipe for Zoom Prayer and Pretzel Making with the families in your congregation.

I have two study opportunities for Lent. A Hopeful Lent pairs more closely with the worship experience I’m creating for this year. (I will be releasing all the info about this shortly, I promise.) I happen to think that Amelia Richardson Dress’ book is brilliant and you really don’t need my study guide. She has a leader guide for free on her blog. If you’re interested in mine, which I created with Amelia’s blessing, there are two versions — one for congregational use and one for family use for you to purchase. Instead, you might opt to use these materials that I developed with the first church I served in Maine called Toward Transformation. It was created in collaboration and so I owe the people of that church my gratitude for their generous hearts in imagining this season in a meaningful way. You can read a little bit more about this study here.

If you can’t imagine planning Lent without knowing what Holy Week will look like, you might want to explore this collection of resources for Holy Week in Coronatide that includes the pageant I created with one of my former youth last year called This Year.

They and I wrote a Christmas pageant when they were a mere teenager and it was so fun to imagine this new thing together. It got rave reviews from the congregations that used it though I haven’t pushed to add reviews on these pages.

That post also highlights this popular item from last year when we weren’t gathering together indoors — and it seems we could be there again this year. This Easter Watch service has some familiar notes from the Easter Vigil but this one is really focused around the quiet contemplation that always comes around a bonfire. It’s a service to welcome the possibility without knowing really what will come next but there are things to wonder and ways to keep our hands busy as we wait for creation to reveal the promise of hope. Download this free resource.

I cooked up a few recipes for last year that bring us into the Easter celebration including this Recipe for a Pandemic Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt and this Recipe for Resurrection Awe Strolls. That might actually bring you well past Easter Sunday so that you might also want to consider Pandemic Easter Affirmations along with your practice of movement and wonder.

I am kinda in shock at home much is here. I hope it feels like a wealth of possibility to you, dear pastor. I really hope so. I also hope you know what a blessing you are to the church and to your people as you imagine this season again in meaningful way full of all that it needs to be for you and for God. I’m praying for you so much. I really am.