Journeying Through Lent

Deepen your Lenten Experience

Lent is often a period of intentional discernment and self-examination in the life of our faith tradition; an opportunity to spend forty days or so journeying together as we reflect upon who and where and how God is calling us to be.

This Lent, Bishop Michael has selected Falling Upward by Richard Rohr as his Lenten book. In Falling Upward, Rohr takes us on a journey that gives us an understanding of how the heartbreaks, disappointments, and the first loves of life are actually stepping stones to the spiritual joys that the second half of life has in store for us.  A Falling Upward Study is now available for Chapters 1-6, Chapters 7-9 and Chapters 10-13.

In addition, the Niagara Anglican newspaper has created a Lenten series by 26 lay people and clergy from our diocese who have produced 40 meditations covering the whole of Matthew’s gospel – one for each day of Lent. Since Sundays are not considered part of Lent, the group included six meditations from other gospels to further enhance your spiritual experience. The devotions are recommended for individual usage or can be shared with other people or in groups.

There are also a variety of other resources available to people looking to deepen their experience of Lent:

Love life: Living the gospel of love is a Lenten video series produced by the brothers of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) for the Anglican Church of Canada. Those who subscribe will begin receiving daily emails starting on Ash Wednesday, March 5, which will include short videos and a thought-provoking question to ponder during the day. 

Becoming the Story We Tell: renewing our commitment to Christ crucified and risen is an online resource that the national church has developed and is offering for Lenten study. The resource had its beginnings with a 2012 task force examining questions about Christian hospitality and “open table”—inviting those who are not baptized to communion—and expanded to a broader consideration of baptismal identity.

The Primate’s Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) is also offering a Lenten study that focuses on the issues of food security in relation to baptismal vows. According to the online introduction the series will invite Anglicans to pray, act and give.

KAIROS, an ecumenical social justice organization supported by the Anglican Church of Canada, also has a weekly lectionary-based reflection series called "Spirited Reflections," which will reflect Lenten themes.