I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, 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.

Book of Common Prayer, p. 265

Printable Lenten Pages

These free pages can be printed and distributed with bulletins or mailings, or attached to e-newsletters as .pdfs.

• Ash Wednesday Faith at Home / Miércoles de ceniza

• Way of Love Lenten Calendar / El Camino del Amor para la Cuaresma

• Praying in Color

Many of our Lenten formation resources center around Prayer, Fasting, and Giving, which are the three pillars of Lent.

Prayer

Prayer is an integral part of many Lenten practices. We are invited to engage in self-examination and repentance in order to remove the self-imposed barriers between us and God. This is something we can only accomplish with God's help, which we ask for through prayer. As Martin Luther said, "To be a Christian without prayer is not more possible than to be alive without breathing."

Apps:

• Lectio365 is a daily devotional resource that helps you pray the Bible everyday, with special focus on the rhythms of the church year, including Lent.

• Pray As You Go offers brief daily sessions designed to cultivate prayer, using music, scripture, and reflections.

• The BibleProject app is a Bible app that is simply designed and easily navigated.

• Daily Office (available on iOS or Android) offers the Morning and Evening Prayer services for each day, right on your phone or device!

For Adults:

• The Society of Saint John the Evangelist offers a series of reflective studies that are easily adaptable for Lent. They can be done individually or in small groups. Sign up for daily emails for one of the following:

  • Growing a Rule of Life

  • It’s time to…Stop, Pray, Work, Play, and Love

  • Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John

  • 5 Marks of Love: Living Life Marked as Christ’s Own

For Children:

• Flame Creative Children's Ministry offers artistic and multi-sensory ideas for engaging children throughout the season.

• Grow Christians has some great ideas and articles about real-world Christian parenting.

• Faithful Families for Lent, Easter, and Resurrection by Traci Smith has lots of ideas for faith at home.

For Youth & Young Adult:

• An article at Building Faith gives ideas for talking about Lent with teenagers.

• This Sticky Faith Intro to Lent is a useful framework for talking about noticing God in our lives.

• This article at Youth Worker gives some additional talking points that can jump-start a personal Lenten journey for youth and young adults.

Fasting

Fasting Ideas

• Fast from a few meals each week, and give the money that you would have spent to organizations working to help hungry people, like Open Door, Episcopal Relief & Development, or Bread for the World.

• Try a 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge. Local thrift stores will be happy to accept your gently-used clothes and housewares, your house will feel less cluttered, and you may free yourself from the consumerism that dominates our culture.

• Take the Food Stamp Challenge. Try to stick to the daily food stamp allowance that millions of American families rely on. The average daily amount is $4.20 a day per person.

• Try a food-desert fast. There are many people who don't have access to grocery stores in their neighborhoods, which restricts their access to healthy, fresh foods. Consider living for a week on food from convenience stores!

• Consider taking the extreme poverty fast, even for a few days. There are roughly a billion people in the world who live on less than $1.25 per day.

• Try to fast from media. You could limit it to TV, social media, the internet, blogs, or all of the above--whatever takes too much of your attention away from God and your family.

• Fast from people! Pare down social events and social media, and limit texting and emails. Jesus gives us this model of solitude during his time in the desert.

• Consider fasting from money. Pay your bills and put food on the table, but hold back on all non-essential spending. The exercise of "want vs. need" might surprise you!

Adding On Ideas

• Add reading to your daily routine. Find a devotional book (check out Forward Movement’s selection for ideas) or pick a book of the Bible. Spend this quiet time with God each day.

• Build relationships this season. Cultivate a new relationship or mend a broken one.

• Care for yourself. Commit to exercise and self-care. Take a spiritual retreat--a day, a half-day, or even an hour. Worship regularly!