‘Pancake Day’ was always a firm favourite in my childhood home. In my opinion, lemon and sugar is the best pancake topping!
Shrove Tuesday, or ‘Pancake Day’ as it’s also known, marks the start of Lent. But I grew up in a church that wasn’t keen on traditions—perhaps wary of tradition for tradition’s sake—so I had little awareness of Lent.
Lent is a season in the church calendar that developed just a few centuries after Jesus’ earthly life to help His followers prepare for Easter. The idea was to set aside 40 days leading up to Easter to experience something of the fasting, self-discipline, and prayer that Jesus undertook in preparation for His crucifixion. By removing some of the comforts this world offers, we create space for God to draw close.
I never want to ‘just go through the motions’ in any area of my spiritual life. But having regular habits, whether daily or yearly, provides a framework for a spiritually healthy life. In recent years, I’ve found that using a Lent daily Bible reading plan focused on preparing for Easter has been particularly helpful.
This Lent season, why not consider doing the same or practicing a different spiritual discipline, such as using a 40-day prayer resource? We’ve compiled links to a variety of free resources that you can check out:
The Bible App (download here) has lots of Lent bible reading plans, such as these we've used as a church before:
Journeying with Jesus 40-day devotional (shorter)
Lent for Everyone (longer)
Lectio 365 reflection and prayer resource. You can download the free app to your smartphone (and there's also a family version).
Sign up for a daily devotional email from The Bible Society.
40 days of prayer for Africa's vulnerable children with our Global Partner Hands at Work.
A Rocha have produced a page of weekly Lent ideas to help us better appreciate and experience God's creation during this season.
In addition, we've created a Lent Family Resource. If you didn't collect one on Sunday, then grab one the next time you're in the building.
We also have a Prayer Calendar covering the period of Lent. Download below or collect a printed copy from the Highgrove foyer.
