lent 2024 Resources
Dear Harvest family,
This year we celebrate Easter on March 31 which means the journey of Lent begins next week with Ash Wednesday on February 14 and the opportunity for us as a church family and in our individual homes to intentionally prepare our hearts for the highest celebration of the Christian year!
As Advent led us to anticipate the coming of Christmas and celebrating Jesus’ birth, Lent (from Latin, meaning “fortieth”) leads us through 40 days of somber reflection on Jesus’ death that we might truly celebrate His Resurrection, the great joy of Easter! Sundays themselves are not counted in the 40 days, as they are considered “mini-Easters,” foretastes of THE Sunday coming!
Not long ago we celebrated the joy of Christmas. But at Christmas, Calvary is always on the horizon, for Christ was born to bear the cross. Lent now takes us from Bethlehem toward Golgotha. We go from the wonder of the incarnation to the hill on Calvary.
In his birth, we experience the hope of a Savior. In his death, we experience forgiveness of sins. In his resurrection, we experience new life.
About Fasting
Lent is a season of reflecting on our own sinful lives and our need for a Savior. It’s a time of repenting, turning from anything that has kept us from God and turning toward Him. Likewise, Christian fasting is about not only denying ourselves fleshly pleasures but replacing them with that which stirs our affections for Christ.
“The Lenten practice of denying usual comforts is a means of deepening our sense of union with Jesus, and reorienting our life around the things of God. We give up that which distracts and entangles because we want to experience real joy and freedom in Christ.” (Journey to the Cross, Haug and Walker)
Before beginning a Christian fast, we first ask for the Holy Spirit’s divine revelation of the habits and things at the heart of our consumer lifestyle that most distract, and then we seek His guidance in what to add in its place - prayer, worship, solitude, discipleship, evangelism - that we might experience greater intimacy with and dependence upon Christ.
About Lenten Lights
As with the Advent wreath, the seven candles of Lent are a visible illustration symbolizing Christ as the Light of the World. During Advent, we light a candle each week, and the light grows brighter as we anticipate the coming of the incarnation of Christ dwelling among us. As we move through the season of Lent preceding Easter, we snuff out a candle each week, and the light grows dimmer, until all are dark on Good Friday, when Jesus died and the earth was covered with shadow. It seemed as if darkness had won. The Light of the World had been extinguished. But NO! Easter brings resurrection and life! The Light has overcome the darkness and on Easter Sunday all the candles are lit again as we worship Him—the Light of the World!
To use with your Lenten lights, we recommend the free weekly Family Devotions from Asheritah Ciuciu’s book, Uncovering the Love of Jesus. Kennon and I pray as we all gather around the table in our homes (with your roommates or family) during the Lenten season our hearts will be prepared to cry out together with great joy “The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!”
Blessings,
Kathryn
Sunday, February 18th
Sunday, March 3rd
Sunday, March 24th
Selected Sunday nights shown below, from 6pm-7pm
LENT SERVICES
*Childcare from birth to 4 years old will be provided.
GOOD FRIDAY
Journey to the Cross
Friday, March 29th
9am-9pm
Registration will be available soon
More details on sunrise service and times coming soon.
EASTER SUNDAY
Sunday, March 31st
RESOURCES
Click on the underlined word to visit the resource mentioned.
Lenten Lights
Any grouping of seven candles (Examples)
Lenten Lights Guide
Family Devotionals, Uncovering the Love of Jesus by Asheritah Ciuciu
Recommended daily devotionals include:
Journey to the Cross by Will Walker, Kendal Haug (free pdf copy)
Journey to the Cross: A 40 Day Lenten Devotional by Paul David Tripp’
Additional Resources:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5