This article is a work in progress and may be edited at any time.
The Season
Lent is the solemn season of preparation for Easter. While Lent has been cheapened and abused, abuse does not take away proper use (abusus non tollit usum). Lent is a time of prayer and penitence that commemorates Christ’s 40-day fast in the wilderness. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, on which we are called to renewed repentance and solemnly reminded that we are dust, and to dust we will return. In some traditions, Lent ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter; in others, it ends on the evening of Maundy Thursday, giving way to the Paschal Triduum (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday). The solemn prayer and fasting of Lent break forth into the hope and jubilance of Easter.
Color and Decorations
Purple is the color of Lent. Purple overlay for communion table and purple wall banners:
- Purple Trinity Cross Overlay Cloth (overlay only)
- Purple Trinity Cross Overlay Cloth and White Communion Table Frontal (overlay and tablecloth)
- Maltese Jacquard Banner – Purple
- All Seasons Series Banner – Crown of Thorns
- Banner Hanger Set – 24″ 2/pk
Prayers and Readings
For the traditional prayers and readings used during Lent, see “Collect Prayers and Readings for Each Sunday of the Church Year.” See also the Revised Common Lectionary for a first reading, Psalm reading, second reading, and Gospel reading for each Sunday of Lent.
Music
- Lent Hymns, Songs, and Metrical Psalms — for corporate worship
- A Lent Playlist from Holy Joys — for personal use or prelude music
Preaching
- Preach from one of the texts in the Revised Common Lectionary for Lent.
- Preach on Christ’s fasting and temptation in the wilderness.
- Preach on repentance, humility, suffering, prayer, self-examination, holiness, and other related themes.
Creeds and Confessions
- Apostles’ Creed — “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead.”
- Nicene Creed — “was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried.”
Artwork
- Sister Wendy Beckett, (IVP, 2022).
- Christ in the Wilderness (1872), Ivan Kramskoi, oil on canvas.
- Icon of the Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) from Uncut Mountain Supply.
- Icon of the Mystical Supper from Uncut Mountain Supply.
- Icon of the Crucifixion from Uncut Mountain Supply.
Articles
- Larry Smith, “Lent: Preparation for Easter,” Holy Joys.
- Johnathan Arnold, “An Introduction to the Church’s Liturgical Calendar,” Holy Joys.
- Jayson D. Bradley, “5 Suggestions for Observing Good Friday,” Logos.
Books
- Esau McCaulley, Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal (IVP, 2022).
- Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha (SVS Press, 1974).
- Fleming Rutledge, The Undoing of Death (Eerdmans, 2005). Book of sermons.
- Andreas J. Köstenberger and Justin Taylor, The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived (Crossway, 2014). Includes a Scripture reading plan.
- Joseph Ratzinger, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection (Ignatius Press, 2011).
Devotionals
- N. T. Wright, Lent for Everyone: Matthew, Year A: A Daily Devotional (Westminster John Knox Press, 2013).
- N. T. Wright, Lent for Everyone: Mark, Year B: A Daily Devotional (Westminster John Knox Press, 2012).
- N. T. Wright, Lent for Everyone: Luke, Year C: A Daily Devotional (Westminster John Knox Press, 2012).
Other Books
- Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Popular Patristics Series (SVS Press, 2012). Focuses on Christ’s defeat of death by death as the reason for the incarnation.
- Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ (Eerdmans, 2017).
- John Stott, The Cross of Christ (IVP, 2006).
- Joshua McNall, The Mosaic of Atonement: An Integrated Approach to Christ’s Work (Zondervan Academic, 2019).
- N. T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion (HarperOne, 2018).
- Thomas McCall, Forsaken: The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters (IVP Academic, 2012).
- Locating Atonement: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics (Zondervan Academic, 2015). See especially Chapter 3, “The Patristic Atonement Model” by Ben Myers.
- Adam Johnson, Atonement: A Guide for the Perplexed (T&T Clark, 2015).
- Hans Boersma, Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition (Baker Academic, 2006).
Articles and Books for Holy Saturday
- Matthew Emerson, “He Descended to the Dead”: An Evangelical Theology of Holy Saturday (IVP Academic, 2019).
- Samuel D. Renihan, Crux, Mors, Inferi: A Primer and Reader on Christ’s Descent (Independently Published, 2021).
- Justin W. Bass, The Battle for the Keys: Revelation 1:18 and Christ’s Descent into the Underworld (Wipf and Stock, 2014). Monograph.
- Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev, Christ the Conqueror of Hell: The Descent into Hades from an Orthodox Perspective (SVS Press, 2009).
