Why not observe Lent in 2013?
Down and Dromore Clergy and Church Army workers will prepare for Lent with a Quiet Day on Shrove Tuesday. This year the Bishop of Clogher and former rector of Dundela, The Rt Revd John McDowell, will lead the meditations.
Are you ready for Lent? Why not seriously consider taking advantage of this season (13 February – 31 March) for a prolonged time of reflection and penitence. You may choose to give up something or to take up something – spiritual disciplines, a devotional book (call into the Good Book Shop) or intentional acts of service or kindness. Go to church. Our parishes will have services on Ash Wednesday and some will have a Lent service each week leading up to a series of services during Holy Week.
Live Lent Generously with 40 Acts. Sign up on the website to receive a generosity challenge by email, each day of Lent.
The Tearfund Carbon Fast
Our day–to–day lives may not be impacted severely by the changing climate – yet.
But what about people who struggle to feed their families or find a home that won’t get washed away, or who can’t work because the fields have been destroyed by droughts and storms?
Join us in the Carbon Fast this Lent to respond to this challenge, remembering how God has called us to respect and look after his good creation and to protect poor people who we know are suffering the most.
Christian Aid
Give thanks and celebrate the good things in your life this Lent with the thought–provoking Count Your Blessings calendar from Christian Aid.
Each day from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, forty bite–sized reflections will inspire you to give thanks for the blessings in your life, and enable you to step out in prayer and action to help change the lives of the world’s poorest communities.
Download your adults or children’s Lenten calendar from the Christian Aid Ireland website or order from the Belfast Office (028 9064 8133).
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book for 2013 is ‘Abiding’ written by Ben Quash, Professor of Christian Theology and the Arts at King’s College London.
SynopsisAbiding is not a word we have much use for in everyday conversation. Yet Ben Quash shows that this one concept is central to the Christian life. Abiding, as Quash demonstrates, has the sense of full personal commitment, a quality of solidarity that ‘waiting’ just cannot convey. It speaks of the centrality of order, consistency and continuity in the Christian tradition, of God’s commitment to us and ours to our communities. On the other hand, the kind of ‘abiding’ that Jesus calls his followers to is one of relinquishment, openness and change, living a life out of one’s own control so as to ‘abide’ in Him. Drawing on the wisdom and imagery of modern fiction, film and art, as well as examples of key figures in the classical Christian tradition, Quash skilfully and creatively explores the implications that ‘abiding’ has for our bodies and minds, our relationships and communities, and our spiritual lives.
Use Tom Wright’s ‘Lent for Everyone’ books with a gospel reading and reflection each day in accordance with the lectionary year A, B or C.
Visit The Good Book Shop in Donegall Street, Belfast.