Lent

Redeem TV

Redeem TV provides free, stream-able video content. Use it in your church, small group or family.

See their recommendations for Lent and Easter, including:

• Jesus Revealed - 7 episodes

• Return To The Holy Land - Franklin Graham and his family visit biblical sites.

• Eyewitness Bible: Easter - 8 episodes designed to be watched on the days of Holy Week, starting on Palm Sunday.

• The Story Of Easter - cartoon for children, 40 minutes.

Christian History Institute

Walk Through The Wilderness - a devotional for Lent. Read online or download a pdf.

Books recommended by Hilary Oxford Smith

The Way of Julian of Norwich, A Prayer Journey through Lent, Sheila Upjohn, London, SPCK, 2020

There is a fifteenth-century roof boss in Norwich Cathedral which depicts medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich holding open the door to her cell. Sheila Upjohn’s captivating, prayerful and inspirational book invites us, in six meditations, to accompany her into Julian’s cell so that we may discover within it the assurance of God’s unconditional love. It is a book for personal or shared use.

Julian of Norwich lived over 600 years ago, enduring outbreaks of pandemic, the harsh reality of medieval womanhood and the persecuting Church of her day. She speaks to our times. Mark Oakley, Dean of St. John’s College, Cambridge, in his review for The Church Times writes,

There is probably no living author who knows the writing of Julian of Norwich better than Sheila Upjohn. The Way of Julian of Norwich: A prayer journey through Lent is a gift to us all, drawn from many years of prayerful immersion in Julian’s “showings”. This is a book with a positive and homely spirit. Conversational in tone and practical in intent, each of its short six chapters ends with some questions and a reflection. There is also a Way of the Cross devotion at the end, nicely shaped with Julian’s words, for personal or communal use. Many of the things that Julian was shown in her little room by God did not tally with the Church’s teaching of the day. What God showed her, however, was an “endless, continuing love, with its assurance of safekeeping and salvation”.

Julian is a good companion for any who think that the Church is still too frightened to live up to the radical love of the gospel that it preaches, making us all too defensive rather than grateful. It is a book for those who long for some barefaced integrity in the showings of the Church six centuries later. I recommend reading this short meditation to those who know Julian well and those who have yet to be enlarged by her insight that “Love was his meaning.” Both will approach Easter the better for it.

Available to buy from the publisher and many book sellers at various prices. Pleroma Christian Supplies www.christiansupplies.co.nz can also order the book and/or multiple copies for you. Remember to order early from them. It’s also available as an e-book from the publisher and other booksellers.

Lent is for Presbyterians, too: Creative, connectional disciplines

The Presbyterian Outlook, PCUSA – a good read with some novel and creative ideas for intentional prayer and reflection.

Lentwise – Spiritual Essentials For Real Life, Paula Gooder

5 session course with lots of supportive materials. E-pub available.

Life Balance – Rest, Work and Play for Lent, Robert Warren and Sue Mayfield

a 5 session course exploring how to build Sabbath time into everyday life and how Sabbath attitudes can transform the way we live our lives and spend our time. E-pub available.

Books recommended by Lynne Taylor

McRoberts, Justin and Scott Erickson (2019) Prayer: Forty Days of Practice. Waterbrook (Penguin).

For McRoberts and Erickson, “prayer is a conversation about everything” and one that can be resourced by both words and images. This small book provides an image and a brief prayer for each of 40 days, making it ideal for the Lenten period. In addition, meditations and suggested practices are offered for each week. The aim of the meditations is formational. As McRoberts and Erickson note, the “meditations, much like the brief prayers and images, are intended to stir what is in you rather than get information into you.” There is an appealing simplicity in this book.

It is available in print and e-book. See here for more: https://www.scottericksonart.com/books/forty-days-of-practice

This book is suitable for people who would like to engage with (and perhaps return to) a simple image and prayer each day during Lent.

Clarke, Ros (2021). Forty Women: Unseen Women of the Bible from Eden to Easter. IVP.

From the publisher:

The first witnesses to the resurrection were not men, but women – and without women, the Easter story would not have happened at all.

These hidden voices of the Bible's story are found through the Old Testament and the New Testament. In this daily Lent devotional for 2022, join Ros Clarke as she uncovers the women of the Bible who are essential to the Easter weekend. From Eve to the Shummamite, and from Deborah to Ruth, Forty Women will open your eyes to the power of the gospel.

Exploring a different character each day to take you from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, Forty Women is an uplifting and inspirational look at what we can learn from the different women of the Bible. Looking at their lives, triumphs and failures, Ros Clark shows us how these women are examples of faith and warning against sin, whose seemingly ordinary lives connect with an extraordinary God.

The perfect Lent book for 2022, Forty Women shows us how these women’s stories cast fresh light on the Bible in unexpected ways, whilst their shared humanity reminds us of wonderful truths and promises of God's word to His people as we prepare to celebrate the ultimate promise of the resurrection at Easter.

Forty Women can be read in small groups or individually, and is an ideal read for anyone wanting to learn more about the women of the Bible and the witnesses to the resurrection, as well as for anyone looking for Biblical encouragement during Lent. Its daily devotions can easily fit into a busy schedule, and will give you a new appreciation for these often overlooked Biblical figures.

Join Ros Clarke this Lent, and see the women of the Bible as never before.

Lynne pre-ordered this book on the strength of the description and a friend’s endorsement and is looking forward to reading it through Lent 2022. (It is worth noting that the author seems to hold a conservative view on marriage and sexuality, while not neglecting the ministry roles of women.)

Re purchasing books:

You can check www.booko.co.nz for current prices, including shipping. Of course, while price is one important factor, you might also like to select an independent (or at least non-Amazon-owned) seller.