Easter is coming!

Yes I know, we’ve just begun the Season of Lent. But Easter is only a month away. Easter is the most important event of our church year. It’s the day we celebrate the best news in the world — that forgiveness is real, death is defeated, the restoration of all things has begun, and eternal life is available through faith in Jesus Christ!

All Souls Church Plant in Richmond, VA has new art installed for the season of Lent.

Another first for FAF was an Ash Wednesday evening service. Since we do not yet have a priest, Bishop Chris gave permission for Dave Breisch, who serves on our core team, to lead the service and administer the imposition of ashes. This deeply meaningful service was shared among young and old in our congregation.

Church of the Good Shepherd invites you to enjoy a Lent Devotional resource filled with entirely original material written by members of the church.

Will you make space for eternity during this Lenten season?

That’s really the point of Lent; to make space for eternity so that you grow in relationship with Jesus and so that you’re deeply prepared to celebrate the wonder of Easter.

Enjoy photos from churches around the Diocese from Shrove Tuesday Pancake Suppers!

During Lent, Christ the King, Alexandria, VA, invites you to will have brief spoken services of Morning Prayer on Tuesdays (7:00-7:30 a.m.), and Evening Prayer on Wednesdays (6:30-7 p.m.). Apostles invites you to participate these services as a regular Lenten discipline.

There is a deep conundrum at the heart of our faith. And it’s this: no one wants a cross.

Lent brings us on the well-worn path of our church calendar journey to the edge of the wilderness, the dry desolate place where we are invited to set down our excesses and instead take the hand of our humble, wounded and faithful Friend. Like the traveler walking out of a forest, we emerge from the abundant seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, of feasting and light and holy alleluias, where we have been nourished and blessed. 

I’m currently reading Beth Moore’s newly released memoir. I picked it up after reading an article in Christianity Today entitled, “When I was a Stranger in the SBC, Anglicans took me in.” Moore’s book is full of humor and brokenness and heartache and wisdom. The quote above is just one of many wonderful turns of phrase she employs throughout this engaging read.  

During Lent, All Souls in Richmond, VA has installed a stunning piece of art behind the alter to encourage prayerful meditation.

In Sabbath, we remember and celebrate the Lord and what God alone can do. We remember God’s deliverance of His people from slavery and bondage. Only He can set us free from sin, addiction, and brokenness. We celebrate Jesus’s triumph over death through his cross and resurrection. Ultimately only God can give us fullness of life.

It was a remarkable day - and the worship! 850 voices exuberantly declared praise to our God who is worthy. It was otherworldly.

Churches around the Diocese hosted suppers and meaningful events on Shrove Tuesday to mark the end of the season of Epiphany and the start of Lent.

The Matthew 25 Initiative Offers 40 days of Anglican-shaped content for Lent about justice and mercy.

Wednesdays, March 1-22, 7 p.m.
Alexandria, VA

On Wednesdays during Lent this year, Christ the King, Alexandria, VA, is offering “Artful Lenten Prayers.”

Throughout the Anglican communion there are resources to help during this period. Below we are providing resources to aide you and your parish going into this season. We hope this is helpful as you prepare for the upcoming Lent.

In Holy Week, we encounter Jesus’ suffering and death, and we experience anew his great love. We do not go through Holy Week because we are unsure of Jesus’ forgiveness, but because we must never take it for granted. We must never skip glibly from the “Hosannas” of Palm Sunday to Easter’s “Christ is risen.” We must walk the Way of the Cross.

"As followers of Jesus, we are ministers of love and compassion and healing for those who are in great pain, physically, emotionally, spiritually. But suicide is not the answer.

"I say to all of us, young people, seniors, those facing great hardship or great pain: Do not succumb to the hopelessness of the culture of death. You are precious to the Lord and to the Body of Christ."

Receive 40 days of Anglican-informed, inspiring, beautiful, and theologically-robust engagement pieces — in the vein of the church's traditional disciplines of lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.