Gospel.com Blog

Over Christmas, we pointed out Back to the Bible’s excellent “Twelve Voices of Christmas,” a 12-part audio drama that tells the Christmas story from the point of view of its original participants.

If you thought that was interesting, you’ll like the Twelve Voices of Easter, which gives the same treatment to the Easter story: twelve characters from the original Easter story all sharing their perspective on the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Twelve Voices drama is particularly interesting in that it gives a voice to some of the lesser-known characters of the story—famous faces like Judas and Pilate are there of course, but also the less-familiar Caiaphas, Cleopas, and the anonymous centurion.

With about six weeks left until Easter, you could listen through the entire Easter story at a rate of two “voices” each week. Tune in and hear a fresh take on the Bible’s most celebrated event!

Ravi Zacharias’ Slice of Infinity daily devotional is always a worthwhile read—it’s a short daily devotional that nevertheless manages to dig a little deeper into its topics than most such devotionals.

But even if you aren’t already a reader, I recommend paying Slice of Infinity a visit each day during Lent. They’ve published some excellent reflections on Lent and Easter and why this is such a powerful part of the church year. Here’s a bit from today’s entry, on how Lent challenges us:

The time leading up to the promise of Easter and the hope of resurrection is something like the early signs of spring. Indications of new life spring forth all around us, each with the shocking call that we must prepare ourselves for what is coming, reflect on the place of hope via the road of suffering, and face the forces and temptations that come at us along the way. It is not always easy to prepare our hearts for the Cross of Christ, but the changing of seasons is upon us, and God beckons us forward. Henri Nouwen describes the tension eloquently: “The season of Lent, during which winter and spring struggle with each other for dominance, helps us in a special way to cry out for God’s mercy.” For forty contemplative days, the season of Lent calls us to the wakeful awareness that we are human, we are dust, and we are falling short, but that there is a story reaching beyond our lifetimes, our deaths, and our shortcomings, speaking new life where death stings and tears flow.

The latest reading is always available here, and you can browse back through the archives here. If you want to start with their Lent reflections, here’s the Ash Wednesday Slice that kicks it off.

What springs to mind when you think of Christmas? Chances are you think of Christmas trees, nicely-wrapped gifts, holiday parties… and Christmas music. In fact, one of the first signs that the holiday season is upon us each year is the sound of Christmas carols playing over the radio or over the speakers at stores.

Lent and Easter may not have the massive culture presence that Christmas does, but like Christmas, this is a season marked by memorable music. You might not hear it playing at the local mall, but the music of Easter includes some of the church’s most powerful and insightful songs. Easter has always been my personal favorite “musical season” in the church year; I’d like to build on Chris’ last post about music and worship by pointing out some Easter music resources:

• Songsandhymns.org has mp3s and sheet music for eight of the most famous Easter songs (see the Lent/Easter section on that page). Particularly noteworthy are Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. The latter song is a popular one at Easter Sunday services; it’s quite something to hear it sung by an enthusiastic congregation.
• HymnTime.com has a monster list of Easter songs (but beware the auto-playing MIDI music).
• Two years ago, the Vatican released mp3s of several beautiful Lent arrangements by the Musical Chorus of the Sistine Chapel and the Institute of Sacred Music. Despite theological differences between Protestant and Catholic churches, the music can be appreciated by any Christian.
• A reflection about the famous hymn Christ the Lord is Risen Today at Christianity Today. There’s a bit more historical information at the hymn’s Wikipedia entry.
• An interesting essay about ancient Easter songs, many of which inspired the modern Easter hymns we know and love today.

Just before Jesus died on the cross he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This chilling question is the first line of the first verse of Psalm 22, a song of tremendous torment and devoted hope.

Paul Lusher over at The Center for Church Music has four short reflections on how Psalm 22 relates to Lent, or what he calls The Season of the Cross. They’re excellent articles that speak of the power of music and importance of worship during this season.

From the introduction to the first article:

No believer can read this Psalm without being confronted with the reality of Christ’s crucifixion. It inspires adoration – and a desire to understand what we can learn from this astonishing text. While we’ll never know if our Lord actually sang these words while hanging form that accursed tree, its words are infused with a holy wonder that can only inspire reverence and awe.

How are you commemorating Lent? There’s no Scriptural requirement to mark the season of Lent, of course. But many Christians find it helpful to mark the period of time before Easter with some sort of deliberate spiritual activity, whether it’s giving up a specific habit, denying yourself something, or engaging in a regular practice like devotions or Scripture reading.

Several writers from the IVPress community are engaging in Lent journeys and are sharing them online—and they invite anyone to participate along with them. The Strangely Dim blog has a good roundup of these; here’s a quick look at what these writers are doing for Lent:

• At Likewise Books, author Tamara Park is sending out a short email each week of Lent with a reflection, song, Scripture, and image to help you focus on Christ. Likewise encourages anyone who wants to receive the weekly emails to write to likewise@ivpress.com and put “Lenten Sacred Encounter” on the subject line.
• Author Kimberlee Conway Ireton is posting a devotional reflection on her blog each week of Lent. Her reflections are based on readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.
• David Zimmerman, author of Deliver Us from Me-ville, is posting a quote from that book on his blog each day of Lent. Accompanying those quotes is a Me-ville reading guide you can follow to read through the book along with him during Lent. It’s all at his Loud Time blog, where he’s begun posting excerpts.

These are three solid ways of journeying through Lent—and there are certainly many more good Lent resources out there. We’ll share them here as we come across them in the weeks to come!

Two new features were unveiled today at the Bible Gateway, one of them specifically related to Lent (which officially began today on Ash Wednesday). Here’s a quick rundown of the new items:

• A new Lent reading plan. Have you ever thought about making a commitment during Lent to help you focus on the meaning of Easter? Committing to spending more time in the Bible is always a good idea, and a Lent plan that walks you through each of the four Gospels in time for Easter might help you do just that. Read more about the Lent reading plan on the Bible Gateway blog.
• On a somewhat related note, the Bible Gateway now makes it possible to subscribe to a reading plan (such as the aforementioned Lent reading plan) via email, so you can have each day’s Scripture reading delivered to your inbox. It’s still in beta, but if you’re interested, head over to the Bible Gateway to read more about it and subscribe to an email reading plan.

Stop by the Bible Gateway, try out the new features, and let the Bible Gateway team know what you think!

What’s the longest, most difficult time of year for youth ministry? We’re right in the middle of it—the “dead zone” between Christmas and summer, when youth leaders around the world struggle to inspire kids who are either still coming down off the holiday rush, or are just looking forward to spring and summer.

An article by Steve Argue and Dave Livermore over at Intersect challenges us not to let these long, slow months slip past us on the way to summer:

Ironically, in the Christian calendar, this is the time of the year when everything heats up. It’s called Lent and Easter. These days are the deepest, most significant, central part of our Christian existence. Lent and Easter are part of a greater rhythm called the Christian calendar that anchors us in a rich heritage of faith that has been the spiritual metronome of faith communities for hundreds of years….

Lent isn’t something that can just be squeezed in. Our youth ministry schedules won’t allow for adding one more thing. But what if we let Lent shape our existing activities this season?

They close the article with some practical ideas for doing just that. Worth reading, particularly if your youth ministry feels stuck in the doldrums at this time of year.

Like many of you, I grew up in a protestant church–a baptist one to be exact. We had about as much connection to the traditional church calendar as we did to the Mayan, so days like Ash Wednesday were cognitively placed in my mind labeled “Things that Catholics Do”.

Recently, however, I’ve begun to search for more of a connection with the historical church, and the church calendar. So, when my pastor announced last Sunday that we would be doing an Ash Wednesday service to kick off the Lent season I was quite excited.

At 6:30 this morning a few friends and I braved the icy Western Michigan roads before work. We entered the church to dimmed lights, a sparse stage, and–for me–a sense of mystery. There was a homily, some responsive readings and then we were invited to come and receive the ashes.
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Today is a special day for Christians, although you won’t find greeting cards or gifts marking the occasion: it’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent. Throughout Lent, many Christians choose to prepare themselves (through prayer, repentance, and reflection) to celebrate Easter, the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection.

Lent is a quieter event than most other holidays—it calls us to personal reflection rather than to outward celebration. You may have seen people walking around with an ash mark on their foreheads today—many Christians choose to mark Ash Wednesday with a cross-shaped mark of ash. For some people, Lent is also a time of self-denial, in which they choose to give up something (anything from a certain type of food to a personal habit) as a way to help them focus on the meaning of the season.

However you decide to commemorate Ash Wednesday and Lent, here are a few resources to help you get into the spirit of the season:

• Ash Wednesday, “spring cleaning for the soul”—why is Ash Wednesday important, and what does it really mean? Why do we hear so little of it from most Christian churches?
• An explanation of the significance of Lent, for those who aren’t clear on what it stands for.
• Lent is for losers—a short reflection explaining why Lent is a holiday especially for the broken and burdened.
• Lent is a time when many Christians choose to “live with less,” through fasting or some other form of self-denial. But have you thought about living this way all throughout the year?
• A Lent reflection from the AlreadyNotYet blog.
• Thinking of giving up something for Lent? How about TV or regular personal habit? It’s not all deadly serious—James Watkins has a humorous account of what he’s giving up for Lent.

It seems inappropriate, given the nature of Lent, to wish you a happy Lent. But may you have a reflective and prayerful Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Easter!