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Throughout the Scriptures for this Lenten season, we find echoes of human hunger and longing. Lent is a season when we traditionally seek to empty ourselves - maybe through fasting and confession - of things that are taking up too much space in our lives. Those experiences of emptiness and hunger become places of blessing where we are invited to feast on the abundance God longs to provide for us. Join us in this worship theme this year.

Here are a few ideas of spiritual practices to feast on throughout the season of Lent, which begins this year with Ash Wednesday on March 6 and ends with Easter on April 21.

Prayer & Fasting

Pray in colour with one of these Lenten calendars, adding a prayer on each of the 40 days of Lent.

Take our moments and our days is available as a free app version of the Anabaptist Prayer Book.

Common Prayer, a liturgy for ordinary radicals, is daily prayer you can follow year-round. d365 is another daily online devotional. 

Pray-as-you-go is a prayerful, musical, scriptural podcast, from the Jesuits. It's not too long (less than 15 minutes) and can set your day in the right space any time of year, including Lent.

CommonWord at Mennonite Church Canada has many options of books to borrow or other resources to use for the season of Lent. If you're looking for a new prayer book to try this season, also check the HMC prayer room or talk to Pastor Alissa.

Get creative with your fasting. The social justice publication Sojourners once created this 40 ways to live simply for 40 days of Lent. And here are 5 social justice-inspired things to give up for Lent. Focus your fasting in one area of prayer, like this Fast for 262 in support of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Turn your hunger to feasting each day with these 40 ideas for keeping Lent holy.

In your Inbox

Living Lent Daily is a daily email prayer break with Scripture and related reflections, with suggestions for further exploration. Living Lent Daily is based on Sacred Space—the trusted online prayer site by the Irish Jesuits.

Receive daily Lenten Intentions in your inbox from the folks at LEAD, drawn from the week's lectionary Psalm.

Goshen College faculty, staff, and students contribute to daily Lent (and Advent) devotionals, based on the lectionary Scriptures, that you can receive by email or read on their website.

With Children (and other great people)

Lent-At-Home is a booklet produced each year by Mennonite Church Canada, echoing the themes HMC will use in worship, and designed with families with young children in mind. You can download the booklet or ask Jen to put a hardcopy in your church mailbox.

An Illustrated Lent for Families: Reflections on Prayer includes devotionals, activity pages, and colouring pages for families to use together as they journey through Lent.

Explore the Stations of the Cross with children.

Mennonite Spiritual Directors of Eastern Canada invite any groups or individuals to participate in a Lenten Guided Prayer Experience. 

Follow along with the Lent Scriptures in your own way:

March 10 - Lent 1: God’s hand delivers us
Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13

March 17 - Lent 2: God gathers us together in safe shelter
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4.1; Luke 13:31-35

March 24 - Lent 3: God pours out life-giving drink
Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

March 31 - Lent 4: God reaches out with open arms
Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

April 7 - Lent 5: God makes a way through mighty waters
Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8

April 14 - Lent 6, Palm Sunday: God’s steadfast love endures forever
Luke 19:28-40; Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11