A Simple Lent for Everyone Who Doesn’t Really Have Much Left in the Tank Right Now
A 40-day guide for those who want to observe Lent but honestly feel like they might cry if they have to add one more thing to the To-Do list
Hi friends,
As I began to prepare a guide for Lent this year, I had my eye on all of us who are a bit exhausted and overwhelmed by the demands of the world and our own lives. I am highly aware of those of us who want to observe Lent but honestly feel like we might cry if we have to add one more thing to the To-Do list.1
Hence, a simple Lent for everyone who doesn’t really have much left in the tank right now.
In the guide below, you’ll find one short scripture reading a day focused on the week’s theme and a breath prayer inspired by that reading. That’s it.
This 40-day guide for Lent is particularly for the low-capacity ones who still want to make room for possibility of transformation and love in our actual lives. It’s for the cynics who need to remember why they are even bothering to try right now, too. Centred on weekly themes, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes every day if you’re in a rush but you could stay there for as long as you need, too.
Um, what is Lent?
Lent is the 40 day, give or take, period of the Christian calendar leading up to Easter. It starts with Ash Wednesday (this Wednesday 18 February) and ends right before Easter. Usually the church worldwide will focus on themes like repentance, fasting, serving the poor, prayer, and other ways of preparing our hearts for the big week of Easter.
For this Lent guide, you need:
Access to the Message translation of the Bible
For the guide below, I point your scripture readings towards the Message paraphrase of the Bible. I did this purposely because, whether folks have some baggage around reading the Bible or, alternatively, have found the Bible really intimidating and so haven’t read it much, I have found that this version to be generally more hospitable.
No need to go out and buy anything if you don’t have this version of the Bible handy. There are a ton of Bible websites or apps with this one available for free including The Message website itself.
The download of the guide itself
Keep scrolling for the downloadable/printable version of this guide, it’s near the bottom of this.
I kept this all quite plain in design, so that you can just print it out on your printer easily or even navigate it on your mobile.
These aren’t always in keeping with traditional Lent themes or readings, I know, but they were purposely chosen with an eye on your exhaustion/capacity/realities as well as our need for clarity, gentleness, and even brevity. You’ll find a theme for each week. It ends on Holy Saturday.
An understanding of breath prayer
For those who aren’t familiar with breath prayers, there’s a short primer in this recent batch of them here. If you have never practiced breath prayer, just click over there, give that first section a quick skim read, and you’ll be pretty set.
And a paid subscription to Field Notes
This guide is for the paid subscribers to Field Notes, which costs $6 CAD/month (approx. $4 USD /month USD) or - very, very good deal alert - $40 CAD/year (approx. $28 USD/year) for an entire year of Field Notes, which gives you about five months of content for free. (I’ve purposely kept the subscription price here more than half the usual price of most other newsletters in order to keep this space as accessible as possible.)
One important thing: if you can’t swing the subscription for any reason at all, please just email assistant@sarahbessey.com and we’ll get you sorted out.2 Promise. It’s our joy to give away subscriptions to literally everyone who asks. No explanations needed. Subscriptions aren’t meant to be a barrier, just a way to support me in this kind of work as well as create a quieter corner on the Internet for deeper conversations and comments.
Alternative: 40 Simple Practices for Lent
Six years ago, I created 40 Simple Practices for Lent, too. If you want a more “embodied” practice rather than a scripture-and-prayer focused one like this, that alternative is still there for you.
