Lent: Mondays of Prayer + Fasting

Posted on February 11, 2021March 30, 2021 by Andy Wood

This year we are inviting the whole community to set aside every Monday in Lent (starting Feb 22) for Prayer and Fasting.

“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.”
Hosea 10:12

Fasting is a form of prayer. When we fast we voluntarily set aside something for a time in order to intensify our attention to and awareness of God – this attention and awareness is prayer. The things we are most reluctant to set aside are the very things that probably get in the way of our life with God. It is a practical discipline that helps us realize that God – not food, Facebook friends, (fill in the blank) – is the real source of all pleasure, goodness and life.

The invitation during this season of prayer and fasting is to prepare for the new growth that God has planted in us. This means creating a welcoming space for the work of God amongst us and in our own hearts. We cannot do the work ourselves – this is the task of God’s Spirit. However, we do have a part to play by readying ourselves and welcoming the growth God wants to bring.

At the beginning of each week, we will be emailing the reflection and invitation for that Monday. You can follow along as you are led. If you’d prefer to see it all at once you can download all the weekly reflections in the link below. Also, there is a booklet entitled “Fasting Basics” which offers a thorough overview of everything fasting related.

Resources:

2021 Lent Prayer + Fasting weekly reflectionsDownload

Fasting BasicsDownload

Here is a sermon entitled “Why We Fast: an invitation to fasting & feasting” which provides more insight into the spiritual discipline of fasting.

NOTE: portions of this post were previously published on our website here.

Up From The Ground

Posted on March 5, 2020 by WCV Administrator

Thursday, March 12th. An Invitation to share, and create.

Hi friends,

Next Thursday, March 12, we are hosting a WCV community sharing night called “Up from the Ground”. The hope is to have members of our community share pieces they have created over the past 2 years. This could come in the shape of song, poetry, art, craft, dance, etc. You are invited to come and share, or come and receive. All are welcome.

We will also begin a community art project together that will culminate on Easter morning. Sometimes when difficult seasons strike it feels like we’ve been shattered. Lent gives us an opportunity to share in the grief and the unknown nature of our hard seasons.

For our art project, we are inviting you to bring something breakable that you are willing to smash. It could be a cup, a pot, a plate, a piece of pottery, a small sculpture, etc. At some point in the evening on Thursday we will take a moment to shatter our pieces, and collectively surrender these things to God.

On Easter Sunday some members of our creative team will rebuild these pieces into a community art piece.

If you have a piece of art you can share on Thursday, please contact Krista Heide or Sherry Ansloos so we can plan accordingly.

And please, think about what sort of breakable item you can bring along to contribute to our collective Lent art project.

Please feel free to share this invitation. Youth are invited to participate as well.

Thank you!

Lent 2020 – Having the Mind of Christ

Posted on February 26, 2020March 17, 2020 by Andy Wood

This year throughout the season of Lent (from Ash Wednesday until Good Friday) we will be exploring Philippians 2:1-11. This passage is such a beautiful and poetic description of one of the major themes of Lent: letting go. In our pursuit to follow Jesus (be disciples, work out our salvation, etc) we are to be imitators of Jesus. This means that we are to follow in Christ’s footsteps and, as Paul enjoins, to have the mind of Christ – the same attitude – follow in his footsteps.

⁵You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

⁶Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
⁷Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
⁸    he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

⁹Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Image Credit: Tree Top View Vectors by Vecteezy

Lent – an invitation to Life

Posted on March 5, 2019March 5, 2019 by Andy Wood

Ash Wednesday (March 6) marks the beginning of the Lenten season in the Western Christian calendar. These 40 days (excluding Sundays) culminate in the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Lent is about preparation, self examination and meditation on Jesus’ life and suffering. It’s about journeying with him to become like him. It’s about taking up our cross prior to being raised with him. Before being raised to life on Sunday, Jesus was lifted up on Friday.

Lent is about finding life – the true source of life

Our culture shuns anything that remotely hints of denial. “Why should I have to give up anything?” we ask, if not with words then through how we conduct our lives. Examining the deep inner contours of our hearts is not something we do naturally – yet it is what followers of Jesus have done for centuries during this season and have found deep life in the process. This, of course, is the point. Lent is about finding life – finding the true source of life – the very author of life. In Lent we give up other embraces to make room to be more fully be embraced by Jesus.

This season, you may want to embark on a journey asking the question, “what in my life is crowding out the very source of life?” This is the essence of fasting – another practical marker of Lent. Jesus wants to bring us to a place of being more fully alive and yet he won’t do it without our partnership. As we posture ourselves toward him, the Holy Spirit will transform our self-centred lives into new lives of community and justice. Lent prepares us to live worshipful lives of compassion, generosity and all embracing love. This sounds like a good definition of being fully alive to me – how about you?

Here are a few resources that may help on your Lenten journey:

Pray As You Go

A daily contemplative podcast that leads the listener through a series of meditative prayers and scripture readings. Each episode is about 10 – 13 minutes long. You can listen right from their website or subscribe to it via iTunes podcasts.

Lent for Everyone

This is an online devotional created by N.T. Wright. It includes daily scripture and a well-crafted and thoughtful devotion by one of the foremost New Testament scholars of our time. (You have to sign up to view it).

Living Lent Daily

Features prayers, thoughts and more each day to inspire you throughout your Lenten journey. A new article will become available daily throughout Lent. These are quite short.

And a few WCV inspirations:

Lenten Devotional

There is a guided Lenten devotional centred around the book “Sacred & Desecrated: 40 days with Wendel Berry“. It includes daily readings and various challenges designed to deepen our connection with God while preparing us for Good Friday and Easter. The group meets Wednesday evenings beginning March 6th, 7:30-8:30. Contact Amanda for more info.

Empty the Pantry – a Flatlanders Lenten Tradition

The folks in Flatlanders Inn have been doing this for 9 years or so – you may want to try it in your living situation.

“Each year during this season, we dig out the accumulated boxes, tins, and bags from our cupboards and make a deliberate choice to use up the food that we wouldn’t usually choose to use.

Doing this helps us to remember that not everyone has the luxury of choosing what they want to eat. Many people simply have to find ways to use up what they have. Doing this also reminds us to be grateful – on a regular basis, we actually get to choose what we want to eat. We have enough food to have all of these extras.

At the end of Lent, we calculate how much money we have saved on groceries, and then use that money to bless others.”

Feature Image credit: Jenson Stidham

Invitations to Lent

Posted on February 14, 2018March 21, 2018 by Suhail Stephen

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer. ~ 1978 Book of Common Prayer

Today is Ash Wednesday. Today, we begin the season of Lent – a 40-day preparation for and pilgrimage towards the Holy Triduum (the three days of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday) – where we celebrate Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

During Lent, we are especially reminded of the divisive and destructive nature of sin – of the ways in which it dilutes, distracts, and outright opposes loving relationship with God, our neighbours, and creation. Through the illumination and power of the Spirit, we are invited to a vigorous time of struggle against temptation and sin – reminiscent of the Israelites’ 40 days in the wilderness and Jesus’ 40 days in the desert – that we may be led more fully into the life and joy set before us.

This life and joy is the real theme of the season. The English word “Lent” comes from the Old English word lencten, which means “lengthen,” and refers to the time in spring when daylight begins to lengthen. We consider, struggle with, and repent of our sin because God is making all things – including us – new. The glorious daylight of his kingdom is coming and Lent is a way for us to respond to and participate in this exciting renewal.

Christians throughout history have taken on several practices during Lent in order to facilitate this renewal. I commend the following to you as concrete rhythms through which you may more fully enter the heart of the season. May the Father’s love, Jesus’ truth and grace, and the Spirit’s conviction and comfort be with you.

Examination and Repentance
- With his help, ask God where have you sinned against him in thought, word, and deed, by what you have done, and by what you have left undone? Where have you not loved him with your whole heart? Where have you not loved your neighbour as yourself?
- Trusting in his immeasurable kindness and unquestionable grace, ask God for forgiveness and mercy.
- Ask God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to strengthen you in all goodnesss that you may be led in the way of life everlasting.

Prayer, Fasting, and Generosity
- Fasting is a form of self-denial whereby we voluntarily set aside something for a time in order to intensify attention to and awareness of God (this attention and awareness is prayer). The things we are most reluctant to set aside are the very things that probably get in the way our life with God.
- Fasting is a helpful, practical way to focus prayer and realize that God – not food, Facebook, friends, or what have you – is the real source of all pleasure, goodness, and satisfaction.
- In tandem with fasting, Christians have often given special attention to generosity (“almsgiving”) during Lent as a way to avoid self-absorption and to inspire self-giving in love and service to others (e.g. fasting from food might give you more money to share with those who don’t have as much food).

The Word of God
- Hearing, reading, and meditating on the scripture is customary for Lent.
- There are a number of Lent devotionals and resources available online; here are some that I’ve found particularly helpful for daily prayer:

Lent – Becoming Fully Alive

Posted on February 10, 2016February 10, 2016 by Andy Wood

Today is Ash Wednesday. It marks the beginning of the Lenten season in the Western Christian calendar. These 40 days (excluding Sundays) culminate in the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. Lent is about preparation, self examination and meditation on Jesus’ life and suffering. It’s about journeying with him to become like him. It’s about taking up our cross prior to being raised with him. Before being raised to life on Sunday, Jesus was lifted up on Friday.

Our culture shuns anything that remotely hints of denial. “Why should I have to give up anything?” we ask, if not with words then through how we conduct our lives. Examining the deep inner contours of our hearts is not something we do naturally – yet it is what followers of Jesus have done for centuries during this season and have found deep life in the process. This, of course, is the point. Lent is about finding life – finding the true source of life – the very author of life himself. In Lent we give up other embraces to make room to be more fully be embraced by Jesus.

Here are a few resources that may help you on the journey:

Lent: the road to the Cross – a booklet prepared by the Vineyard UK.

Pray As You Go – a daily contemplative podcast that leads the listener through a series of meditative prayers and scripture readings. Each episode is about 10 – 13 minutes long. You can listen right from their website or subscribe to it via iTunes podcasts.

Lent for Everyone – this is an online devotional created by N.T. Wright. It includes daily scripture and a well crafted and thoughtful devotion by one of the foremost New Testament scholars of our time. (You have to sign up to view it)

Living Lent Daily – features prayers, thoughts and more each day to inspire you throughout your Lenten journey. A new article will become available daily throughout Lent. These are quite short.

More with Less Fast – Invitation

Posted on March 10, 2015March 16, 2015 by Andy Wood

The world around us always seems to want more from us, but gives less in return. It may be your schedule demanding more from you. Perhaps there are debtors wanting to be paid. Maybe there is a situation in your life that requires a lot of extra energy and it’s simply draining you. Or it may be one of the “stories” our society tells us – like the script that says the more money we have, the happier we will be. Or the more we exercise, the more desirable we will be. Or the more we drink, the easier it will be to forget. But these never really work. The more we feed these various appetites, the less we seem to get in return – we are less comforted, less happy, less satisfied and less fulfilled.

The Kingdom of God is the opposite. The more we give ourselves to him and his Kingdom, the more joy, satisfaction, fulfillment and sense of his presence we get in return. The more we are fully given to our Father and his Kingdom, the less we need all the other stuff. It’s not that all the other stuff is necessarily bad. Rather, when we look to all those other things to fill us, they can make us numb to his presence in our lives instead of giving us life.

You may ask, “what does this have to do with fasting?” The answer is “everything!” If you’re like me, when I think about fasting, images of suffering, discipline, pain, and self-denial fill my mind. The end goal of fasting has been lost to the activity itself. Like one who looses the forest for the trees, too often those who fast see only the lack, and miss the more!

The end goal of fasting is to open us up to more of God, not to make it through a week without eating or checking Facebook! While, there is an element of giving up in fasting, this is never the whole picture. There is always more, rather than less, when it comes to fasting.

In this “More with Less” fast, we are calling us to recapture the joy in fasting. There is a beauty in the simplicity of sharing a meal with a stranger (in the Isaiah 58 sense) and there is a simple goodness in forgoing a meal in order to spend time with the Lord.

In your life, what dulls you to God’s presence? Certainly, there are many things which have the power to either numb us or draw our attention towards God. What might he be calling you to detach yourself from during this week of fasting so that you can more fully experience his “more” for your life?

We will begin this fast on Sunday, March 15 and finish on Saturday March 21. We will have daily encouragements as well as a time to gather together to worship and pray in the evening of Wednesday, March 18.

It will be a week of revelry in the Holy Spirit as we dislodge our usual comforts and displace them with God’s comfort for us.

March 15 – 21

Join us!

Nepali Fast – Isaiah 58

Posted on April 3, 2014April 12, 2014 by Andy Wood

Isaiah 58 Fast

April 13 – 20

In the bible, fasting and prayer usually go together. Fasting isn’t simply about the lack of food, or the lack of anything else for that matter, but rather an intensified focus, or shift in perspective from something temporal to God. It’s about bringing our attention to the Lord in a specific way for a particular time by reducing our dependence on something physical. Our physical hunger reminds us that we are really hungry for God.

It makes sense, then, that fasting and prayer go together. However, it seems that if our lifestyles are not extending grace, mercy and justice in practical ways, our fasting is distasteful to God. Isaiah helps bring clarity to this issue in chapter 58 where he links “true fasting” with feeding the hungry, sharing with the poor, keeping the Sabbath and in general, living justly.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter

– when you see the naked,

to clothe them,

and not to turn away

from your own flesh and blood?

Nepali Fast

This fast is an invitation to hold both fasting and care for the hungry together. To that end we invite you to participate in a very practical fast for one week – that is to eat at or below the level of the average Nepali person.

For just about all of us, this will mean eating less – less quantity as well as less variety.

The fast starts Sunday April 13 (with an evening of prayer and worship) and we’ll break the fast on Easter Sunday, April 20.

There are two objectives for this fast:

1) When we consume less, we can give more.

2) When we fast, we draw closer to God.

Consuming Less

Isaiah 58 makes it clear that we are to respond to the “hungry” in our world in practical ways.

God has linked WCV with the Himalayan Region Vineyards in a deep and profound way. Many of our brothers and sisters in this region live on minimal nutritional requirements. We are one body, and Paul admonishes us to “share each other’s burdens” (Gal 6). One way we can do this is to eat at their levels. This will allow us to consume less, while practicing solidarity with them.

Here are some facts and figures concerning the average Nepali that may help frame the conversation:

Canada’s average salary approx. $40,000 ($110 / day)

Nepal’s average salary approx. $1,200 ($3.30 / day)

25% of Nepal’s population live below poverty line of: $1.25 / day. (Nepal Bureau of Statistics)

Major concerns include little or no access to primary health care, education, clean drinking water and sanitation services. Food security and poor nutrition are major concerns, especially in rural areas. (IFAD)

Nepal has one of the highest early childhood mortality rates in the region. 2/3 of Nepali children are severely deprived and just under 40% live in absolute poverty. 50% of children under 5 are stunted and over 2/3 are underweight due to malnutrition. (Unicef)

By embracing their diet, we are in a way embracing our brothers and sisters in Nepal. Eating their food in a way places them in the centre of our tables every day.

Giving More

By spending a week eating at these levels, most of us will have saved money on our grocery bills. Keep track of what you save – or calculate it in whatever way makes sense to you. Then we encourage you to donate it to WCV (mark it for Nepal) and we we will send it to Nepal to be used to feed those who are poor.

If you do not normally spend money getting your food, but have participated in this fast, we encourage you to give what you can to the “First Fruits” basket and the food will be shared at Drop-in.

Drawing Near to God

This fast is not just a clever way to raise money for those in need. It can do something in us and to us. As we turn ourselves towards God in prayer and fasting, we can be transformed. Our prayer is that WCV will draw closer to God as we participate in this “fast that he has chosen”.

Throughout the week we will be having regular stories sent from the School of Justice, who will be in Nepal during this time. They will give us short meditations to help us both understand the plight of the people there as well as God’s heart for them and us!

Preparing

Checklist for preparing for this week:

Put it on your schedules.
We will start the week with an evening of worship & prayer on Sunday, April 13, 7pm.
Do your grocery shopping beforehand (check the ingredients in the recipe in this booklet).
Calculate your normal weekly grocery bill and get ready to donate the savings.

Recipe – Dal Baht

Plain Rice (Bhat)

2 cups rice (Basmati or Long grain preferred)

4 cups water.

Lentils (Dal)

1½ cups lentil (any kind), 4 to 5 cups of water, ½ tsp turmeric, 1 tsp minced garlic, 6 tbsp butter, 3/4 cup sliced onions, 2 chillies, salt to taste.
Wash lentils and soak lentil for 10 minutes – drain.
Add lentils to fresh water and bring to a boil.
Add all spices.
Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 – 30 mins (until lentils are soft).
Fry the onions, chilies and garlic in the butter & stir into the simmering lentils.

Lent – a Season of Preparing for More

Posted on March 11, 2014March 11, 2014 by Andy Wood

On March 5, we entered the season of Lent. A season, 40 days leading up to Easter, that the church has historically observed as a time of preparation. A time to prepare hearts, bodies and lives for the life that’s made available through Jesus’ resurrection. Lent is only helpful if it points us towards resurrection. Giving up for Lent is only useful if it points us to all that God has for us. Dying to ourselves is only a good thing if the Holy Spirit can come afterwards and bring us to life. This short video is a great reminder that God is not about scarcity and that Lent is intended to help us prepare for more, not less.

You may want to check out these resources:

Living Lent Daily – features prayers, thoughts and more each day to inspire you throughout your Lenten journey. A new article will become available daily throughout Lent. These are quite short.

Have you used any of these resources? Let us know how they were helpful in the comment section below!

Winnipeg Centre Vineyard

Worship . Community . Justice

Lent

Lent 2020 – Having the Mind of Christ