walking the prayer labyrinth at HFASS Ash Wednesday 2012-photo by Amy Clifford
House for All Sinners and Saints’
40 ideas for keeping a holy Lent
Day 1: Pray for your enemies
Day 2: Walk, carpool, bike or bus it.
Day 3: Don’t turn on the car radio
Day 4: Give $20 to a non-profit of your choosing
(Sunday)
Day 5: Take 5 minutes of silence at noon
Day 6: Look out the window until you find something of beauty you had not noticed before
Day 7: Give 5 items of clothing to Goodwill
Day 8: No bitching day
Day 9: Do someone else’s chore
Day 10: Buy a few $5 fast food gift cards to give to homeless people you encounter
(Sunday)
Day 11: Call an old friend
Day 12: Pray the Paper (pray for people and situations in today’s news)
Day 13: Read Psalm 139 http://bible.oremus.org
Day 14: Pay a few sincere compliments
Day 15: Bring your own mug
Day 16: Educate yourself about human trafficking www.praxus.org
(Sunday)
Day 17: Forgive someone
Day 18: Internet diet
Day 19: Change one light in your house to a compact florescent
Day 20: Check out morning and evening prayer at http://dailyoffice.wordpress.com
Day 21: Ask for help
Day 22: Tell someone what you are grateful for
(Sunday)
Day 23: Introduce yourself to a neighbor
Day 24: Read Psalm 121 http://bible.oremus.org
Day 25: Bake a cake
Day 26: No shopping day
Day 27: Light a virtual candle http://rejesus.co.uk/spirituality/post_prayer/
Day 28: Light an actual candle
(Sunday)
Day 29: Write a thank you note to your favorite teacher
Day 30: Invest in canvas shopping bags
Day 31: Use Freecycle www.freecycle.org
Day 32: Donate art supplies to your local elementary school
Day 33: Read John 8:1-11 http://bible.oremus.org
Day 34: Worship at a friend’s mosque, synogogue or church and look for the beauty
(Sunday)
Day 35: Confess a secret
Day 36: No sugar day – where else is there sweetness in your life?
Day 37: Give $20 to a local non-profit
Day 38: Educate yourself about a saint www.catholic.org/saints
Day 39: Pray for peace
Day 40: Pray for your enemies (you probably have new ones by now) then decide which of these exercises you’ll keep for good
Thank you for posting this, I am doing something similar on my blog where my lenten journey includes posting a daily blog for readers to consider doing acts of service and self reflection, time with God, etc. during Lent.
Thanks for all you do!
Blessings, Ivy
Thank you so much for this list. It is filled with ideas that are so much better than that idea of giving up something for Lent, which I have never understood.
I love it…I am going to use it (with a couple of edits) in my newsletter!
Ruth
I heart you people so much! I was looking for a lenten discipline that suited my feelings. This is it!
for those of you with iPhones, there’s a (free) app that can help you compose image / music / quotations and build them into reminders to do these things. Here it is: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bloom/id471389306?mt=8
Thank you for this. Great ideas. I also bought that book you suggested: Simplifying the Soul. After reading about Lent today (instead of going to church
) I have decided that thinking and DOING things to stop slave labor should be repeated on the Lenten List. So the human trafficking day may be repeated more than others for me, I hope. It is so inconceivable that so many people have to suffer so much.
To compliment these great suggestions, you might want to begin each day with a few moments of silence at: http://lcseekingsacredspace.blogspot.com/. This is hosted by http://www.lutheransconnect.com, a ministry of Lutheran Campus Ministry in Toronto, Ontario.
Love this, HFASS! Will share it w/ my folks up here in Philly!
Love the list, especially the “no bitching day” (day 8, i think). I remember a pastor once saying that when I’m tempted to complain, to find something to be grateful for instead. E.g., if I’m tempted to complain that my manager at work is being an insensitive a-hole, I could flip that into gratitude for having a job, and take that moment to pray for that manager in whatever he/she is dealing with. Not easy, and I suck at it (a lot, I’m learning), but it is a blessing.
This rocks…sacrifice doesn’t always mean giving something up..my dad is a Methodist minister and I’m emailing this to him now…he’s going to love it! And maybe one day he’ll love my tattoos!
I’m76,a Luthern since I was born ,and I’
m still learning. Thank you for a new perpective.
I wish it was Day 25.
Thanks for the ideas. Stay blessed…john