House for All Sinners and Saints’ 40 Ideas for Keeping a Holy Lent


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

www.houseforall.org

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

 

 

Comments

  1. Ivy Adams says:

    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

  2. dkzody says:

    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.

  3. Ruth Sievert says:

    I love it…I am going to use it (with a couple of edits) in my newsletter!
    Ruth

  4. Bill Johnson says:

    I heart you people so much! I was looking for a lenten discipline that suited my feelings. This is it!

  5. Anne says:

    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

  6. Franny says:

    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.

  7. Brian says:

    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.

  8. Love this, HFASS! Will share it w/ my folks up here in Philly!

  9. Alison says:

    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.

  10. Jenny says:

    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!

  11. joseph feiertag says:

    I’m76,a Luthern since I was born ,and I’
    m still learning. Thank you for a new perpective.

  12. John says:

    I wish it was Day 25.

    Thanks for the ideas. Stay blessed…john

Trackbacks

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