For accessible biblical interpretation …
From Wilderness to Glory: Lent and Easter for Everyone
N.T. Wright
Westminster John Knox Press, 160 pages
Published January 7, 2025
If, like me, you rely on N.T. Wright’s “for everyone” series of Biblical commentaries, you know what you have to look forward to with From Wilderness to Glory. Wright accurately subtitled his rendering of the New Testament “a fresh translation” and he shares a gospel passage for each day of Lent. While remaining true to the original Greek, Wright enlivens each passage with dialogue and a story-telling kind of tone. In a brief reflection that reads like a homily, Wright relates the passages to our daily lives and leaves us with a question or two for personal reflection or group discussion. From Wilderness to Glory is ideal for those who prefer to start with the Scriptures and work outward.
For a social justice take on Lenten reading …
Turning Over Tables: A Lenten Call for Disrupting Power
Kathy Escobar
Westminster John Knox Press, 120 pages
Published January 14, 2025
Pastor Kathy Escobar challenges us to “see more clearly and notice more intentionally” the ways Christians have co-opted the gospel to support systems that enable our own power and comfort. Escobar draws on Scripture, 12-step programs, personal experience and sages like Richard Rohr to lead us on a journey of “deep transformation of the self.”
There are ample discussion questions for small groups, prompts for personal reflection or journaling, and actions and practices. These make Turning Over Tables a strong choice for Christians who grow in faith through action and activism, and whose Lenten practice must allow space for reflection as well.
For those who find God through movement and activity …
Walking With God: The 40-Day Fitness Program and Biblical Journey
Anna Fitch Courie
Morehouse Publishing, 256 pages
Published January 14, 2025
I once attended a women’s retreat with a friend who hates to sit still. I watched helplessly and she contorted her body in the chair, doodled on her notepad and eventually did yoga poses against the back wall. “There’s a reason I run marathons” she confided in me. “That’s where I feel close to God.” Walking With God is for this friend and for others who seek a physical and spiritual journey.
Nurse Anna Fitch Courie invites us to pray and walk (or run, swim, bike, or more) this Lent as we follow in the footsteps of ancestors like Abraham and Sarah, the Israelites, Jesus and his disciples or all those who spread the Word, recognizing “most of the stories and journeys in the Bible were done by foot.” She offers breath prayers or affirmations to use as we walk, as well as very basic daily reflections that retell the story of a biblical journey. Courie is respectful of those who cannot physically walk, and she only encourages (never shames) as she invites everyone on a journey toward greater health and well-being.
Draw Close: A Creative Companion for Lent
By Stephanie B. Dunn
Upper Room Books, 112 pages
Published Dec. 1, 2024
One Sunday, I set up a variety of prayer stations for my church’s youth, inviting them to “try on” a new spiritual practice. Attentive to varied learning styles, I offered everything from prayer poses to crafting, even a meditation station with an essential oil diffuser. Fifteen minutes in, the youth had all clustered to a single station: praying in color. The meditative coloring and prayerful drawing allowed them to breathe deeply, engaging with one another and God.
Pastor and coach Stephanie Dunn invites us to do the same in Draw Close, a Lenten devotional of brief reflections and heartfelt prayers. She concludes each day’s reflection with gently probing questions that invite our response; the blank pages on the right-hand side provide capacious space for all of us (artists or not) to respond. Dunn also offers liturgy and prayer for small groups interested in incorporating these practices in weekly study or retreats. On Sundays, we are invited to “push pause” and to simply pay attention to the world and God’s work in it.
As I write in mid-November, I am tending to my own emotions, while navigating the anguish my congregation members invite me to carry with them. I wonder: what will the world look like on Ash Wednesday? And how will church leaders respond to that need along the Lenten journey? Too soon to say, but as I behold my mug of colored pencils and the copy of Draw Close on my desk, my breath slows and I feel – dare I say? – calm, for the first time this week.
For an exploration of grief and hope…
Grieving Change and Loss
Bobby Hulme-Lippert, Ginna Bairby and Teri McDowell Ott
Presbyterian Outlook
Grief touches every corner of our lives — not just in moments of death but in quiet farewells, conflict, and lost health. Grieving Change and Loss invites you to embrace the wilderness of loss and rediscover the horizon of hope offered by Christ’s resurrection.
Rooted in the wisdom of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler’s six stages of grief outlined in their seminal work On Grief and Grieving, this daily 2025 Lenten devotional offers a pathway through the heartache of life’s goodbyes, guiding you toward the promise of resurrection.
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