First Sunday of Lent
A weekly pause for rest and renewal
A Prayer for the First Sunday of Lent:
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations, and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Sundays in Lent
We spend the season of Lent in repentance and preparation for Easter, but Sundays are always a day of rest and a feast day, even in Lent. Instead of seeing Sunday as the day to binge eat that whole cow you’ve been craving all week, it can remind us of the reason why we are fasting during the week in the first place.
Just like all these Lenten rituals, we don’t do it just to follow an old tradition or to check off a box. We do it because we want to intentionally prepare our hearts in order to draw closer to Jesus.1 This is a season when we can pray for a profound and personal encounter with Jesus and a renewed awareness of him in our daily lives.
By seeing Sunday as a day of rest from our fast, we are reminded of the hope that we have in Jesus and the celebration and joy that will be ours when Easter comes. It gives us a weekly pause to be reminded of why we are doing this in the first place so that when we start up again on Monday we will be reinvigorated to pursue our preparation all the more earnestly.
Preparing Our Hearts
Jesus longs to be encountered by each of us, so consider spending some time today in hopeful joy, prayer or contemplation of the hope of Easter and what we are preparing for.