The penitential and preparatory season of Lent includes 40 days of fasting, but if you look at the calendar closely enough and do the math you’ll see that the actual season is a bit longer. Why? Because within those 40 days are excluded each and every Sunday. Sundays are feast days and cannot be fast…
Waiting Songs for Children in Lent: An Interview with Sandra McCracken and Flo Oakes
Rain for Roots is a collaborative project of Nashville singer-songwriters Sandra McCracken, Flo Oakes, and Katy Bowser. Waiting Songs is their third album for children and is an album for Advent. But with songs on it like, “Come Light Out Hearts,” which repeats “For you, Oh Lord, Our Souls in Stillness Wait” or titles like…
Lenten Disciplines: Prayer
Continuing with our series on Lenten disciplines, we come to Lent’s emphasis on prayer. The words of Our Lord from the Sermon on the Mount set forth an example that has formed the backbone of Christian prayer from the beginning. “[W]hen you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they…
Last Minute Instructions for Lent
Lent is drawing near! The word “Lent” comes from the Old English lencten, meaning spring-time, when the days lengthen. You’ve probably already noticed that! Lent covers the 40 days, excluding Sundays, before the great Paschal Feast of Easter, which is always celebrated in the Western Church on the First Sunday after the first full moon…
