This year we are pleased to offer a couple of Lenten resources in the form of devotional booklets that you may choose to use on your own, with your family or with friends. We hope they help to lead you on the journey through Lent as we prepare for Easter. These resources are sourced from saltproject.org.
Into the Wild: A Family-Friendly Devotional on Henri Matisse and the Season of Lent
The Season of Lent is a walk into the wild, a 40-day adventure filled with wild beasts, wild love, beauties, challenges, visions – and bold, bright colors.
In this family-friendly Lenten devotional full of Scripture, art, and activities, we take this adventure with Henri Matisse, one of the most daring and beloved artists in modern history. From his childhood in northern France to what he called his “masterpiece,” the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, Matisse explored faith and wildness throughout his life.
He once said he liked to pray with a pencil: “At the moment I go every morning to say my prayers, pencil in hand; I stand in front of a pomegranate tree covered in blossom, each flower at a different stage, and I watch their transformation… filled with admiration for the work of God. Is this not a way of praying?”
CLICK HERE to download your copy of Into the Wild
Understanding the Cross: A Home-Based Holy Week Devotional on Jesus’ “Seven Last Words”
The cross is everywhere: inside sanctuaries and atop church steeples, in jewelry and art, tattoos and logos, billboards and graffiti.
But what does the cross actually mean? How should we understand it?
In this devotional, we explore seven ways of looking at the cross, using as points of entry Jesus’ traditional “seven last words.” Taken together, these different lines of sight create a complementary whole, as well as a reminder that there is no single “right answer” to what the cross means for us today. To approach the cross is to embark upon a lifetime of contemplation and struggle, inquiry and insight, wonder and praise.
Each day of the week, Sunday to Saturday, includes simple devotional service: a biblical reading, a reflection, and an opening and closing prayer. A circle of candles (tealights, for example) is extinguished, one by one, as we approach Good Friday - and the empty tomb of Easter morning.
CLICK HERE to download your copy of Understanding the Cross.