Easter & Lent Material - Lent Calendar

March 5th, 2008

Meg Everard from the Children’s Ministry Unit in the NSW Synod of the UCA has put together a Lenten calendar to provide a different way for families to explore and proceed through the Lent and Easter period. this is a great resource to prin out and hand around to families at church for them to use and focus on during the lenten period.

For many families the fridge is the central place in the house, what better place then to place a resource that will engage the whole family during Lent. Lent is a season in the church calendar that many leaders, parents, guardians and other adults find difficult to approach with children, it is a time many of us feel is for ‘doing’ rather than talking about. I read an interesting article by Matushka Nadia Koblosh recently online and she said:

“Lent is a time to concentrate on life, on being human. Thus my struggle - with myself and my children - is to keep Lent from degenerating into something silly and petty - such as simply giving up candy or movies. The struggle is to cultivate and understand the revelation that there is something deeply wrong and sad about human life; that there is evil in the world and that this evil, subtle as it is, often enters into our hearts and minds; that we sin and are disobedient to God… To love God, just to learn to love God and understand and rejoice in God’s Word; to stand before God with humility - like the Publican in the Temple; to be tender-hearted and sensitive toward others and their sufferings; to understand that life is meaningless without Christ: this I think is part of the essence of Lent and what I strive to instil in my children.”

Reading this article I was inspired to take some time to pull together a resource that would assist adults working with children to really explore the message of Easter appropriately with children. So, Bec Wilson from the Victorian Tasmania Synod and myself have brought to you Experience Lent – a time for action with children. Bec has written a great resource for worship and I have pulled together this Fridge Faith Calendar for Families During Lent.

I hope that this Calendar will assist families in exploring Lenten traditions that they can conceivably fit into their already hectic schedules in a way that brings Christ closer and more deeply into family life. On this side of the calendar are ideas you can take up, explore, change, toss around together as a family and will ultimately give you some ideas for how to explore this time of Lent together.

Meg Everard
Ministry and Mission with Children and their Families
Board of Education, NSW Synod, Uniting Church in Australia

Link: Fridge Faith For Families During Lent (pdf)