Anglican mission and development agencies across the Communion have published a wealth of Lenten resources to aid reflection and action on pressing global concerns in the light of Scripture. All can be downloaded, or signed-up for, for free. Here we offer a brief summary of each agency’s offering, in alphabetical order.
Anglican Board of Mission, Australia: Repairing the Breach
‘Repairing the Breach’ is a set of seven studies which examine what it means to be people of healing in a broken world. Introducing the resource, Steve Daughtry says, “The Mission of God is to repair the breach. The people of God are participants in that work”. He continues, “All breach-repair is relational… All breaches need to be recognised. They need to be understood. It is only in understanding and experiencing the breach that we can begin to see the way it can be repaired… This can happen in our own relationships and in our churches. It can happen between the rich and the poor. The powerless and the powerful. The forgotten and the forgetters. It must happen if God’s vision of a reconciled and just world is to be realised.”
Anglican Communion Environmental Network: My Little Bits of Good Lent calendar
Taking inspiration from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s words, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world”, this Lenten calendar suggests an action for each day of Lent. Each week takes a different theme and covers consumerism, energy/travel, water, food and nature. Co-produced with the Anglican Alliance, the calendar is also available in Portuguese, Spanish and French.
Anglican Missions, New Zealand has some prayer resources to support their Lenten appeal. For each week there is a short reflection comprising a prayer, a fasting suggestion and a prayer call to action on a different theme linked to partners in Egypt, the Solomon Islands and Uganda.
Anglican Overseas Aid, Australia: The Perfect Meal
‘The Perfect Meal’ is a set of reflections in which “important aspects of our discipleship are illustrated by the types of meals in which we may partake”. With one reflection for each week of Lent, the readers are invited to think about Commitment, Community, Nutrition, Sharing, Sacraments, and finally Generosity. Also available in a Chinese version.
Episcopal Relief & Development, USA: 2022 Lenten Meditations
Episcopal Relief & Development’s 2022 Lenten Meditations focus on transformational change in the organization’s three key priority areas: Women, Children and Climate. They also feature a special section on Disaster Resilience and Response.
Introducing the meditations, Sean McConnell writes, “we can recognize God’s Way of Love in unselfish, sacrificial and unconditional acts. At Episcopal Relief & Development, we are blessed to witness these acts in our partners’ unconditional and sacrificial work across the globe… These acts of Love are signs of God’s loving grace to us every single day. As you enter deeply into this holy Lent, we invite you to reflect on the unselfish and sacrificial works of our partners around the globe by reading the meditations of those who have witnessed this work firsthand.”
Mothers’ Union has a selection of seasonal prayers and faith activities, including reflections for Lent.
Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, Canada: Nurturing Creation
Daily reflections from three women who took part in COP26, exploring PWRDF’s Creation Care: Climate Action focus through a gender lens. Subscribe to receive the daily reflection or download the complete resource (available from 1st March).
United Society Partners in the Gospel, UK: Living Stones, Living Hope
‘Living Stones, Living Hope’ explores what it means for the Church to be living stones and bring living hope in diverse contexts. Each of the five studies comes from a different part of the Anglican Communion, with studies on African Women’s Theology, Korean Theology, Liberation Theology, Celtic Spirituality and Dalit Theology.
The title of USPG’s Lent course is taken from 1 Peter, the text that will be used for the Lambeth Conference Bible studies in July. USPG write, “in basing our study on this text we are in solidarity with our sister and brother bishops preparing for this important meeting in the life of our Communion.”
We pray you will be blessed and inspired by these offerings from across the Anglican Communion throughout the forty days of Lent.
