Dear Friends,
As I write this, I am in my second week of caring for my husband after surgery. Normally one of the most independent people I know, this experience has left him unable to drive, dress without assistance, or cook for himself. Just walking from the bedroom to the kitchen tires him and he finds it difficult to sleep. He is just miserable.
I feel much as I did when our son was a newborn–sleep deprived, a little overwhelmed, yet overcome with love. I recognize that this experience is nothing like that of someone who has been a caregiver for years with no respite but it has given me time to think about the nature of love and sacrifice as Lent begins.
As a child, the question as Lent approached was what I would “give up” for Lent. Over the years, I chose whatever happened to be my favorite indulgence at the time like chocolate, sweets, or wine. I even tried to dedicate myself to positive change like exercise or healthy eating. I confess that I was not very successful in these Lenten “sacrifices”.
This year, I have decided to spend Lent trying to understand the nature of the great sacrifice of our Lord on Good Friday and to appreciate the love that prompted it. I hope to reflect daily on my human experience of love–love as a wife, a mother, a daughter and sister, a friend. I want to take that experience and share it with others in need of loving care. I want to do it because that is what Christ did for me. The love He gives is too big to keep for myself.
Yours in Christ,
Julie Thomas
Treasurer of Forward Movement
Today’s Flash Sale: Inwardly Digest
Have you ever wondered if there was some kind of guide to living a deeper, richer spiritual life that seamlessly incorporated scripture alongside the wisdom of the Church? There is—and you can find it in a pew rack near you! The Book of Common Prayer is more than a service book; it is a map to a deeper relationship with God, a framework for developing a more intentional and rewarding life of faith.
Scholar Derek Olsen explores liturgical spirituality and how the prayer book serves as a repository of Christian wisdom and spiritual practice stretching back to the beginnings of the Christian movement. Focusing on three key elements—the Calendar, the Daily Office, and the Eucharist—he discusses the spiritual principles behind them and provides clear, practical, easy-to-follow explanations of the services. These patterns of life laid out in The Book of Common Prayer serve as a guide to the spiritual life, so that we might connect back to the God who calls each of us by name and that we might love as God loves us.
Regular: $22
Today: $16.5
*Discount is valid until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time
How is God calling you to enter the holy season of Lent? What path will you walk during these forty days?
Forward Movement invites you to explore and respond to how Jesus is tugging at your heart. While the season of Lent calls us all into a particular period of reflection, we choose different journeys. Depending upon where we are in our own seasons of life and faith, we may be called into a time of deep introspection, contemplation, and prayer. Perhaps God is calling us to an outward focus on works of mercy. Or maybe we need a time of formation, to connect our hearts and minds as we walk in love.
We offer three broad paths built around the Way of Love, the Presiding Bishop’s call for practices that support a Jesus-centered life. Each path suggests a primary resource as well as numerous others that expand on the central theme. We offer these as guideposts, as trail markers, knowing and hoping that you will choose your own path during this Lent, and in doing so, make a choice to choose Jesus.