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Forward Today: The gift of Lent is coming

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A linoleum-print illustration of a ship with seven sails, white against a dark blue background. The ship is sailing on a stormy sea, with curling gusts of wind in the background of the image.
Art by Jason Sierra

Dear friends in Christ,

We are just about ready to celebrate the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, which happens exactly 40 days after Christmas Day. This is always a sign that Lent is just around the corner.

Have you thought about how you’ll receive the gift of the Lenten season? This season is set aside to encourage us to return to the Lord, to get back on track as a follower of Jesus. While Lent is a time of quiet contemplation and somber reflection, the deeper reality is that repenting is joyful (though sometimes hard) work!

The church encourages us to observe Lent “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word” (BCP 265). If your local church offers opportunities to engage in these practices, I hope you’ll avail yourself of them.

We at Forward Movement offer a range of resources to help you savor the gift of Lent. You might try praying the Daily Office on our prayer site. Or perhaps you’d like to take on the habit of listening to a daily podcast.

This year, we have published a new Lenten devotional book that I’m especially excited about. Recalling the vigorous beginning of Forward Movement in the 1930s, a time when our church needed the bracing challenge of discipleship, our book this year is The Disciple’s Way: Daily Reflections for Lent. We invited a range of excellent writers to challenge us to follow Jesus in stirring language.

Given all that’s happening in the world these days, I am personally looking forward to making my way through Lent with these compelling voices—and to engaging other ancient, time-tested practices of the church.

I’m writing about this now, because we all might need some time to figure out what Lent looks like this year. Whatever you do, I hope you’ll have an inspiring Lent.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Pray and color through Lent with this poster calendar

Prepare for Lent Madness by studying up on the Saintly Scorecard

Get ready for a new quarter of Forward Day by Day 

See all our Lenten devotionals on our website

Forward Today: We were all baptized into one body

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Water dropping into a bucket, creating a joyous splash.
Photo by Amritanshu Sikdar on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

This coming Sunday, we will hear from St. Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. He writes, “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” He goes on to talk about unity in diversity in the body of Christ. His teaching suggests that the church needs all of us in our diversity.

But how do we make that happen? Or, more accurately, how do we enjoy the gift of God making it happen?

The Gospel on Sunday reminds us of one of the foundational practices of manifesting the body of Christ. “When [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom.”

I’ve heard people say things like, “God doesn’t care if we go to church.” Nothing could be further from the truth. If we say we follow Jesus, we should pattern our lives after his example. Jesus went to the synagogue week by week. He kept the fasts and feasts. Praying in community matters to our Lord.

The letter to the Hebrews make this explicit for us: “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25).

So there are lots of reasons why going to church matters:

  • It helps us pattern our lives after our Lord and Savior
  • Church allows us to meet Jesus in the sacraments and to hear the great stories of God’s love for us in the scriptures
  • We can provoke one another to love and good deeds—and be provoked ourselves
  • We can offer our thanks and praise to Almighty God

 

This is a timely reminder. The news cycles invite us into a cycle of fear and dread. But we who follow Jesus are meant to manifest his light and his hope for the world. So we do well to put news cycles in the context of salvation history. And we do that at church.

So, this Sunday, I encourage you to go to church. Ever better, invite someone to go along with you, or gently nudge a fellow Christian who hasn’t been in a while.

Going to church matters to us, and it matters to God.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Get your Lent and Easter calendars today!

Start planning your Lent Madness bracket with this poster

Connecting baptism to evangelism: Will You?

Travel the way of Jesus this Lent: The Disciple’s Way

Forward Today: Sharing the Good News in all places

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A pale blue sky and a pink-orange sunrise, seen through a close-up of scrubby plants in the hills of California.
Photo by OC Gonzalez on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

Last Sunday, we celebrated the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a rich and complex feast, with many fruitful ways to approach our celebration. This year, I’m struck by how this wondrous event reveals Jesus Christ as the Savior of all. The voice from heaven was heard by everyone.

That’s not all. In the reading from Acts, we heard that the apostles in Jerusalem learned that the people of Samaria had received the Good News, so they dispatch Peter and John to offer ministry. There’s a lot to unpack here.

Let’s start with the place: Samaria. This is not a land that most Judeans would want to spend time in, let alone try to convert people to following Jesus. And yet that’s just what happened. The disciples were not afraid to embark on unfamiliar, stranger, or even hostile work. And the fruit was manifest: many people responded to the invitation to follow Jesus as Lord.

We could learn some things from this. Too often, I see our church shrinking back from challenges—an unwillingness to preach where it might be tough, a fear of the unknown, a resignation to secularism, or the simple embrace of church decline as inevitable.

Perhaps this Epiphany season, we will absorb the astonishing news: the Gospel is for all. If we are willing to be Spirit-led, the impossible becomes possible. We must not commit the sin of attempting to hoard the Good News for ourselves.

Let us rejoice that God has offered salvation to us and to all people. And then let us hasten to share that gift with the world.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Now available: Colorable calendars for Lent and Easter

Our newest devotional returns to the roots of our ministry

Hospitality as a way of life for churches: Invite Welcome Connect

Share scripture and reflection with 10 packs of Forward Day by Day

Forward Today: Shine in our hearts

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Le Breton, Jacques ; Gaudin, Jean. Adoration of the Kings, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.

Dear friends in Christ: While Scott is traveling, please enjoy this throwback post he wrote for Epiphany in January 2020.

Just two days ago, we celebrated the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which of course recalls the adoration of the magi. It bears repeating that this feast day reminds us, among other things, that Jesus is for the whole world. The magi came from far away—and they were not among the chosen people. Yes, Jesus is for those who are near and those who are far. Jesus is for those we expect and those we do not expect.

We are near the beginning of the Epiphany season, a whole season devoted to basking in the light of God’s love. Our prayer book’s Eucharistic preface, prayed to God the Father, says during this season, “in the mystery of the Word made flesh, you have caused a new light to shine in our hearts, to give the knowledge of your glory in the face of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This Epiphany season reminds us that the life and ministry of Jesus is not only an event in the past, but a reality that changes everything. Even our very hearts are changed, as Christ’s light shines brightly through us.

Sometimes the evil of this world seems so powerful, that we might worry it will extinguish God’s love. But we need not be afraid. I hope that the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ reminds us all that God’s love is stronger than fear, sin, and death. I hope that we will resist evil at every turn, confident in God’s love for us and for all creation.

During this Epiphany season, my prayer is that Christians can be bearers of God’s love and light into the world. Against all the fearful, hate-filled noise in our world, let us proclaim the glad news of hope, redemption, mercy, and grace.

Do you see the light of Christ in your own heart? How might you share that light with a world in need?

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Order our newest Lenten devotional: The Disciple’s Way

Pre-order your Lent Madness posters and booklets today

Make Christ’s Way of Love your way of life with this Practical Guide

Make prayer a habit this year with our convenient podcasts

Forward Today: A new year, a new life

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

Happy New Year! On the one hand, it might seem silly to celebrate starting a new calendar. But the Christian faith is a lifetime of new beginnings. Every day gives us the opportunity to die to old ways and to be renewed in God’s love. Secular culture encourages “new year’s resolutions” and this seems like as good a chance as any to turn over a new leaf—not for self-improvement, but to glorify God.

Today is a week past Christmas Day, and this is the day when the church celebrates the Holy Name of Jesus.

Give thanks today for the name above all names. And call on him to make his love known to you as this day brings new horizons, new love, and a new year.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

A new author begins today: Forward Day by Day

Get ready for Lent with our new devotional: The Disciple’s Way

Pray with us throughout the Twelve Days: prayer.forwardmovement.org

Forward Today: Happy Christmas!

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Detail of a large icon in St Paul Orthodox Church in Dayton, OH. Iconographer Dmitri Shkolnik. Photo: Ted on Flickr

Dear friends in Christ,

After months of commercial cacophony about Christmas shopping, the day is finally here. The dawn is like any other day—except for the excitement of little ones early in the morning, if you have kids in your home. Maybe you want to church last night—or maybe you’ll go today.

The feast we celebrate is singular, but this day itself is like every other. And in that juxtaposition is the meaning of Christmas itself.

Born life every other baby in humble circumstances, the Word was made flesh. No longer distant or remote, our Father sent his only Son to live with us. God-among-us.

And that is the Good News of this day. We are never alone, never far from God. Our God loves us more than we can imagine, and he will never abandon us. Jesus Christ knows our sorrows and our joys, and he brings us redemption and healing.

Take a quiet moment and give thanks for God’s love. Happy Christmas to you and all whom you love.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Look back on a year of ministry: 2024 Annual Report

Pray with us throughout the Twelve Days: prayer.forwardmovement.org

Share your joy and support our ministry: Donate today

Forward Today: God’s promises are sure

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Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

We are nearing the end of our journey through Advent. Once again, we have spent time as a church yearning and preparing to meet Jesus Christ.

This Sunday’s Gospel reading gives us Mary’s song, the Magnificat. I’ve heard this read sometimes as a to-do list— we should feed the hungry, and so on. Of course, we SHOULD feed the hungry, but reading the Magnificat this way misses the point. It makes Mary’s song about us.

In fact, the Magnificat is about God and his steadfast promises. Mary is singing about the deeds and power of God from the centuries before her time. She is recounting all that God has done, knowing that God’s acts in the past are assurances that God will act in the future.

Mary is magnifying God because she knows that God is about to do a wondrous thing in sending the savior of the world to live among us, not in power and glory but as a vulnerable baby born in humble circumstances. Truly, this is wondrous!

And Mary is reminding all who sing with her that God always looks out for the lowly, the least, and the lost. Christmas is perhaps the chief example of God’s way of working in the world to bring about our salvation, but it is only one (stellar!) example in an entire history filled with God’s deeds.

Let us with joy prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. And let us give thanks that God never gives up on us, that God is always working in our lives and in our world to bring about our redemption. Let us all magnify the Lord!

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

Last chance! Grab your Epiphany calendar today

Delve into Mary’s song and others like it: Bible Women

Reflect on the last few days of the season: AdventWord

Our ministry in numbers and stories: 2024 Annual Report

Forward Today: John the Baptist is talking to us!

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Dear friends in Christ,

Every year in the midst of Advent, we encounter the bracing prophecy of John the Baptist. 2,000 years ago, he was a voice crying in the wilderness. Today, he is a tiny voice crying out in a cacophonous world of consumption and distraction. We all do well to clear away the noise and listen to this prophet.

One occupational hazard of Christians is that we read scripture’s warnings as applying to OTHER people. It’s tempting to read the stories of scriptures with ourselves in the place of heroes and someone else in the place of villains. This is a kind of tacit judgement. Jesus warned us about this. And, yes, he’s talking to you and to me!

Our job is to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling. If we notice another who has stumbled, our job is to invite them to a life in Christ—shaped by his grace and mercy— not to heap condemnation on them. Instead, we should get our own hearts in line.

This Sunday, we hear the prophet say,
“Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

Imagine he’s saying this:
“Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We are the right kind of Christians already; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children of God.”

Our world is increasingly polarized. We are taught to despise THOSE PEOPLE, whoever they are. But this is not the way of Jesus. He offers salvation to all who will accept the gift. Our task as his followers is to tend to our own hearts, and to invite others to a new life in Christ.

The prophet tells us the way. Live well, treat people fairly, share what we have, look for Jesus. In other words, love God and love our neighbors.

There’s no better time than right now to hear the prophet’s voice and to accept his invitation.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

In case you missed it: Our Holiday Gift Guide for 2024

Look back on a year of ministry: 2024 Annual Report

Follow AdventWord for daily reflections throughout this season

Flash Sale: Get your Epiphany calendars today!

Forward Movement’s Holiday Gift Guide 2024

Looking for the perfect gift for the book lovers in your life? We’re here to help. 

Forward Movement has a rich collection of accessible, inspiring books that can help you begin or continue your spiritual journey.

Take a look at our curated recommendations for this holiday season.

The impact of your gift stretches farther when you purchase directly from Forward Movement. Each purchase supports our ministry to provide free books and devotionals to prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, and military bases. Order today – and see more of our bestselling books – at forwardmovement.org.

Beautiful prayers for any time or place:

No matter where you are or what’s on your mind, it’s always a good time to pray. Prayers New and Old and Prayers for All Occasions are two beautiful books that make prayer on the go easier. These volumes offer a diverse collection of prayers for family, life events, church work, and other unique occasions. Their pages are full of your favorite psalms, intercessions, praises and thanksgivings from The Book of Common Prayer, along with new prayers to enhance your prayer collection. With faux leather cover, gold edges, and ribbon, these are perfect gifts that introduces young and old to experience the richness of prayer.

Jump into learning more about the Bible:

Perhaps there are disciples in your life who want to know more about scripture than just what they hear in church on Sunday – but they don’t want to start. One of our bestselling Bible study books may be the perfect entry point into a deeper journey of learning.

A Journey with Luke Bible Challenge contains bite-sized reflections on the gospel we’ll hear in church throughout 2025. And we have more where that came from, in all 10 books of the Bible Challenge series.

Or you could travel through the entirety of scripture through a new lens, accompanied by the women of the Bible. Bible Women identifies every woman who speaks in the Bible, from the familiar to the surprising. The expanded second edition features new ways to use and study the words and wisdom, updated content for today’s context, and 93 prayers—one for each woman who speaks in the Bible.

For loved ones young and old:

Is someone in your life a young adult, new college graduate, or in the midst of a life transition? This may be the perfect time for a devotional that avoids saccharine-sweet stories or guilt-tripping demands. Devotions for People Who Don’t Do Devotions is a lighthearted yet earnest invitation to look for God’s hand at work in your day-to-day life. Buy two copies and read along with your loved one!

For smaller disciples – even those too young to read – check out these new playing cards, The BIG Way of Love for Kids. The cards guide children to explore Bible stories, listen, pray, learn, and practice. They can play alone and with friends, church teachers, or family. The BIG Way of Love works for all kinds of young children and is designed to grow with them. Because we’re never too old or too young to walk the Way of Love with Jesus.

Forward Today: It’s not too late for Advent!

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Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash

Dear friends in Christ,

We’re four days into the season of Advent. Maybe you have a brilliant Advent practice and your beautiful Advent wreath is ready to be lighted in the evening. If so, wonderful! But maybe the whole season snuck up on you. After all, Thanksgiving and the heavy advertising of Black Friday can be plenty to focus on.

If so, I’m here to give you some great news. It’s not too late for Advent! In fact, this is one of my favorite teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: it’s never too late.

You don’t need an Instagram-worthy Advent wreath to be a real Christian. You can go without one, or you can grab any four candles or lights or whatever you like. We have a LEGO wreath at our house.

This season is the church’s gift to us all, an invitation to return to the Lord—to prepare our hearts and our minds to greet Jesus whenever we meet him. Sure, Advent is partly about getting ready for our Christmas worship. But it’s also about opening ourselves to be ready to meet Jesus in the sacraments; in the body of Christ, the church; in the scriptures; and in those whom we serve in his name. Of course, we’re also making sure we’re ready should he return in glory. And we’ll all meet him one day, as he will judge both the living and the dead. That’s all of us.

So how to do that, especially if the whole season snuck up on you? Spending a bit more time in prayer in this season can be helpful. If your church offers Advent programs or classes, sign up. Listen to Advent music. Read the scriptures—one way is to read one chapter of Luke’s Gospel each day. That gets you from December 1 to December 24, and you’re only a couple of days “behind.”

If you want some help, Forward Movement brings you AdventWord, a daily word to reflect on. You can receive the reflections in email or on social media. Or you can get an ebook (instant delivery!) of one of our recent Advent devotions:

Have a blessed Advent, in whatever form the holy season takes for you.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn's signature

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

More from our ministry:

New this year: Walking In The Light calendar for Epiphany

Our ministry in numbers and stories: 2024 Annual Report

Read through Luke’s Gospel in this 50 Day Bible Challenge