Tim Schenck is on the Lent Madness Supreme Executive Committee, along with his archnemesis (and Forward Movement executive director) Scott Gunn. He is rector at St. John the Evangelist, an Episcopal Parish in Hingham, Massachusetts where he resides with his wife and two sons.

Friend him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @Father Tim or Instagram.

In your opinion, what was the most difficult Lent Madness match-up you’ve seen?
Well, they’re all difficult because the whole concept is absurd. I mean, saints battling saints? Come on! But perhaps the most diabolical first round match-up we ever concocted was in 2013 when Martin Luther squared off against Martin Luther King, Jr.

Which Lent Madness mug do you use most often?
I have a generic purple Lent Madness mug that I use a lot since, you know, I’m entirely nonpartisan about who wins. But I do keep the whole collection of mugs from years past stacked on a shelf in my office. Oh, and when Dietrich Bonhoeffer won in 2016, a parishioner who was a big supporter of his bought one for everyone on the staff at church. So we have a lot of those floating around St. John’s.

How was Lent Madness created—how did the idea develop?
It really started on a whim. I was tired of sports fans (of which I’m a big one) having all the fun during Lent with their brackets while church goers were left to eat twigs and engage in other penitential acts. So I came up with the idea to teach people about saints while injecting a bit of joy into the season. I though Lent could use a bit of a rebrand — it’s not supposed to be the church’s season of depression. I mean, what could be more joyful than a season specifically set aside to get closer to Jesus?

Who did you think was going to win the Golden Halo last year?
Believe it or not, I never fill out a bracket or make predictions. Partly because, like Supreme Court Justices, members of the Supreme Executive Committee must be fully impartial. But mostly because I am always wrong! Far be it from me to foretell the whims of the Lent Madness voting pubic.

What is it like working with your archnemesis?
Wait, I have to work with Scott?! Alas, we all have our crosses to bear. Scott is mine and I’m sure the feeling is mutual. Nonetheless, we issue a decree of detente each Lent to pull off the world’s most popular online Lenten devotion.

Have there been any big changes to Lent Madness since its creation?
Many! The most significant change came in 2012 when I partnered with Scott and Forward Movement. Once we moved voting off my blog and onto a dedicated website, we were truly able to bring voting to the masses and add beloved devotional aids like the Saintly Scorecard. Bringing on a full slate of Celebrity Bloggers that year was another big change. I did all the writing myself the first two years, which seems crazy now — I don’t really recall much about Lent 2010 or 2011.

What’s most amazing to me is that even as it has grown and evolved, the essence of Lent Madness has never changed. It’s still all about introducing some incredibly inspiring saintly souls to people and introducing an element of delight to the season.

What other Lent Madness swag would you like to see?
A private purple jet for the Supreme Executive Committee. And trucker hats. Who wouldn’t want a Lent Madness trucker hat?

What is the most difficult part of running Lent Madness?
See number five above. Actually, there are a few things. Like getting Celebrity Bloggers Brock and Sibley to hit their deadlines. But mostly it’s the intensity of leading my own  congregation through a meaningful Lent while also tending to the “mega church” that is Lent Madness. These parallel congregations (and there is a bit of overlap) deserve the most inspiring walk possible through the holy season of Lent.

What is the most fun part?
I’m still amazed at the pop-up Lenten community that develops in the comment section of each match-up. Let’s just say that most online commenting sections aren’t know for their…graciousness. The community that forms around Lent Madness is an exception. People share their very personal reasons for voting a certain way, give additional information about saints not covered in the bios, and offer genuine concern for the spiritual lives of one another. That inspires me and is a joy to behold!

Any special plans for year 10 (2020)?
Great question. A special commemorative mug? (duh). We will definitely give this some thought and any suggestions are welcome. Still shocked that we’re approaching a decade of this Madness.

Is there anything else Lent Madness participants should know about you?
Starting in March, I’m taking a four month sabbatical. I’m excited about it but am aware that the first month will overlap with the last month of Lent Madness. But don’t worry! I’m not taking a sabbatical from Lent Madness. I’ll be doing some traveling to Central America that month so Monday Madness may suffer from spotty wifi on occasion, but the show will go on. I’ll also be doing some writing and you can look for my forthcoming book on the intersection of faith and coffee titled, naturally, Holy Grounds (Fortress Press, Spring 2019).

New to Lent Madness? Learn more here. Order scorecards and brackets at ForwardMovement.org.

The following excerpt is from our Lenten offering, Are We There Yet? This thought-provoking book explores the idea of pilgrimage as a metaphor for the Lenten journey. The contributing writers share stories of physical pilgrimages to beloved sites in the Christian tradition as well as internal journeys of the soul. Regardless of the type of pilgrimage, the journey radically changes each person. The pilgrims who have contributed to this Lenten devotional share this truth of transformation in stories of their own personal journeys. This excerpt was written by Bo Cox.

When I was approached to write for this Lenten devotional, I hesitated. I told the editor that I didn’t feel very connected to Christianity these days. It seems to me that the religion named after Jesus has become more exclusive than inclusive. It feels like it’s become more about prosperity and “what’s in it for me” than brokenness and welcoming the stranger, feeding and clothing the poor, and visiting those in prison. Further, the church seems to be consciously (or subconsciously) tolerating a governmental system that leads the world in incarcerating its citizens. This, the editor said, was exactly why I needed to write. So I accepted the invitation.

I don’t identify with mega-churches, prosperity theology, or a way of life that is more about what I get when I die than how I behave when I’m alive and how I treat those around me—especially those with less or those who don’t look like me or believe like me.

I seek the sacred word of God—in the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, written on parchment paper, drawn in the sand, or heard in the wind through the trees, uttered by a robed official of the church, a sweat lodge leader, an imam, or a bedraggled patient at the psychiatric hospital where I work. Writer Anne Lamott says simply, “We can assume we have created God in our own image when it turns out that he hates the same people we do.” I would add to that: “I can assume I have created God in my own image when I think I understand God.”

Today’s scripture from Ezra is about rebuilding the house of the Lord. The dictionary says rebuild means to build something again after it has been damaged or destroyed, and the authors of the Old Testament have a pretty concise idea about what this rebuilt structure should look like. I am not an authority on anything, certainly not rebuilding a temple. I do, however, have a little experience with rebuilding a broken human, along with an alternative understanding of the God who makes this possible.

What I know has little to do with wealth or material possessions but has much to do with vulnerability and accepting one’s brokenness. My education into rebuilding a broken human has more to do with muddy feet than golden carpet, with stumbling, not surefootedness, with need rather than entitlement, with being left off the invitation list (and being let in anyway) instead of being on the VIP list to begin with. What I have learned is that rebuilding a temple in our hearts has more to do with bad coffee, hand-me down clothes, and honest souls in musty church basements than prime rib dinners at five-star restaurants where lobbyists and politicians make million-dollar deals to benefit the already-wealthy at the expense of those crushed by poverty. Rebuilding the temple in our hearts has more to do with social workers who toil on the brink of that same poverty than administrators looking to retire early with a full portfolio of stock options.

Ezra’s lesson talks about the stockpile of wealth being a tower of material proof that God is good—and we are thankful. It also implies that wealth is a measure of favor and, therefore poverty must be anything but God-like.

The tower I see looks a lot more like a soup kitchen than a palace; it looks a lot more like crumpled sheets on a lopsided cot in a homeless shelter than starched sheets in a king-size suite in a luxury hotel. My tower looks more like a young forest of trees planted by people who will never see them reach maturity than a city block cleared for another million-dollar church where all the pretty people go to be told God wants them to have lots of money and fancy cars.

This week, we are not talking about a physical journey. This week will be about being still, about the journey within, about looking at ourselves in the mirror and seeing the image of God. I will share stories that illustrate God’s promise that just because something looks this way today doesn’t mean that the promise will always look that way. I want to talk about the difference between bad days when it feels like no one appreciates me and everything goes wrong, and good days when I am tearfully aware of how fortunate I am to be alive—and how this difference is simply my attitude and perspective. We will also talk about how it is not a coincidence that dog is God spelled backward.

-Bo Cox