Lenten materials compiled and edited by Julia Frisbie, with children’s materials written by Anne Kayser and additional contemporary elements from Maria Maxwell.
Contents
Road Map
Letter of Appeal from Pastor
Worship Resources
Ash Wednesday
Week 1: Give Up Excess
Week 2: Give Up Indifference
Week 3: Take Up the Charge
Week 4: Take Up the Challenge
Week 5: Lift Up The Hurting
Week 6 (Palm Sunday): Lift Up the Healed
Week 7: (Easter Sunday) Look Up to Overcome
Children’s Messages
First Sunday in Lent
Second Sunday in Lent
Third Sunday in Lent
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Palm Sunday Children’s Message
Sunday School Materials for Children Grades Pre-K to 2
Sunday before Ash Wednesday
First Sunday of Lent
Second Sunday of Lent
Third Sunday of Lent
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Sixth Sunday of Lent
Sunday School Materials for Children Grades 3-6
Sunday before Ash Wednesday
First Sunday of Lent
Second Sunday of Lent
Third Sunday of Lent
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Sixth Sunday of Lent
Materials for Youth or Adult Sunday School
Road Map
Sunday School Skit
Week 1 of Lent: The Start of Jesus’ Ministry
Week 2 of Lent: Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
Week 3 of Lent: Jesus Shakes Things Up
Week 4 of Lent: New Life and Second Chances
Week 5 of Lent: Jesus Shows Great Emotion
Week 6 of Lent: Palm Sunday
Labyrinth Instructions
Daily Lenten Devotions
Mission Moments
Malaria Basics Mission Moment
Mission Moments from Kanzenze, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Church Growth Mission Moment: Kortihun, Sierra Leone
Sister Abigail Mission Moment: Nyadire, Zimbabwe
Muriel and Tiaima Mission Moment: Sierra Leone
Road Map
January: Appoint leadership team (including Sunday school and youth leaders). Meet to go over the roadmap and determine a goal.
February:In your church newsletter, include a letter of appeal from the pastor. Order giving envelopes, collection boxes and other needed supplies from shop.umc.org.
Two Sundays before Lent: Introduce the theme to your youth group or an adult Sunday school class. Invite them to prepare a skit for the Sunday before Lent.
Sunday before Lent: Print the Giving from Abundance calendar to include as an insert in each bulletin. Invite your youth group or adult Sunday school class to perform their skit during your worship service (possibly as part of the children’s moment).
Each Sunday during Lent: Keep reminding your congregation about Imagine No Malaria by using the social media graphics, bulletin inserts and/or worship resources provided in this toolkit. Use the supplementary Sunday school activities to teach children about Imagine No Malaria.
Palm Sunday: Remind people to bring the money they have collected through the giving calendar for the special offering on Easter Sunday. Include giving envelopes as an insert in the bulletins.
During Holy Week: If your youth group or adult Sunday school class has created a labyrinth, plan to consecrate it during worship on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday or Holy Saturday. Additional prayers and litanies are available for these days in the worship resources packet.
Easter Sunday: Celebrate the risen Christ with a special offering for Imagine No Malaria. Make sure briefly to explain the program or show a short video clip for any visitors. Make giving envelopes available.
April or May:In your church newsletter, include a letter of thanks from the pastor, announcing the total raised by your church during Lent.
Letter of Appeal from Pastor
Dear Friends:
“Watching a small child die from malaria is a horrific experience. First, come the headache, tiredness, weakness in the joints and general malaise, followed by a very high fever. Then the fever’s effect on the brain causes the child’s muscles to jerk, just before the end.” ~Tom Gillem, Interpreter,July/August 2009.
Our church has the opportunity to change this image and help eliminate deaths from malaria. Through Imagine No Malaria, we can save thousands of lives. “It is possible to give without loving,” said John Wesley, “but it is impossible to love without giving.” Imagine No Malaria is our opportunity to respond to our calling—to show our love through our generous gifts.
In 2006, our church embraced the message “Send a Net, Save a Life” through Nothing But Nets. Over four years, we raised $7.5 million for this cause, and in doing so, ignited the passion of our members for global health. Now, through Imagine No Malaria, we have increased our participation tenfold, because we believe we are called to strengthen the infrastructure of malaria treatment and prevention to ensure the greatest impact of this effort. Our efforts may have started with nets, but they will not end there! We will revitalize hospitals and clinics that treat malaria and distribute medication. We will support and train additional community health workers who educate communities about proper net usage and other simple ways to prevent malaria. We will build communications networks to spread health information. Finally, we will enhance partnerships with leaders in global health to leverage the greatest impact of our resources.
On Easter Sunday, please join us in a Sunday to Save Lives and help our church reach our goal to raise [$X,XXX]. During all services on this day, members can return gifts to support Imagine No Malariaby using the special envelope provided and placing it in the offering.
Deuteronomy 15:7-8, CEB says, “Now if there are some poor persons among you, … don’t be hard-hearted or tight fisted. … To the contrary! Open your hand wide to them. You must generously lend them what they need.”
We are blessed to live in a country where diseases of poverty like malaria do not touch our lives on a daily basis. In Africa, a child dies from malaria every 60 seconds. We can help to provide hope through this effort. Five dollars is enough to provide a lifesaving course of medication. Ten dollars protects a family. Just imagine what $100, $500 or $1,000 could do. How many lives will you save?
The spirit of Christ is in our church as we care for each other in our times of need.
Blessings,
[INSERT PASTOR NAME]
Worship Resources
Sunday before Ash Wednesday
Show the “Malaria by the Numbers” video, available at and have your youth or adult Sunday school class introduce Imagine No Malaria as a theme for Lent. Include the Giving from Abundance calendar as an insert in every bulletin.
Ash Wednesday
Lectionary Years A, B and C: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, CEB. This Scripture describes how to give, pray and fast in humility. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The way we spend our time, money and energy reflects our true passions. Lent challenges us to become passionate about God once more as we hear and read stories of Jesus’ life. This year, we are using Imagine No Malaria as a way to focus ourselves on God’s work in the world.
Calls to Worship
Leader: God, as we enter this Lenten season,
All: Help us feel your spirit close by.
Leader: Move us to generosity,
All: And not to pride.
Leader: Move us to prayer,
All: And not to performance.
Leader: Move us to sacrifice for the sake of love,
All: And not for the sake of self-punishment.
Leader: Everything we have on earth will pass away,
All: But your love lasts forever.
O God, you delight not in pomp or show,
but in a humble and contrite heart.
Overturn our love of worldly possessions
and fix our hearts more firmly on you,
that, having nothing,
we may possess everything,
a treasure stored up for us in heaven.
(Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 11)
Prayers
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth.
Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence,
so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift
are we given everlasting life,
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
(United Methodist Book of Worship, page 323)
Cover me with ashes, the thick-smoke soot of the earth. Make my breathing like the journey from death into life – second by second, prayer by prayer.
Cover me with a cloak – bring me low to the earth, your justice whispering to me like the gleam of red rocks, the colors dancing in the darkness. Let me know the power of sage and cedar in my bones, not that I may trap them there, but bring them forth in words.
Cover me with darkness – with the presence of my elders, their tears falling around me,reminding me of why we are here – sighing, groaning with our singing, longing to hear us into being, stretching us beyond breathing and praying and weeping.
Cover me with mercy – let the bones you have crushed rejoice, like the woman who channeled every ounce of courage and dignity to touch your cloak and find new life. Breathe unto me life anew, of possibility,of beauty,of balance, of grace.
Cover me with mud – bring me to my lowest state, so that in my weaknesses I see your strength – the reflection of your eyes in the brokenness around me, the fullness of your love in the depths of our hearts.
Cover me with ashes – the ashes of my grandmother, who in living her days knew no strangers, worked tirelessly with worn hands and lifted grandchildren high into the air.
Cover me with mercy – let my cheek come to rest on the cold earth,its faithful presence a call to walk humbly beyond myself beyond my fears and ever on to the red road that leads to your love.
x̣áýəs – Changer. Cover me. Cover me with ashes. Change me.
(By Adrienne Trevathan, director of Christian education, Northminster Presbyterian Church, Evanston, Ill. As a Native American (Port Gamble S'Klallam) and United Methodist, Adrienne is seeking new ways to weave these traditions together as a part of her teaching and work in the church. )
Prayer in Poetry: Blessing of the Ashes
All those days you felt like dust,like dirt,
as if all you had to do was turn your face toward the wind and be
scattered to the four corners
or swept away by the smallest breath as insubstantial—
Did you not know what the Holy Onecan do with dust?
This is the day we freely say we are scorched.
This is the hour we are marked by what has made it through the burning.
This is the moment we ask for the blessing that lives within the ancient ashes,
that makes its home inside the soil of this sacred earth.
So let us be marked not for sorrow. And let us be marked not for shame.
Let us be marked not for false humility or for thinking we are less than we are
but for claiming what God can do within the dust, within the dirt,
within the stuff of which the world is made,
and the stars that blaze in our bones,
and the galaxies that spiral inside the smudge we bear.
(By Jan Richardson)
Imposition of the Ashes
“God can works wonders with dust.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return. Amen.”
Altar Decoration Ideas
Remove all shiny objects and flowers from the worship space. Drape burlap or another rough gray or brown cloth (to symbolize sackcloth) over the altar. Perhaps, make a small campfire the week before and let some logs burn halfway before dousing the fire and allowing them to cool. You can then bring the charred logs into the worship space and arrange them on the burlap. You may also choose to include:
- Tea lights
- Bowls of ashes used for anointing
Song Ideas
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian, UMH 402
Sunday’s Palms Are Wednesday’s Ashes, TFWS 2138 (new words to a familiar tune)
Come and Find the Quiet Center, TFWS 2128
Dust and Ashes, W&S 3098
Falling on My Knees, W&S 3099
A Wilderness Wandering People, W&S 3113
“The Lord’s Prayer” by Mark Miller (possible choral anthem)
“Treasures in Heaven” by Burlap to Cashmere
Multimedia Resource
Meditative video about Ash Wednesday by Trinity Cathedral Media:
“Dear God 2.0” by The Roots:
Week 1: Give Up Excess
Lectionary Year A: Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus is tempted in the desert.
Lectionary Year B: Mark 1:9-15. John baptizes Jesus; Jesus is tempted in the desert.
Lectionary Year C: Luke 4:1-13. Jesus is tempted in the desert.
When Jesus went into the desert, he was giving up food, shelter and an opportunity for instant notoriety after God’s spirit had come down like a dove at his baptism. Sacrificial giving was a crucial part of his relationship with his Father. We, too, are called to give from God’s abundance. It is our privilege to give up excess and turn it into a holy offering.
Calls to Worship
As we walk through the unfamiliar and unknown,
Walk with us, God.
As we are tempted to gather more than we can possibly carry for the journey,
Help us trust that you will provide.
As we are called to give things away,
Replace those things with your love.
God, we need you in the wilderness and on the journey.
We step out in faith because we know you go with us.
(Adapted, Ministry Matters Living Stone resource 2013)
In the deserts of the heart,
Let the healing fountain start;
In the prison of his days,
Teach the free man how to praise.
(From the poem In Memory of W.B. Yeats by W.H. Auden)
Prayers
Eternal God, rock and refuge:
with roots grown old in the earth,
riverbeds run dry,
and flowers withered in the field,
we wait for revival and release.
Abide with us
until we come alive
in the sunrise of your glory. Amen.
(©2002 Consultation on Common Texts, administered by Augsburg Fortress Publishers, from Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 16)
Lord, prevent us from falling into the sin
of believing that the slavery of Egypt
is better than the struggle in the desert. Amen.
(From the church in Nicaragua, Worship and Song Worship Resources, page 69)
Poem: The Desert Has Many Teachings
In the desert,
Turn toward emptiness,
Fleeing the self.
Stand alone,
Ask no one’s help,
And your being will quiet,
Free from the bondage of things.
Those who cling to the world,
Endeavor to free them;
Those who are free, praise.
Care for the sick,
But live alone,
Happy to drink from the waters of sorrow,
To kindle Love’s fire
With the twigs of a simple life.
Thus you will live in the desert.
(By Mechthild of Magdeburg, translated by Jane Hirshfield, from Women in Praise of the Sacred, 1995)
Altar Decoration Idea
Use a purple cloth to symbolize the season. Cover the altar with rocks of various sizes. Gather three clear vases of various shapes. Fill them halfway with sand. Place one bare branch in each vase and arrange them on the altar among the rocks. The finished altar should look simple and spare.
Song Ideas
Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days, UMH 269
What Gift Can We Bring, UMH 87
God, How Can We Forgive, TFWS 2169 (new words to a familiar tune)
Live in Charity, TFWS 2179
Amazing Abundance, W&S 3120
“For the Sake of the World” by Bethel Music:
Multimedia Resources
“Gratitude” by Nichole Nordeman:
Week 2: Give Up Indifference
Lectionary Year A: John 3:1-17. Jesus speaks with Nicodemus.
Lectionary Year B: Mark 8:31-38. Jesus rebukes Peter: take up your cross and follow me.
Lectionary Year C: Luke 13:31-35. Jesus longs to gather Jerusalem like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings.
In these Scripture passages, Jesus shows deep emotion as he foretells his transformation from life to death and Resurrection. He is passionate about God’s plan. Malaria attacks the most vulnerable people in the world, and we know it is not part of God’s plan. This week, challenge one another to give up indifference and take malaria personally. In order to end preventable deaths, we must work with true passion alongside our Creator.
Calls to Worship
The needs of our world are too numerous to name.
Shelter, food, clean air and water...
Our gifts touch these needs,
but the biggest gift we can give is to love the world
so much that we give of ourselves.
Nothing will transform need more than sacrificial love.
Today’s offering is just the beginning.
Something drew us together this morning
Something we can’t name but which we experience in worship
Some holy mystery we call God
Some sacred calling we hear in the life of Jesus
Some indescribable hope we feel when we gather in the Spirit
May our experience of the Divine transform ourdoubts and fears and prepare us to love the world.
(“The Indescribable Radiance of Love”, Service Prayers for Transfiguration Sunday, was written by the Rev. David Bahr, pastor, Park Hill Congregational United Church of Christ, Denver, Colo. ©2010 Local Church Ministries, Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Team, United Church of Christ, 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 44115-1100.Permission granted to reproduce or adapt this material for use in services of worship or church education.All publishing rights reserved.)
Prayers
Jesus prayed that we might be one: one in spirit, one in mission, one in communion with each other and with you. Today, God, we confess fumblings and failures in accomplishing unity. We think first of our needs, and not your abundance. We treat lifesaving resources as pocket change. We have divided the world into “us” and “them,” even as we try to make a difference. Forgive us, O God.