By MC USA staff
Cover design and illustration by Erin Ramer
Mennonite Church USA’s (MC USA) 2021 Lent at Home worship guide is now available for free viewing and download. The annual guide for home-based worship provides daily and weekly scripture readings, prayers and rituals for individuals and families observing Lent, the period of prayer and reflection from Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17 to Easter, April 4, 2021.
“In today’s divided society, we are challenged to remain grounded in the reality of God’s love and in our Christian identity,” said Shana Peachey Boshart, MC USA denominational minister for Faith Formation. “The Lent At Home guide offers a way for us to pause in our homes to worship God, reflect on God’s gracious character and actions, and be shaped into a people who join in God’s loving activity in the world.”
The 2021 Lent at Home guide encourages worshippers to engage with Scripture through reflections from Genesis and the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry.
“As we learn more about who Jesus was, how he lived, and what he taught, his death and resurrection become more meaningful,” said Talashia Keim Yoder, author of the Lent at Home guide, “I hope that digging into these stories of Jesus will help the Easter story come into focus and take on greater meaning.” Keim Yoder is pastor of Christian Formation at College Mennonite Church, Goshen, Indiana.
The guide also features at-home rituals for Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday, as well as links to recipe ideas and an Easter music playlist.
An easy-to-use resource for people of all ages, the Lent at Home guide can be viewed on screen or printed using a desktop printer. A flexible menu allows worshippers to choose those readings and rituals that are best suited for their household.
Keim Yoder encourages pastors and leaders to share the intergenerational Lent at Home guide with everyone in their congregations.
“Lent reminds us, every year, to make space in our lives for God to work in us,” said Keim Yoder. “We may even find that some of the simplifying and room-making we do in Lent will stick with us and become part of our lives beyond Lent and Easter.”
Lent at Home is a publication of Mennonite Church USA. The guide was developed by (retired) Anabaptist writer Elsie Rempel of Mennonite Church Canada (MC Canada). MC Canada published it as a companion to Leader magazine from 2002-2015. Central Plains Mennonite Conference and AnabaptistFaithFormation.org sponsored its publication through a Schowalter Foundation grant starting in 2016. AnabaptistFaithFormation.org can now be found at MennoniteUSA.org/FF, which continues to sponsor the annual devotional.
Mennonite Church USA is the largest Mennonite denomination in the United States with 16 conferences, approximately 530 congregations and 62,000 members. An Anabaptist Christian denomination, MC USA is part of Mennonite World Conference, a global faith family that includes churches in 58 countries. It has offices in Elkhart, Indiana and Newton, Kansas. mennoniteUSA.org