Lenten Practices to Deepen Discipleship Around Justice

In the spirit of our 381 Days of Racial Justice campaign, we wanted to provide another resource to you that would connect with the ways in which we reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross.  

There are so many choices we can make during Lent in order to deepen our relationship with Jesus.  Normally we think in categories like fasting or prayer.  Yet, consider how God may be calling you to lean into our discipleship around justice and shalom.  Our practices in Lent are often around giving up some habit or practice in order to make space for a practice that helps you draw near to God and God’s heart.  If this is a season where one of those ‘add-ins’ are connected to God’s call of shalom, here are some suggestions that you might consider.  [We especially want to commend these suggestions to use as ones that can be done corporately with people in your Life Group, your home or whatever configuration of folk you want to gather.]   

CONTEMPLATION/LITURGY 

• Use Claiborne’s Common Prayer, A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.  Claiborne combines the elements of liturgy, with an orientation towards praying for justice.  The online version updates every day and can be found at https://commonprayer.net.  You could do this on your own, but you could also connect with a few friends and do it over Zoom.  Daily liturgies often hold space for intercession.  You may want to consider the Prayers of the People topics from Sunday Celebration as the focus of your intercession.
• A former member of our community co-authored a Lenten contemplation tool that remains relevant and powerful as we use this season to cry out for justice.  It can be found at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pJQYi1_KymFR9NZyUVD2j7VPu91Rs0yr/view.  (This is the whole .pdf of the daily prayer times)
• Use a lenten devotional created by Indigenous Christian brothers and sisters that approaches lent from a relational context of Christian to creation.  You can sign up here: https://www.eloheh.org/ 

EDUCATION/EMPATHY 

• Consider using a book as a part of your devotion this season, such as The Cross & the Lynching Tree by James Cone.
• Consider taking a weekly, slow walk using something like a podcast during a walk, like “Reclaiming My Theology”
• Watch a video to learn more about American History that may be less familiar to you such as:
  • Banished, a documentary on PBS about the forceful removal of Black Americans from their homes that still has modern implications
  • Chan is Missing, a film set in San Francisco’s Chinatown (available on Kanopy)
• For our white brothers and sisters, consider joining one of the Lenten Life Groups oriented around building empathy, especially around the experience of our Asian and Asian American brothers and sisters.
• Join a prayer time with One Blood Prayer Fellowship on February 28th at 6pm.

ADVOCACY 

• Join a Lunch & Learn with Pastor Gary to learn more about engaging in Environmental Justice and Creation Care.  
• Write a weekly letter (not email!) to someone who has decision power about a justice issue you care about.  And don’t just reprint the letter, but speak to it from a different angle each week.  
• Attend a meeting (city council, PTSA) 

GIVING 

• Donate a fixed amount of money (you could do it based on your earnings or perhaps what you spend each week on something with regularity [that perhaps you give up for Lent as well]) to an organization doing good work around a justice issue you care about.  If you are looking for ideas consider: 
  • Justice for Migrant Women – an organization currently providing support for these workers who bear significant risk due to COVID-19 with few legal protections or resources
  • La Cocina – an organization supporting low income food service business owners through this COVID-19 crisis
  • The Bail Project – an organization that continues to provide bail relief to individuals who are incarcerated without a conviction while waiting for trial

SERVICE 

• Volunteer with a local Asian/Pacific Islander community group who is doing neighborhood ‘monitoring’.  
• Collect books from your network for Achieve Academy
• Help cook a meal for Men of Valor Academy for Easter Sunday celebration