Today we mark Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent — forty days of repentance, reflection, and reconciliation. In a time when the brokenness of the world can feel overwhelming and insurmountable, this holy season reminds us of a profound promise: God meets us in the dust, in the ashes, in the places of fracture — and God is always at work bringing healing and redemption.

Lent is not only a personal journey of prayer and devotion. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to witness to God’s transforming work not just within our worshipping communities or private spiritual lives, but as the church together in the public sphere. Our civic life is often marked by tension and forces that seek to divide us from one another. Yet the cross stands at the center of our faith as God’s embodied promise that division and death do not have the final word. In Christ, reconciliation and new life are already breaking in.

This season, we invite you to live out your faith as public witness through learning, prayer, advocacy, and community engagement. The following resources offer ways for us to walk this Lenten journey together:

Faith and Civic Life

Studies for Civic Life and Faith has released a churchwide curriculum designed to help us engage faithfully with questions of religious liberty, the relationship between church and government, and our shared life in society. Each session includes an opportunity to offer feedback directly to the task force, making this not just a study, but a conversation shaping the future of our church.

Body of Christ – ELCA Sumud Lenten Series

In the 2026 series, “Body of Christ,” we are invited to reflect on Paul’s proclamation that “we who are many are one body in Christ” (1 Corinthians 12). No member of this body can be dismissed or deemed expendable. This series lifts up Palestinian Christians as an inseparable and equal part of Christ’s body, calling us into prayer, solidarity, and deeper awareness of our mutual responsibility, care, and love.

ELCA World Hunger Lenten Calendar

A daily practice that connects prayer with action, reminding us that our Lenten disciplines are always tied to God’s concern for our neighbors — especially those experiencing hunger and poverty.

ELCA Region 2 Lenten Challenge

Rooted in Matthew 25:37–40, this challenge invites us to see Christ in our neighbors who are hungry, sick, imprisoned, and marginalized. Each week focuses on learning, compassion, and advocacy, stretching our spiritual lives beyond reflection into concrete action on behalf of underserved communities.

Wherever you begin this Lenten journey, whether in ashes, in longing, in weariness, or in hope, we walk together toward Easter morning trusting in God’s promise that new life is always possible.

Lent does not call us into despair.
It calls us into honesty, into community, into courage, and into hope.

For we are an Easter people, and even now, hope is already rising.