Last updated 19th February 2021

Lent and Easter Resources including 'Looking Out in Lent' course and #LiveLent

Introduction

This page features a variety of resources for Lent and Easter 2021. 

It will continue to grow to feature other related content in the coming weeks; keep checking back for updates! 

Looking out in Lent: Our five week Diocesan Lent course

Our new weekly online Diocesan Lent course starts February 24 and features talks from our Bishops and Archdeacons.

This course will be in addition to our wonderful new Lent Devotional booklet (see next section for more on the booklet).

• You can book now on Eventbrite via this link. (Click on the orange 'Select a Time' button and then click again on the orange 'Tickets' button on the next page to see all the dates and to book the ones you want.)  

The new course (overarching title 'Looking Out in Lent') takes place across five Wednesdays from February 24, at 7.30pm - 9pm on each occasion.

This is the latest digital resource for parishes to engage with as the pandemic and lockdown continues; following other recent digital content such as for Advent and Christmas; the recent ‘Call to Pray and Give’ and the popular #HomeGrown online conference.

‘Looking Out in Lent’ will use St Mark’s Gospel and the five marks of mission to explore ways of being a more outward-looking church as we start to move out of the pandemic.

The course will be accessible two ways. There will be the five ‘live’ sessions on Zoom, each consisting of 15-20 minute talks immediately followed by a Zoom breakout Q and A discussion. 

Meanwhile, each talk will also be made available in pre-recorded form on our YouTube channel by the weekend before each Zoom session date, at the latest.

Click here for links to each of these talks which will be collated together as the weeks progress. 

This is to further assist parishes wanting to run their own Lent courses at the same time but using the same video content. Also useful if you are attending the Zoom sessions and you want to familiarise yourself with the content in advance and/or to watch again to refresh your memory after the live session as well if you want to. 

• To register for the Zoom-based course book now on Eventbrite via this link. (Click on the orange 'Select a Time' button and then click again on the orange 'Tickets' button on the next page to see all the dates and to book the ones you want.)  

The five sessions (and the leaders for each) are as follows:

ALL EVENINGS RUN ON ZOOM FROM 7.30-9PM 

• Week 1: February 24 (Bishop Jill) BOOK HERE
• Looking Out in Lent by: Telling the Good News (Evangelism) 
• Mark 1, 14-20 Proclamation of the Kingdom and call of the disciples 

• Week 2: March 3 (Bishop Julian) BOOK HERE
• Looking Out in Lent by: Teaching the Faith (Discipleship) 
• Mark 4, 21-34 Parables of growth 

• Week 3: March 10 (Archdeacon David) BOOK HERE
• Looking Out in Lent by: Tending to human need (Service) 
• Mark 5, 1-20 Healing of a demon-possessed man – service of the whole person, physical, spiritual, relational 

• Week 4: March 17 (Bishop Philip) BOOK HERE
• Looking Out in Lent by: Transforming society (Justice) 
• Mark 10, 35-45 Contrast between the kingdom and the world 

• Week 5: March 24 (Archdeacon Mark) BOOK HERE
• Looking Out in Lent by: Treasuring creation (Environment) 
• Mark 16, 1-8 Good news to all creation 

Looking Out in Lent talks: YouTube versions

Each week of the course as well as a live session (see above to book and for more info) there will also be a recorded version of each talk made available on YouTube by the weekend before each live Zoom session.

This is to further assist parishes wanting to run their own Lent courses at the same time but using the same video content. Also useful if you are attending the Zoom sessions and you want to familiarise yourself with the content in advance and/or to watch again to refresh your memory after the live session as well if you want to. 

We will collate links to each talk here as they go live. Just click where indicated to go straight to the relevant talk you want ... 

• Week 1 Bishop Jill: Looking Out in Lent by: Telling the Good News (Evangelism) 

Lent Devotional: Read Mark and Learn

Written by clergy and lay-people from across the Diocese, we travel through Lent with Mark's Gospel.

After the success of the Advent Devotional where 5000 copies were distributed across the Diocese, we have produced a similar resource to take us through Lent entitled ‘Read, Mark, and Learn’.

Our focus this time will be on Mark’s Gospel and will take in every verse, with contributions from both clergy and lay-people.

An initial 7000 copies were all snapped up so we printed a further 2000 and nearly all of those have gone too.

But don't worry if you haven't got a copy - it's always available here to read online or to download. 

Click to read/download the booklet

#LiveLent national campaign

#LiveLent is the largely digitally-based campaign from the national church that everyone can get involved in.

There are a whole of resources available:  

• Resources for group study
• Family activities
• Webinars
• Sign up for our free Lent email reflections
• There is also an app to download and #LiveLent is also taking place in conjunction with the Daily Hope phone line as well. 

Find everything you need for #LiveLent in one place click here. 

• ... and you can also watch the #LiveLent video ...

Resources from our Board of Education for children/young people

Easter Explorers and Easter Activity Sheets 

This Easter from the Diocesan Board of Education, sees the return of the Easter Activity Sheets, two brilliant activity sheets for families to complete outside.

There is also a brand new resource: ‘Easter Explorers’. 

Easter Explorers is a guide taking you through the key dates of Holy Week with sessions created for use outdoors.

There are even faith at home inspiration and ideas. All these resources are designed to be adaptable the current pandemic situation and they are available here now

Cathedral Lent Study Afternoon with Canon Dr Jenn Strawbridge

A Study Afternoon, with Blackburn Cathedral Canon Theologian, Canon Dr Jenn Strawbridge, will take place on Zoom at 2pm on Thursday, March 25.  

Following the success of the recent Advent study afternoon, Blackburn Cathedral is continuing to develop a regular pattern of both virtual and face to face opportunities to help resource Christians across Lancashire, as part of the Cathedral's commitment to mission, engagement and evangelism.

This event, which will last one hour, is mainly aimed at clergy but will also be of interest to others who are involved in preaching or developing their understanding of the Bible. 

Jenn is Associate Professor in New Testament Studies at Oxford, and Theology Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford. Those who attended the Diocesan Conference in 2018 will remember her engaging and accessible Bible Studies. 

Please email Pauline Rowe in the first instance to book your place on pauline.rowe@blackburncathedral.co.uk

• Click here to print/download the Lent Study flyer

Cathedral 2021 Lent programme: God’s story, our story

The event above with Canon Dr Jenn Strawbridge is one part of a wider programme of events this Lent 2021 at Blackburn Cathedral. 

Thursday Lent talks

Each Thursday at 7pm (25th Feb-25th March) will be a brief talk from one of the clergy on the theme of ‘God’s story, our story’ followed by a chance for questions and conversation. The whole session will last no more than 30 minutes. The event will be on Zoom, and the ‘talk’ part will be uploaded to YouTube afterwards. Please email missioner@blackburncathedral.co.uk for the Zoom link.

Study groups

Each week following the talk, the same theme will be picked up in Lent groups. The Cathedral is offering four groups this year, all by Zoom. Each session will last no more than 45 minutes. If you would like to join one of the groups, please contact missioner@blackburncathedral.co.uk indicating which of the following you could manage:

• Monday evenings
• Tuesday evenings
• Friday lunchtimes
• Saturday mornings

Please indicate all of the times you could manage so that you can be allocated to a group and we can manage numbers. NB if you can attend both a study group and the Thursday talks, that is great, but each stands alone!

Prayer guides

The Cathedral will also be updating and re-issuing a weekly printed resource with ideas to help you pray at home. Talking and listening to God is a key part of God’s story, our story. The prayer guides can be downloaded from the Cathedral website each week. 

Quiet morning

In addition, Bishop Philip will be leading a quiet morning on the Seven Last Words from the Cross. This will be by Zoom on Saturday 27th March, 9.30am-1pm. Please see the Diocesan website Events section for details. 

• The Cathedral 2021 Lent Programme: God's story, our story can also be found here as a downloadable version

Diocesan Facebook group for help and advice

The closed Facebook Group that was set up in order to share Advent and Christmas resources within the Diocese is now renamed Epiphany to Easter 2021 resources. 

Contact joy.rushton@blackburn.anglican.org  to be added to the group.

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Quiet Morning in preparation for Holy Week with Bishop Philip

'How Deep the Father’s Love' ... a Quiet Morning to help people to prepare for Holy Week ...  9.30am - 1pm on Saturday March 27 on Zoom led by Bishop Philip

The title will be ‘How Deep the Father’s Love’ and it will focus on the seven last words spoken by Jesus on the cross.

In each half hour we will focus on one of the sayings with a short talk, some music, some prayer and a time of silent reflection. People should feel free to join or leave on the hour or the half hour.

To obtain the Zoom link please email louise.hunter@blackburn.anglican.org. She will send you the link which you can then distribute as you wish to parishioners as there is no limit on numbers.

Lent series from Blackpool Ministry Experience

Members of Blackpool Ministry Experience have worked on four short services to be posted online on Sundays during the season of Lent beginning on the February 21 until March 14.

The series of services take you through the season and have been created by Jon, Tom and Emily (pictured) who are current participants of the Blackpool Ministry Experience scheme. 

For more on this series of services click here. 

The Big Lent Read (part of Big Church Read) 

The Big Church Read is a national church book club for the UK, run in partnership by publishers and booksellers. It’s free to join in, either for individuals, home groups or whole churches.

Following the success of the first ever Big Church Read last September, this year’s first event, starting on February 17, 2021 is the Big Lent Read through the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book Living His Story. 

Through a series of short weekly videos released on the Sundays of Lent, author Hannah Steele will unpack liberating and practical ways of sharing the Gospel story afresh, and share how we can live Jesus’ story in our own lives simply by allowing people to be drawn to him through our natural gifts. You can find out more about it by clicking here (includes a explanatory video). 

The Clewer Initiative Lent Course

The Clewer Initiative is launching an ambitious new Lent Course: Women in the Shadows; focussing specifically on female victims of modern slavery in the UK today and those involved in supporting them.

'Women in the Shadows' is fresh, hard-hitting and empowering. At the heart of the course are five mini-films which include survivor stories, dramatised by actresses alongside expert interviews. 

Further information and sign up details are available here.

A round up of some other great resources we've found

• Some great ideas for family/youth group fun for Pancake Day (Feb 16 in 2021), adapted for Zoom meetings. Also, Ash Wednesday at home – how do do your own ashing, with lots of links and resources.
• 'Jesus is back': Lent and Easter resources for remembering the Bible with children and young people
• Worship in the Wilderness Lent 2021. Get hold of a seven-service Church Service Pack with downloadable media, and the Personal Devotions books for each person in your congregation.
• Making resurrection rolls! Danielle, Evie and Josie share their Easter tradition of making resurrection rolls. Click here for the video. 
• Lent and Easter resources from Together at Home ... a great website set up in response to the pandemic. 
• And from over the border, here are some great Lent and Easter resources from the Diocese of Edinburgh. 

Ronnie Semley, February 2021