Lent 2026: Encountering Jesus On the Way

Lent is the forty-day road that leads us toward the cross. And it starts this week!

Over the next 40 days we will rediscover that the love of God is not abstract or sentimental but costly and dynamic in its expression. We will thoughtfully engage with practices, encourage one another in grace, and encounter Jesus along the Way. As a season, Lent asks us to walk with Jesus long enough to be confronted, to be exposed, and to be changed- and to ask the questions of loyalty, faith, and what we truly believe is a flourishing life. The colors around our gathering space will change from Gold (celebration) to Purple (Preparation) as we enter into this season together as a church family- and our prayer is that Missio will prepare our own hearts to experience God afresh this season.

Background

The historic Church has walked this Way for centuries. The forty days of Lent have traditionally been set aside for repentance and preparation. New believers were readied for baptism. The whole community practiced prayer, fasting, generosity, and self-examination. Participating in this season has never been a means to earn God’s grace, but these intentional activities clear space for us to receive it afresh. This isn’t a season to try impressing God with self-discipline or sacrifices, but to actively remember that though the path of following discipleship is not always easy, it is with Jesus—and that is more than enough. Lent has always been a season of returning too. During these days we focus on Returning to the gospel. Returning to dependence on God. Returning to the meaningful mission of living for the sake of others. Returning to the way of Christ and encountering him in our everyday experiences along the way.

This year, we will walk through Lent under one simple Phrase: Encountering Jesus on the Way. Here are the things we want to lead our MC’s and friends into and how we see each connecting to the journey of Lent.

LENT INVITATIONS

Sunday Gatherings

Throughout Lent, our Sunday gatherings will continue our encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of John. Week by week, we will listen to his words, watch his interactions, and see how people respond when Light steps into the room and invites us to see everything differently now that He has arrived. God has moved in and we will continue to encounter him along the Way.

Ash Wednesday Options

Lent begins with intention and an explicit expression of our need for Jesus. We will be hosting a prayer gathering at the Commons on Wednesday at 6:30pm.

Missio Mesa has planned an early gathering at 6am. Both will be times of prayer, with the imposition of ashes for those who desire to take them.

We receive ashes as a sign that we are dust and that our lives are sustained by God’s mercy. Ashes have always been a mark of humility. A physical reminder that grace meets us honestly in the gritty realities of everyday life. A life that is always lived in the awareness that someday we will die. These gatherings on Feb 18th are the first step on the road this Lenten season and we hope many from across our network of MC’s will be able to join us at one of them.

A Forty-Day Fast

We are inviting Missio to consider a full forty-day fast.

Choose something personally, as a family, or even as an MC to lay down for the next 40 days. Fasting has always been a part of the life of the church and exposes what we lean on and reveals how quickly we reach for comfort. Fasting retrains our desires and points us explicitly back to Jesus. Each time you feel an absence, let it become prayer. Let it turn your attention back to Christ. (Remember—this isn’t a sin you are stopping. That’s called repentance. This is a comfort or practice you put aside for 40 days to practice self-control and rely on God.)

Fridays | Fasting From Food Together

On Fridays, we invite you to fast from food during the day as a community.

Each Friday we want to lead our community in remembering the cross. We want to let physical hunger teach us dependence. We will let discomfort draw us toward the One who gave himself for the life of the world. The one who called himself our very Bread.

Sundays | Feasting Together

Each Sunday we invite you to break from your fasts, not for the sake of gluttony or indulgence, but to enjoy the good gifts of God in a way that reminds us of the resurrection we do already have in Jesus. Each Sunday is like a preview of our Easter celebration to come. You may choose to enjoy the thing you have been fasting from in moderation, with others, as a celebration. Or you may choose to enjoy something else with others that more tangibly points you to life in Christ.

A Practice of Generosity

Throughout Church history Lent has also been tied to generosity. As we fast, we free up time, money, and attention. We do not want to keep that “extra” to ourselves, but allow the Spirit to open our imaginations to what we could do for the sake of others with the room we’ve made. We encourage you to practice intentional generosity throughout these forty days. Give an increased percentage toward the work of the kingdom through Missio. Quietly support someone in need. Open your table and share your food. Share what you would have spent on going out to eat with neighbors. Be creative, and remember that generosity trains our hearts away from scarcity and toward abundance. (Feeding of the 5k anyone?) It reminds us that everything we have is a gift and aligns our lives with the self-giving love we see at the cross.

Lent Journals

Our Lent Journals will be available to help you walk the road intentionally. Scripture. Reflection. Practices. A companion for the journey. Anjelica Guzman of Missio Mesa beautifully designed these for last year, but they will serve us this year as well!

Good Friday Gathering (Time TBD)

Lent leads us to Good Friday—the day when we remember the brutal murder of Jesus and the world changing victory that it won. We aren’t sure the form yet, but we will definitely be having a Good Friday gathering at the Commons. More details to come.

Remember: Lent is not about stepping out of our everyday lives, but it is about encountering Jesus in them as we purposefully and proactively consider our apprenticeship to Jesus.

God has moved in.

Now we encounter Him Along the Way.

June Reading Plan (2024 in Matthew)

JUNE READING PLAN

This month we will be examining the prayers of Jesus and what Matthew seemed to want us to know about prayer through his Gospel account. More than study what is said about prayer, we are inviting one another to slow down through prayer as we read.

We will be referring to that famous passage where Jesus taught his disciples how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount throughout the entire month, but each week we will also take a look at another passage of prayer alongside it.

WEEKLY READINGS

The 30 days of June span across 4 weeks, but you may break this reading up differently for your own schedule. You are free to jump in with this reading plan at any time, but the following is a suggested rhythm:

Entire Month — Matthew 6:9-13 (Pray Like This)

Week 1 (June 1-8) — Matthew 14 (Mountainside Solitude)

Week 2 (June 9-15) — Matthew 19 (Like Little Children)

Week 3 (June 16-22) — Matthew 21 (Temple + Tree)

Week 4 (June 23-30) — Matthew 26 (Gethsemane Garden)

APPROACH

In essence, we will follow a simple 4-part process:
Recite. Read. Reflect. Pray.

• We will begin each section with reading the Lord’s Prayer.
  We encourage you to memorize it and learn to recite it to yourself throughout the day.

• Next, we will read the passage of Scripture for the week.

• We’ll share some thoughts on the passage, but it’s more important for you to take some time to journal your own thoughts, questions, cares, etc. surrounding the Scripture.

• Finally, there will be prompts for you to pray through the Lord’s Prayer in light of the passage read.

May Reading Plan (2024 in Matthew)

MAY READING PLAN

During the month of May, we will be looking at the work of the Holy Spirit within the Gospel account of Matthew. Jesus entered the world through the Holy Spirit, performed miracles through the Holy Spirit, conquered death through the Holy Spirit, and empowered his followers with the Holy Spirit. For us to clearly see the work of Jesus, we must look at how he depended upon and partnered with the Holy Spirit in all he did. Of course, Jesus is one with the Holy Spirit and with the Father — but what does it mean for us that we have been given the Holy Spirit as well?

May 19th, 2024 is the day we remember the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the first disciples. This seems a fitting time for us to examine His work not only in the book of Matthew, but also in our own lives today.

WEEKLY READINGS

The 31 days of May span across 5 weeks, even though the first and last weeks are not a full seven days. We will utilize those partial weeks for 5 reading plans, but you may break this reading up differently for your own schedule.

Week 1 (May 1-5) — Matthew 1:18-20, Matthew 3:11-4:1

Week 2 (May 6-12) — Matthew 10:16-20

Week 3 (May 13-19) — Matthew 12:15-32

Week 4 (May 20-26) — Matthew 22:41-46

Week 5 (May 27-31) — Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 1:1-5, Acts 2:1-21

APPROACH

This month’s reading plan will follow a simple 3-part process:
Read. Reflect. Respond.

We will read the text, take some time to reflect on the story (this section will include some questions and thoughts to guide you), and we will utilize our BLESS rhythms to respond. The goal here is not to create some call-to-action to perform, but to respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday Reflections - Follow Me

Sunday Reflections — “Follow Me”

Authored by Erin Romano

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Over the past several months, I have begun to think that the word “duty” has nearly faded from the American, perhaps Western, vocabulary. In the rare times it is used, it’s almost with distaste as an antiquated concept tied to constrictive ideas, or, more likely, in some sort of joke aimed at six year olds. I know it isn’t the first word that comes to mind when I’m thinking through my list of things to do, nor on the tip of my tongue when laying out instructions to my children. It’s a bit of a heavy word, for only being four letters, meatier than “responsibility.” It has a sense of stuffy honor. It’s an “ought,” not a “should.”

I don’t know that it was specifically used in the message, but, for me, its presence was felt. Chris’ story of his really rough Saturday was both amusing and distressing, and as so many of us are parents, teachers, nurses, and human beings it was, I’m sure, a bit reminiscent of days we’ve all had. Aside from the pigeon; that was special. In a world where finding and sometimes paying someone to do the jobs we don’t want to is so entirely commonplace that doing it yourself is a novelty, it often feels heroic to do what life, in that moment, has called upon you to do. But you do the next right thing; you do your duty.

The men being called into discipleship under Jesus were doing their duty. They may not have enjoyed the washing of the nets, but it was part of their job as fishermen. It was the work their fathers had done, and possibly had been doing for generations. They had been raised to value the work of maintaining the nets, had been taught that it was good work, worth doing. They couldn’t do the work of fishing, and thereby surviving, without doing all of the other work that came before, and after, again and again. The monotony of duty.

This brought to mind something that has been in my atmosphere recently. It’s a Latin phrase: ordo amoris. Translated as “order of loves”, it is drawn out in St. Augustine’s City of God. It’s about rightly ordering the affections; prioritizing what is good over what is, in whatever degree, less good, and acting accordingly. Augustine calls this the definition of virtue. To rightly order the affections, to know what is good, and to love what we ought, whether or not we feel like we love it. Likely, these fishermen had been doing this task on repeat for many years of their lives. Sort of like the dishes, the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, the doing, the tending, the caring, the repeating…all the “again” things that come as duties.

But God…

He appeared on the shoreline, calling to them in words familiar, but strange. Fish for men? Should we drop our nets and follow? Somehow, in a moment, they were making room for their affections to be re-ordered. (Their seemingly quick response baffles me every time.) They heard the voice of the Lord, and it’s almost as if they knew it. The thing they had known as good for so long was now to be placed below this new good thing. Cleaning nets didn’t stop being good, but in this moment it wasn’t the better, the best. For the next three years they would follow Him. Over and over again their loves would be directed and trained into a new, right order. What do you mean children have value? What do you mean we shouldn’t call fire and brimstone down on this city? What do you mean, “Put away the sword?” What do you mean forgive again?

As I listened to Chris talk about these ordinary men caught in a moment of ordinary work, I was reminded that duty is not a bad word. Doing what is set before you is good work. There will be days of ordinary, messy, not so fun work, but guided by ordo amoris, I can learn to love what must be done. However, it’s not quite complete yet. Our deepest ancestors cast off God’s order, and our affections have been disordered since. Jesus came and called his disciples into a new order of loves. Surely there were still days of cleaning the nets, but some days looked different than those men had ever imagined. Some days the right order was novel and perhaps delightful; other days it was even harder, more frightening, or perhaps well below their pay grade. But through years of training, of the Lord calling these things good, their affections came into this new right order and they continued all sorts of good work in Jesus’ name, by the power of the Spirit, to the glory of Father.

Amen. Let it be so.

“Lord, set my loves in right order! And when you stand before me in the midst of my ordinary work, prepare my heart to follow you.”

Living On Mission With Kids

"You can’t be on mission to your kids, if you don’t take your kids on mission." Tweet this

Our church family is blessed with a lot of kids. I mean, seriously, a lot! Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3)… and sometimes it feels that way. Sometimes just looking into the face of a child can remind you of the goodness of God. Sometimes the things our children do can teach us about God’s character. Sometimes we grow in ways we never would have before by teaching our children.

But look, I get it - sometimes the reality of raising our kids is downright difficult, stressful and hectic. Sometimes the simple thought of getting our kids dressed and out of the house seems completely overwhelming. So it’s no surprise that one of the biggest obstacles we come across as a church striving to engage in God’s mission of reconciliation to the world is the question, “What do I do with my kids?”

One of the more encouraging answers to that question is the reminder that your kids are part of the mission, too. We are called to train our children up in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6) and to be diligent about teaching them God’s Word, both in intentional times of study and in teachable on-the-go moments (Deut. 6:7). Basically, we're called to disciple our children, just as we're called to go and make disciples of all nations. Children are unmistakably part of God’s mission of reconciliation.

It can be a great comfort to tell yourself you are not engaging in missional living in other areas of life or with the church, because you are currently devoted to being on mission to teach and train your kids.

It can also be a copout.

If we are going to be on mission with our kids and disciple them in the ways of Christ, we must do this in the same way we are called to make disciples of any other person - in the same way we ourselves need to be discipled - in the same way Jesus discipled.

Jesus called people to follow him and to live life with him. Along the way, he not only taught them but he took them on his mission. He showed them how he came to heal the sick, restore sight to the blind and raise the dead. He didn’t just tell them of it through Scripture. He showed them. Then, he asked them to take part in it. He sent them out two by two. He asked them to see what resources the crowd had before he fed the five thousand. Ultimately, he sent them out with the power of his Spirit and asked them to do things they never could do on their own.

Your discipleship is no different. And neither are your kids.

If you’re going to disciple your children, to teach them God’s Word and how to live in God’s ways, then this teaching must include doing. The learning must include action. Your children must see you living on mission and answering the great commission Jesus gave to go and make disciples. Our kids must see us feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, serving our church family, and speaking Good News to those around us.

Then, ask them to take part in it with you. You will eventually have to send them out on their own, so equip them now by asking them to live on mission with you. Ask them to take part in things they could never do on their own, because you are there to help - and more importantly, so they can learn what Jesus said; that he is with them always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Discipling your kids and training them up in the way they should go is inseparable from taking them with you on God’s mission to bring Good News of reconciliation.

Don't be afraid of bringing them along to serve with your missional community. Allow your missional community to help you with your kids and be part of discipling them. Take them along with you to serve others. Don't wait for the perfect missional opportunity that is easy for kids or entertaining for them. Bring them into God's mission in everyday life.

Kids Telling Parables

Some of our kids have retold a few of Jesus' parables (stories) with their own artwork to go with it. Enjoy!

Episode 1: 'The Unjust Servant'

Episode 2: 'Buried Treasure'