Before there is light there is darkness. Before there is birth, there is pain. Before every meaningful moment there is a time of preparation, a time of longing. Lent is the forty days that we set aside to enter into the wilderness of our souls and find that place of quiet, openness and emptiness. Lent is more than about self-denial and giving up indulgences, it is about preparation and encounter. It was in the desert where Jesus encountered the demons of his deepest temptations, but it was also where he found God’s sustaining presence and love.

These poems are stories about finding home. Jesus’ journey is also like our journey, an attempt to capture the place of longing in every heart; it is an attempt to go back to the garden. However, as we make our way through life, we come to realize that Eden is a distant dream, a reality that we might not ever come into being. We either become cynical or attempt to build our own paradise. In contrast, Jesus’ life was not about this long lost garden, but something greater, a new Eden, a new Jerusalem, a new Kingdom. However, in order to find this new home the journey might take a detour through the wilderness, and what we may find there might test the very core of who we are.  

This series reflects on poems for Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Holy Week. The discussion guide offers an opportunity for reflection, discussion, and entering into places of our hearts we might not often journey. We hope that the guides give you a place to begin the journey of your hearts, a journey that will lead you out of Lent and to Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and into the hope of Easter.

The series includes 9 films with accompanying worship loops and discussion guides.

SESSION TITLES AND FILMS

1. Remember That You Are Dust //  ASH WEDNESDAY
   
2. Never Alone // LENT ONE
   
3. Away from Home // LENT TWO
   
4. Oasis // LENT THREE
   
5. Leaving Ourselves at the Altar // LENT FOUR
   
6. Watering Dry Bones // LENT FIVE
   
7. Scattered Palms // PALM SUNDAY
   
8. Where the Light Ends // GOOD FRIDAY
   
9. Setting Out Once Again // EASTER SUNDAY