How to Prepare for Lent

Lent is a time of preparation, to remind ourselves about what Jesus Christ gave up in becoming one of us and in dying for us. It’s 40 days we can take to slow down and identify with him, to take a good look at ourselves and see why the rescue was necessary and to build up anticipation for the resurrection.

Here are a few things for you to think about for yourself or talk about with the families and kids in your church:

Fast
If you’re going for all 40 days give up something that takes time and use that time to study and pray instead. Try fasting from dessert; a daily TV show; social media; wearing makeup; computer games, shaving etc.
Another way to fast is to give up something important to you and tell God – ‘you are more important to me than this’. Most of the above list falls into this category but here are some non-time consuming options: chocolate, coffee, selfies, shopping for clothes, alcohol, meat etc.
Or fast from food for a day, pick a day where you can be quiet and use mealtimes (or the whole day) to pray. This article is helpful if you’re a beginner like me.

Take up something new
Here are a few Lent based devotionals helping you to prepare for Easter:
#LiveLent is the Church of England’s devotional – you can sign up for text or email devotionals here.
BibleGateway.com has their Lent Bible Reading Plan
There’s a prayer guide from Open Doors (It’s from 2020 but I’ll update the link when I find a newer one.)
Meals with Jesus by Ed Drew - which takes you though 9 meals in Luke’s Gospel and only has 34 days so you can catch up at the weekends if you got behind. There’s also an e-book available if it’s too late to post it.

With your youth group or Sunday school
Make a count your blessings jar: write one thing every day through Lent that was a good gift from God: put it in the jar. At Easter read and remind yourself of all the blessings then thank the Giver. As a group; have a joint jar and put in one thing each from the week.
Make a prayer calendar: On each day write the name of someone to pray for. It’s easy to fill in 40 days as a group and with teens you can co-ordinate and remind people online.
Learn a section of scripture together. Practice it when you meet and decide how much you’ll learn by next week. Isaiah 53 is Easter appropriate.
I've also put together 41 verses which I love to illustrate but you could equally meditate on or use as a springboard for prayer up to Easter. There’s also a verse a week version for groups, younger kids or for memorising.