Gospel.com Blog

What’s the longest, most difficult time of year for youth ministry? We’re right in the middle of it—the “dead zone” between Christmas and summer, when youth leaders around the world struggle to inspire kids who are either still coming down off the holiday rush, or are just looking forward to spring and summer.

An article by Steve Argue and Dave Livermore over at Intersect challenges us not to let these long, slow months slip past us on the way to summer:

Ironically, in the Christian calendar, this is the time of the year when everything heats up. It’s called Lent and Easter. These days are the deepest, most significant, central part of our Christian existence. Lent and Easter are part of a greater rhythm called the Christian calendar that anchors us in a rich heritage of faith that has been the spiritual metronome of faith communities for hundreds of years….

Lent isn’t something that can just be squeezed in. Our youth ministry schedules won’t allow for adding one more thing. But what if we let Lent shape our existing activities this season?

They close the article with some practical ideas for doing just that. Worth reading, particularly if your youth ministry feels stuck in the doldrums at this time of year.

Today is a special day for Christians, although you won’t find greeting cards or gifts marking the occasion: it’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent. Throughout Lent, many Christians choose to prepare themselves (through prayer, repentance, and reflection) to celebrate Easter, the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection.

Lent is a quieter event than most other holidays—it calls us to personal reflection rather than to outward celebration. You may have seen people walking around with an ash mark on their foreheads today—many Christians choose to mark Ash Wednesday with a cross-shaped mark of ash. For some people, Lent is also a time of self-denial, in which they choose to give up something (anything from a certain type of food to a personal habit) as a way to help them focus on the meaning of the season.

However you decide to commemorate Ash Wednesday and Lent, here are a few resources to help you get into the spirit of the season:

• Ash Wednesday, “spring cleaning for the soul”—why is Ash Wednesday important, and what does it really mean? Why do we hear so little of it from most Christian churches?
• An explanation of the significance of Lent, for those who aren’t clear on what it stands for.
• Lent is for losers—a short reflection explaining why Lent is a holiday especially for the broken and burdened.
• Lent is a time when many Christians choose to “live with less,” through fasting or some other form of self-denial. But have you thought about living this way all throughout the year?
• A Lent reflection from the AlreadyNotYet blog.
• Thinking of giving up something for Lent? How about TV or regular personal habit? It’s not all deadly serious—James Watkins has a humorous account of what he’s giving up for Lent.

It seems inappropriate, given the nature of Lent, to wish you a happy Lent. But may you have a reflective and prayerful Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Easter!

If God loves us, why was it necessary for Jesus to die so horribly on the cross? If Easter is a celebration of life and God’s love towards us, why is it associated with such a terrible moment in history? Words like “sin” and “forgiveness” and “grace” are often heard around Easter, but what do they really mean for our everyday lives? Surely a loving God would not want to punish anyone for their mistakes, right?

If you feel like you’ve never quite understood the Easter story, take a look at an essay explaining all about God, love, sin, and forgiveness over at Acts International–it’s a great overview of what the Bible teaches us about these important topics. And if you’ve got all that info memorized already, the article makes a good link to send to a friend who’s struggling to understand what Easter means for them.

Easter is less than a month away! To help you get into the spirit of th holiday, here are two more good Easter resources worth bookmarking:

• The Christian History Institute has a special Easter issue of their Glimpses newsletter. It delves into the origins of Easter, how early Christians celebrated the holiday, and talks about the origins of Easter-related observances like Lent, Holy Week, and sunrise services on Easter morning.

• The Tract League has a number of Easter-themed Gospel tracts available both online and for purchase. Read them online, or order a whole batch of them to hand out as Easter nears! You might start with I Am the Resurrection, a short tract about life, death, and the freedom from fear that Christ brings.

As Easter approaches, we’ll continue to highlight more Easter resources from the Gospelcom Alliance, so check back!

One of the most memorable and powerful elements of Easter worship is music–Easter lays claim to some of the most moving and introspective hymns in all of church history. As Lent continues, take some time to learn more about the magnificent songs of Easter over at the Center for Church Music. They’ve got in-depth information (lyrics, histories, sheet music, etc.) about many famous Easter hymns (scroll down the page for the list of Easter songs).

Their current featured song is the Easter classic “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”. If you’re not familiar with the story behind it and other Easter tunes, it’s the perfect time of year to learn more!

Next week marks the beginning of Lent, a season of reflection that culminates with the Crucifixion and the celebration of Easter. As Lent progresses, we’ll be featuring a number of Easter-related resources and articles from around the Gospelcom Alliance, but it seems fit to begin by noting a series of Lent devotionals at Scripture Union.

Scripture Union’s Journey to the Cross is a series of short devotionals emailed daily over the six weeks leading up to Easter. Each email includes (among other things) a Scripture passage, a prayer suggestion, and a reflection designed to help you focus on the message of Lent. You can sign up to receive the emails (which begin on February 26), or download the entire series (in PDF format) to work through it yourself.

Do you know the Easter story? The International Bible Society has gathered the Bible passages relevant to Easter for your convenience. Whether you can recite the Easter story by heart or are completely unfamiliar with it, take a few moments this Easter weekend to read through the most important story of the Christian faith.

Is your church or youth group holding an Easter vigil? There’s a long tradition in the Christian church of holding a special vigil on the day before Easter, using candles and Bible readings to walk through the story of Christ’s death and resurrection. Youth Specialties has a free Easter vigil litany you can use or adapt for your own Easter vigil service.

T.S. Eliot once said that April was the “cruelest month,” and if statistics are to be believed, April is in fact a depressing time of the year for many people. Why is that, and what does the story of Easter have to say to somebody suffering from the springtime blues? Blaine Smith asks that question in his latest column about April, Easter, and the resurrection:

For the Christian, though, April should sound a different note. It hosts the event that is the greatest celebration of our faith. The news that Christ rose from the dead brings with it the triumphant reminder that we who believe in him will rise also. We will live forever in eternity with him. This is far and away the single greatest hope that the Christian life offers.

Yet the prospect of eternity, like April itself, is an ambivalent hope for many.

Why would the prospect of eternal life be a troubling one? Read the full article for Smith’s observations about Heaven, everlasting life, and what we as humans should think about them.

What would the world look like if Easter had never happened? Andrew Knight, in a classic article on the Lifetime Guarantee Ministries site, suggests that it might look an awful lot like the grim world of the movie Unforgiven, where everyone has sinned but there’s no grace in sight.

Knight’s article is just one of many Easter devotionals and articles in the Lifetime Guarantee archives. For further Easter reading, you might try these two classic pieces as well:

* The Problem of Jesus’ Resurrection — why did it take Jesus’ followers so long to recognize him for who he truly was–God’s son?
* Easter Made the Difference — why is Easter so important, anyway?