Lent is the season of the year Christians set aside to open their hearts’ affections and their minds’ attention to the way that led Christ to the cross. The selfless way, the sacrificial way, the way of love. In an effort to be on that way, Christians throughout history have devoted themselves to the practices of prayer, fasting and giving to those in need during the season of Lent.
This journal sets out to guide you in those three practices this Lenten season. Our hope is you’d borrow personally each day, or with your family each night, or with it over a retreat day over the next 6 weeks. The Scripture passages you’ll find in this journal correspond to the passages the Pillar community will gather around through sermons in worship each Sunday in Lent. We will continue to walk through John’s gospel.
Alongside the Scripture passages there are prayers meant to be prayed each day of the week. One prayer a week to be prayed every day of that week. There are also questions each day connected to the Scripture passage, that are designed for one devotional sitting. Though we certainly want you to engage with this journal in any way that is beneficial to your life with God.
With this journal, we’d love for you to also find our podcast on Spotify or Apple iTunes called “Abide in Me,” which will offer further engagement with the same passage of Scripture for the week.
We also want to create space with this journal to guide the Pillar community in the practice of fasting. It’s an ancient practice people of faith have engaged for millennia. Each week will provide a new way to look at the practice of fasting, what it is, and why Christians would do it.
Lastly, we want to create space this Lent to give to those in need. You may recall that late in the year 2025 there was a devastating hurricane that ravaged the island of Jamaica. The buildings and campuses of our friends with the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf were utterly decimated. We’re creating space this Lent to support the rebuilding effort of CCCD. We will also send a team of people from Pillar to Jamaica in March to put hands and feet, and hearts of love and compassion with our financial gift. Please consider supporting that rebuilding effort by going to pillarchurch.com. You can search the give link and designate it CCCD. It’s our hope this Lenten Journal will be a guide that draws us closer to Christ and the way that led him to the cross.
The Lord be with you,
Jon Brown
