God Brings New Beauty

A Lenten Guide for 2021

“What are you giving up for Lent?” is the question we most often hear in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday. We expect Lent to be a time of profound repentance, discipline, and fasting. Indeed, we’ve had a lot of that lately. This last year has already required us to give up so much, revealed deep inequalities, and left us wondering where God is in all this struggle. Not surprisingly, many of us aren’t looking forward to giving up even more for Lent this year.

Inspired by the text of Hymn 145 by Percy Dearmer, we invite you to ask a different Lenten question: “Where do you see God bringing new beauty?” You see, Lent is not only about sadness and repentance, but an invitation to participate in reconciling the world to God’s dream for us. We hope you will discover where God is creating new beauty in our world, even from broken, imperfect people and circumstances. God brings new beauty out of the ashes and out of an empty tomb.

Within the pages of this Lenten guide, you'll find the art of local artist Rocky Bridges. The Cathedral walls feature many of Rocky Bridges’ assemblages, paintings, and collages. Fitting of our theme of “new beauty,” his art takes discarded, imperfect, or recycled objects and creates new and unexpected meaning and beauty.

The purpose of this booklet is to guide you through a meaningful season of authentic introspection, outward action, and seeking justice. Each day of the week will offer a particular way to engage these intentions:

Sunday | Meditate on the week’s scripture readings from the lectionary
Monday | Commit to a spiritual practice for the week
Tuesday | Contemplate a piece of “found object” art by Rocky Bridges and reflection by Dean Stephen Morris
Wednesday | Be inspired by the life of a Saint
Thursday | Engage a meditation written by Cathedral clergy and staff
Friday | Listen to music by the Good Shepherd Collective and reflect on the lyrics
Saturday | Invite a friend or relative to be your prayer companion for these shared devotions

May this Lent be a time you see the light of Christ breaking into the world, bringing new beauty and redemption to a broken world.
—Hillary Peete, Director of Christian Formation

Good Shepherd Collective

Lyrics to these songs can be found in the print and digital publications.