I recently received a wedding invitation in the mail. I was so excited as I began to think about celebrating this upcoming marriage. I spoke to the mother of the bride and she was excited too, but had struggled to cut down the guest list. Generally, invitations are exclusive – only those invited can participate. In our liturgy for Ash Wednesday, there is an invitation – an invitation to the observance of a holy Lent. Unlike most invitations, this one is not exclusive. Instead, it is open to everyone.

How do we make room in our lives to more fully participate in Lent 2024? What do we subtract or fast from to create margin in order to grow closer to the Lord? What disciplines do we add or take on in this Holy season? We invite you to join us on a journey this Lent in fasting and feasting in community with Anglicans across the globe.

Recognizing this disconnect between the cost of living and employment opportunities for “low-skilled” workers, Crystal established the Lagniappe Center (pronounced lan-yap and meaning “something extra”) in the basement of Grace Anglican Church. The Lagniappe Center is a leadership and job-skills development initiative designed to equip low-income parents for living-wage employment.

About three years ago the Daughters of The Holy Cross at Anglican Church of the Redeemer in Chattanooga, Tennessee began to sense an increasing desire, perhaps even a calling, to put faces and facts into these prayers. Who are the persecuted? Where are they? What specific suffering do they experience? What is the reality of need behind our prayers for them?

“An American Lent” is a journey through our country’s history of slavery, segregation, and racism with the hope of healing. The aim is that—through the prayers, reflections, and responses—to not only be grieved into repenting but that we would all leave this experience bearing fruit in keeping with repentance and be agents of healing across divisions and pain.