• Pray for Blacknall’s times of corporate worship— that God would draw us near to Him, unite us, and be glorified in our gathering together. 

• Pray for an opportunity to speak about God’s goodness in a conversation with a friend, coworker, or neighbor. Ask that the Spirit would open a natural door to share how great God is.

• Pray for fresh eyes to see God’s glory in a way you haven’t noticed before—and the courage and joy to share that glimpse with someone else.

• Pray that God would give you a clear opportunity to tell someone about the crucified and risen Christ.

• Pray for the faithful proclamation of the gospel—the good news of the crucified and risen Christ—in the preaching at Blacknall.

• Share with someone a new insight or meaningful reminder from what you heard preached about the crucified and risen Christ. 

• Pray that our small groups would be places where God’s Kingdom is experienced and formed in us—through authentic community, Scripture, prayer, repentance, and love.

• Pray that our children’s and youth ministries would be instruments of God’s Kingdom, nurturing faith, forming young disciples, and revealing Christ to the next generation.

• Pray for specific ways we can join God’s Kingdom work—for attentiveness to the Spirit, courage to obey, and opportunities to serve, encourage, or bless someone in a tangible way this week. 

Pray for God’s Kingdom to be built among us according to Matthew 25:31–46:

• Pray that we would care for those who are hungry, responding with compassion, generosity, and practical help.

• Pray that we would care for those who are thirsty, offering both physical provision and the love of Christ.

• Pray that we would welcome the strangers in our midst, creating a community where every person feels seen, safe, and received.

• Pray that we would provide for those who are naked, reflecting God’s heart for provision and dignity.

• Pray that we would faithfully care for those who are sick, offering presence, prayer, and tangible support.

• Pray that we would visit and remember those who are in prison, honoring Jesus’ call to see Him in “the least of these.”

• Pray for specific needs from our missionary prayer list, asking God to strengthen, protect, and encourage those serving in the US and globally.

• Pray for God’s work in Democratic Republic of the Congo, including for our friends and ministry partners at the Congo Initiative.

• Pray for troubled places in our nation and around the world, asking God to bring peace, justice, healing, and hope where it is most urgently needed.

Lent is an ancient season of repentance, fasting, and renewal that begins on Ash Wednesday and culminates in the death of our Lord on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday. Historically, this 40-day season began as a journey of initiation for catechumens—those preparing for baptism and to enter the faith—as they prepared for the coming drama of Holy Week and their own entrance into the death and life of Jesus through baptism and their profession of faith on Easter Sunday.

The number 40 carries deep biblical significance, echoing the 40 years Israel spent in the wilderness and Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness. It’s from these liturgical and theological roots that we find the main themes, or dispositions, of Lent: the repentance and renewal that comes with our baptism; the development of further prayerful reliance on and contentment in God (as manna that falls); and fasting as we journey through the wilderness with Jesus. These are practices of “baptismal spirituality” centered on our union with Christ as we journey with Him towards Jerusalem, towards death… yet in death, towards resurrection and life.

In this season you'll notice a “Lenten tinge” to our liturgical life together. The season is colored in purple, which historically has pointed Christians to the purple royal robe the Roman soldiers mockingly placed on Jesus during his Passion.

We also mark the season with a “fasting” of our words, removing the word “Alleluia” from our liturgical vocabulary until Easter Sunday. This “burying of the Alleluia” (what is called the depositio in latin, literally the “depositing” of the Alleluia into the ground) is an ancient practice that enhances the season’s focus on fasting and sacrifice, and one that ends with the resurrection of the Alleluia at Easter and in Eastertide. Finally, you’ll notice some changes in our music. We’ll regularly sing a setting of the Kyrie Eleison, the ancient cry of “Lord, have mercy,” in our Wednesday evening services, while we’ll sing a setting for the Trisagion in our Sunday morning services, another ancient hymn that proclaims the sobering holiness of our God while also crying out for God’s mercy. All of these changes in our liturgical practices help us along our Lenten journey with Jesus in the wilderness and on our way to Jerusalem.

Our short Lenten evening services at Blacknall on Wednesday are designed to help us as a community travel through the penitential season of Lent together. While Sunday morning services during Lent reflect the season in many ways, they are also still celebrations of the Resurrection, where we continue to give joyful thanks through the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (which is also called the Eucharist, from the greek word Eucharistia, which means “to give (joyful) thanks”). Historically, the church has primarily traveled the Lenten road Monday through Saturday (through fasting and prayer) and then paused on Sundays to celebrate the Resurrection, which always takes precedent over our other dispositions, as we are, fundamentally, a people of the Resurrection. So come and join us midweek as we travel together through Lent in prayer and repentance.