Lent

Lent is a season for reflection and repentance. It’s a time of sacred stillness when we pay attention to the ways God is at work in the world and within us — not apart from our pain and sadness, but in and through the very things that make us human.

Remembering the time Jesus spent in the wilderness before beginning his ministry, some Christians adopt Lenten disciplines like giving up an item of food, starting a prayer practice, taking a break from technology, or simply setting aside time each day to be present to God and the people around them.

Lent, from an Old English word meaning “spring,” spans forty days: from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, excluding Sundays. In 2025, Lent begins on March 5.

Ash Wednesday Services

March 5

8am | Liturgy of Ash Wednesday
The Liturgy of Ash Wednesday, with the Litany of Penitence and Imposition of Ashes.

12:05pm | Liturgy of Ash Wednesday Livestreamed
The Liturgy of Ash Wednesday, with Holy Communion, the Litany of Penitence, the Imposition of Ashes, hymns, and music by Trinity Choir. The Rt. Rev. Matthew Heyd, Bishop of New York, is our guest preacher.

5:30pm | Liturgy of Ash Wednesday (en español)
The Liturgy of Ash Wednesday, with the Litany of Penitence and Imposition of Ashes. This service, offered in Spanish, will include a worship bulletin in Spanish and English.

Family Lenten Workshop

Sunday, March 9 | 9:45am | Trinity Commons

Parents — are you looking for ways to help your child experience Lent and prepare for Easter? Join us for a special Family Lenten Workshop, where you’ll learn how to observe the season at home and cultivate practices that nurture your child’s faith. All families will participate in a Paschal candle craft and receive a children’s book about the season, along with take-home devotional prompts and a Lenten calendar. Parents and kids are invited to attend this breakfast and workshop together during Sunday School; there will be no drop-off. Open to all families enrolled in Sunday School programs.  

Lenten Meditations: Remorse to Redemption 

Thursday, March 20 | 6:30pm | St. Paul’s Chapel  

Trinity Choir leads the audience through the Lenten journey, from Ash Wednesday’s reminders of human mortality to the redemption of Christ’s death on the cross. Focusing on countertenor, tenor, and bass voices, this performance includes powerful, contemplative works by Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Jonathan Woody, and John Sheppard. 

Ash Wednesday: Lent Begins

Ash Wednesday, along with Good Friday, is one of the two most solemn days of the Christian calendar, the day the Church starts the penitential season of Lent. Ash Wednesday symbolizes two seemingly contradictory realities: mortality and resurrection.