Lent

Detail of an angel carved into the capital of a stone column

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.

A person walks along the top of a sand dune, backlit by a bright sun shining on the horizon

A New Way to Think About Fasting During Lent

Fasting isn’t just about food. It’s also about attention: putting aside distracting habits to focus on what’s essential and true.

Lent with Kids: How to Start a New Family Tradition

Lent is full of opportunities for deeper connection with God. Here are some simple ways young families can prepare for Easter together.

Rays of sunlight across a leather-bound copy of The Book of Common Prayer

How Holy Week Services Help Us Walk With Jesus

We ground ourselves in the scriptural accounts of Jesus’s life because this ancient story reminds us death is not the final word.

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.

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.

A painting of the disciple Thomas reaching for Jesus's open wound, inside which we see verses of Scripture

Faith EducationThe Rev. Yein KimApril 24, 2025

Doubt Is the Place God Meets Us

The disciple Thomas, who refuses to believe the news of Jesus’s resurrection without seeing it for himself, is known as a doubter. But in focusing on Thomas's uncertainty, we miss a deeper truth. “Doubt is not at odds with faith; it’s part of it!” writes the Rev. Yein Kim. Jesus isn’t angry when we ask questions. On the contrary, he meets us where we are and gives us exactly what we need to believe.

A figure approaches and peeks through a doorway, through which we can see a bright golden texture

Faith EducationThe Rev. Matthew WelschApril 17, 2025

The Impossible Story of Easter

“It’s so easy to look at the state of our lives or the world around us and assume the worst,” writes the Rev. Matthew Welsch. But Christians are called to orient our lives around a different reality: Death does not win. Even when it seems impossible, Jesus brings new life.

A lone figure walks in one direction while their reflection walks in the other direction

Faith EducationKathy Bozzuti-JonesApril 10, 2025

The Paradox of Being Human

The narrative arc of Palm Sunday invites us to sit with our dual natures: Like the crowds who go from celebrating Jesus to calling for his execution, we, too, can be at odds within ourselves. We joyfully welcome God into our hearts and then reject that same God — often when we need God most. “The desire to connect and the impulse to resist,” writes Kathy Bozzuti-Jones, “coexist within us.”

Green leaves sprout from a barren branch as a magenta butterfly hovers nearby

Faith EducationSummerlee StatenApril 4, 2025

Death Is Not the Last Word

Our Gospel reading this week features a sweeping drama encapsulated in a dinner hosted by Lazarus, a man Jesus raised from the dead mere days before. “It is a story bathed in the light of a much greater revelation,” writes Summerlee Staten, “the truth that God is the God of resurrection,” not just for some, but for all who rest in Jesus.

A figure stands with open arms and hands while another figure draw close with head bowed

Faith EducationYein KimMarch 27, 2025

God’s Welcoming Embrace

What if the Parable of the Prodigal Son is actually about two brothers, the reckless and the rule-follower, each lost in his own way? We, too, lose our way searching for fulfillment in places we’ll never find it, writes the Rev. Yein Kim, “but God has already found us.”

A figure struggles to push a cart filled with seemingly heavy boxes while a figure of Jesus stands by, ready to help

Faith EducationPatrick HaleyMarch 21, 2025

Acknowledging Our Limits

In times of desperation, we often turn to self-preservation rather than surrender to God’s protection. “But just because we fail to recognize our need,” writes Patrick Haley, “doesn’t mean we need God any less.” Lent helps us see we can’t do it all on our own.

The shape of a globe, filled with images of newspaper headlines and a person staring at their phone, sits inside a cube

Faith EducationKathy Bozzuti-JonesMarch 13, 2025

Facing Our Fears

“In a world of assaults on human rights and liberties, in a world that serves up threat after threat to our very lives,” writes Kathy Bozzuti-Jones, we must face the despair around us head-on and boldly declare, “God is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear?”

A black-and-white photograph of a feather, inside which we see an etching of two figures comforting one another

Faith EducationSummerlee StatenMarch 6, 2025

In the Shelter of God’s Wing

When we allow ourselves to be enveloped in the refuge of God’s love no matter what’s happening around us, “we work to create a more just world from a posture of serenity, not fear,” writes Summerlee Staten.