LentNYC:

Lament, Repent and Re-Imagine!

Lenten Guide 2011

Overview:
Beholding a common vision for the City, we, as followers of Christ representing the five
boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island – commit to prayer,
fasting and repentance, as well as acts of charity and justice during Lent (March 9 - April
23). Each week of Lent we commit to learning about an important issue that affects our
City, praying and reflecting on that issue in light of the Scriptures, and then acting on that
issue through either a volunteer or activist project.

Weekly themes/important dates:

 Week of Ash Wednesday: prayer and reflection (March 9-12)
 Week 1: Homelessness (March 13-19)
 Week 2: Human Trafficking (March 20-26)
 Week 3: Immigration (March 27-April 2)
 Week 4: Food Justice (April 3-9)
 Week 5: Education (April 10-16)
 Week 6: Housing (or spend Holy Week in prayer and reflection) (Apr. 17-23)
 Easter Sunday! (April 24)
 Spring Gathering of Communities: Saturday, April 30th, 1pm at Fort Tryon Park

Format:
Each week of Lent, the Lenten Guide provides an overview of issues affecting our City.
It includes prayers, information on our City, a list or relevant scripture verses,
supplemental materials, conversation starters, and a list of opportunities to get involved.

Each community/faith group commits to meeting together at least once a week to pray
and discuss these issues that directly affect our City. If you are not part of a faith
community participating in LentNYC, you may either come alongside a faith community
or find a Lenten journey partner and follow the guides in small groups of twos or threes.

Here are a couple of ways to communicate about your LentNYC experience:

 Tweet about your experience. The hashtag is #LentNYC.
 Join the discussion board at: http://s4.zetaboards.com/LentNYC/index/.
 Join the Facebook group at
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_150212268373618

The creation of the Guide was very much a collaborative effort. Thanks especially to our
friends at Habitat for Humanity-NYC, Nomi Network, The Bowery Mission, Community
Connections For Youth, and NY Faith & Justice. We also have deep gratitude to all of the
individuals and faith communities who provided insight and counsel as we sought God
and his vision for NYC.
 LentNYC: Lament, Repent, Re-Imagine
Lent is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Lent begins on Ash
Wednesday (March 9) and concludes on Holy Saturday (April 23). It is 40 days long (not
including Sundays) representing the time that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning
his public ministry. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through
prayer, fasting, repentance, and acts of charity and justice – for the commemoration of
the death and resurrection of Jesus. Lamentation (i.e., grieving sin), repentance (i.e.,
engaging in personal and social change), and re-imagining (i.e., trusting that, through
Christ, another way is possible) are the themes we are using to frame LentNYC.

Lament
The people of the Scriptures were not much different than us today. They often became
numb and desensitized to their sin and the sin around them. To awaken the people to the
hurt and pain and hopelessness of our world, the prophets often used the language of
lament. They grieved and wept over personal and social sins. Theologian John Swinton
describes lament as “a mode of resistance that can help us overcome the hopelessness and
voicelessness that result from evil and suffering.” In that prophetic tradition, we must
lament the sins that hold captive our City, such as gross economic disparity, unjust
immigration policies, a broken education system, and human trafficking. Lament,
however, isn’t meant to rest in expressions of sorrow – it has a meaningful endpoint,
which is reconciliation with a deeper love of God. Lament is both transformative and
subversive in that it is a profound statement against the world and the assumptions that
drive it – lament suggests that things do not have to be the way they are.

Repent
The original Greek word for repentance is metanoia. It means “to change” or “turn over.”
It implies a change of heart, a change of mind, and a change of direction. It requires that
we open our minds and soften our hearts so that God may enter in and heal us, make us
whole and restore us to right relationship with God. In the biblical context, repentance is
two-fold. It implies a turning from sin and turning toward God. On a personal level it
requires a change of attitude, but it also involves a shift in social practices. This is what
John the Baptist was talking about when he said to “bear fruit worthy of repentance,” i.e.,
new ways of using possessions and power.

Re-Imagine
We need to remember that we are made in the image of God. We are creative,
imaginative beings formed from dust and disorder by a creative, imaginative God.
Jeremiah, in the midst of witnessing the destruction of his world, remembered that God’s
mercies are new every morning. Even in the midst of hopelessness and despair, God is
able to rescue and restore us. Our holy God invites us into a new birth to participate in a
new creation where there is a new heaven and new earth. We are invited to participate in
this newness by hoping and trusting in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We are invited to participate in the in-breaking of the kingdom of God. And to
believe that through Christ another way truly is possible.