The origins of Lent were that one was to leave their old life behind to fast and prepare to be baptized into a new way of living. In essence, this was a practice of stepping away from corrupt power, scarcity mentality, and empty rituals in order to live a more expansive and full life of faith. And so, our Lenten theme, Full to the Brim, is an invitation—into a radically different Lent, into a full life. It’s an invitation to be authentically who you are, to counter scarcity and injustice at every turn, to pour out even more grace wherever it is needed. When we allow ourselves to be filled to the brim with God’s lavish love, that love spills over. It reaches beyond ourselves; like water, it rushes and flows, touching everything in its path.
The scriptures for this Lenten season (in the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C) are filled with parables and promises of God’s abundant and expansive grace. Jesus as a mother hen, a prodigal son welcomed home, a fig tree nurtured with care and hope, precious oil poured out lovingly and freely, stones shouting out with praise—these sacred texts are brimming with a gospel of grace. We’ve done nothing to deserve or earn this grace, and yet, like water, it spills over.
Full to the Brim reminds us to live fully—as we pursue justice and hope, or express grief and gratitude. If love is our beginning, how can we live our lives led by love’s promises? And so, this Lent, let us trust—fully—that we belong to God. Let us increase our capacity to receive and give grace. Let us discover the expansive life God dreams for us.
ABOUT THE BUNDLE:
This is a bundle of 11 multimedia ministry resources for the season of Lent–Easter, following the RCL for Year C. Download our free theme infographic to learn more about our theme, Full to the Brim. We bundle our resources because they often overlap in use, and because we want to equip you with comprehensive materials for a whole season. Each resource is also available separately. Scroll down this page & click the “Resource Details” buttons to learn more about each individual resource.
Note: All resources are digital files. Release date: 2022.
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THE BUNDLE:
(All of the following resources are included in the bundle, but each resource is also available separately for individual purchase)
1. Full to the Brim Lent DEVOTIONAL BOOKLET
(Individual Price: $18–$85)
Beginning with Ash Wednesday, this weekly devotional follows the Revised Common Lectionary (Year C) through Easter Sunday. Each week offers commentary, poetry, visual art, and written reflections, as well as hymns and journaling prompts for Holy Week. We encourage you to walk through these weekly readings at your own pace throughout the season, following the rhythm that works best for you. The devotional features biblical commentary by our guest writers, Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia and Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt, and art and reflections by our guest artists, Rev. T. Denise Anderson and Carmelle Beaugelin.
2. Full to the Brim Words for Worship for LENT–EASTER (YEAR C)
(Individual Price: $25)
A collection of over 57 prayers, this resource provides fresh language for worship inspired by the RCL scriptures and our Lent theme, Full to the Brim: An expansive Lent. We’ve included liturgy for: Ash Wednesday, the 1st-5th Sundays in Lent, Palm/Passion Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.
For each of these holy days, we provide: A call to worship, a call to confession, a prayer of confession, words of forgiveness, a prayer for illumination, and an affirmation of faith. We have also included a general communion liturgy (for use any week of Lent), communion liturgy for Easter, and a benediction for the series. We hope you will copy/paste or adapt these prayers for your corporate worship (with credit).
3. Full to the Brim DAILY DEVOTIONAL CARDS FOR LENT
(Individual Price: $7–$55)
Beginning with Ash Wednesday and continuing through Easter Sunday, use these daily devotional cards to expand and deepen your spiritual walk through Lent. Day by day, may these prayers remind you of God’s expansive love that fills us to the brim.
You might place the stack of devotional cards by your bed to read first thing in the morning or right before you sleep at night. Display the cards that resonate with you the most so you continue to see their reminders. Perhaps use the cards as prompts to journal and reflect, either on your own or as part of a small group. The reminders and prayers are especially great for middle & high school youth, college students, and young adults.
4. Full to the Brim SERMON PLANNING GUIDE FOR LENT–EASTER (YEAR c)
(Individual Price: $20)
For the Revised Common Lectionary scriptures for Ash Wednesday–Easter Sunday (Year C), this guide offers biblical commentary, theme connections, guiding questions, and links to further reading. This guide features original biblical commentary on the weekly gospel scriptures in light of our Full to the Brim theme by Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia and Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt. We encourage you to use this guide as a starting point for your text study each week. We also provide a fillable Sermon Planning Grid to help you map out your ideas for your series.
5. Full to the Brim Reflective Assessment Tool for Expansive living
(Individual Price: $7)
Lent is a season that invites us deeper into intentional living. This tool is designed to help you do just that. Complete the wellness wheel and reflections on your own or within a small group to help you reflect on where you are in your life and how you hope to grow throughout this Lenten season, and finish by committing to next steps and closing in prayer.
6. Full to the Brim Creative Liturgy for Maundy Thursday
(Individual Price: $12)
Maundy Thursday witnesses God’s invitations to encounter, to connect, and to be transformed. Through three movements in this creative liturgy, worshipers will visit the baptismal font, trusting in their goodness and God’s loving claim on their lives; they will experience the nourishment of the Table, encountering Jesus’s body through ritual; and they will explore how to live out Jesus’s new commandment to love others as he has loved us. This complete service can be adapted for in-person or online use. Liturgy created by our guest contributor, Adrian White.
7. Full to the Brim VISUAL ART COLLECTION FOR LENT–EASTER (YEAR C)
(Individual Price: $80)
This is a collection of 16 visuals inspired by the RCL scripture texts for Ash Wednesday–Easter Sunday, Year C. These art pieces, created in a variety of mediums—paper lace, acrylic and oil painting, hand-cut block prints, wood and acrylic inlay, and digital media—are visual meditations on these texts. With each visual, we include written statements from the artists. We also provide a visio divina bible study guide for you to use these images in a group session incorporating the ancient Benedictine spiritual practice of "divine seeing." This collection includes artwork created by our guest artists, Rev. T. Denise Anderson and Carmelle Beaugelin.
8. Full to the Brim POETRY FOR LENT
(Individual Price: $15)
This collection of 11 poetic prayers explores our Full to the Brim weekly sub-themes in light of the RCL (Year C) scriptures for Lent–Easter. Honest and intimate, these poems offer meditations that we hope become prayers of your own. Adapt them for worship liturgy, use them to open and close programming events, or print them as they are for members in your community to read and return to throughout the Lenten season.
Grace is the ocean
that softens the edges.
Grace is rain in the desert—
you’re not sure whether to
laugh, cry, or dance.
Grace is a miracle,
all by itself.
In a scorekeeping world,
grace doesn’t play by the rules.
—Rev. Sarah (Are) Speed, excerpt from “What Doesn’t Play by the Rules”
9. Full to the Brim BRANDING BUNDLE
(Individual Price: $45)
Whether you are a church with a full-time communications staff or one whose pastor handles all communications (on top of everything else), this branding bundle provides everything you need to effectively share the Full to the Brim theme with your community. Download includes beautifully-designed logos, original photography, and theme graphics for print and web so you can use them for worship projection, bulletins, study materials, church publications, or for advertising events on your website and social media platforms.
“For the theme photography, I selected a ceramic vase created by my mother-in-law, Becky Garrity, and took it to a creek nearby my house. I gently submerged the vessel and photographed the water rushing in, spilling out, and bubbling over the rim. I was captivated by the movement and energy, the colors and textures. It felt almost sacramental to capture the simple beauty of these elements, both natural and handcrafted. When I look at these photos, they remind me of a grace that is abundant, unruly, ever-flowing, and rushing to surround me and fill me to the brim.” —Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity, photographer of theme photography
10. BONUS RESOURCE: FULL TO THE BRIM THEME SONG
(Individual Price: $25)
This video features our Full to the Brim Lent theme song written and produced by Paul Demer. We hope this music video helps connect your heart and soul to our Full to the Brim theme. You are welcome to embed this music video in your live-streamed or online worship. We’ve also included lead sheet music for the song as well as the .mp3 recording.
Note: The un-watermarked video is now included with all Full to the Brim bundle purchases. If you previously purchased the bundle, no need to buy the video—navigate to the Patron Access Page to download it.
11. BONUS RESOURCE: CONTENT CALENDAR FOR SOCIAL MEDIA (Available now to all bundle patrons)
To support you in sharing this Lenten series with your community online, we’ve mapped out a content calendar for you to use throughout the season. The calendar includes carefully-selected images, graphics, and excerpts for you to post on your social media platforms so you can share the series with your larger community, near and far. The calendar is now available to all bundle patrons. If you are a bundle patron, navigate to the bottom of the Patron Access Page to find and use this resource.
Free Supplemental resources
We hope our resources are nourishing and generative, inviting you to get creative and engage deeply. To help you implement all of these materials, we’ve progressively released the following free supplements:
This is a collection of 4 original hymns inspired by our Holy Week sub-themes and written by Rev. Anna Strickland. Each hymn offers new words to sing with familiar, public domain tunes. Download the sheet music to include these hymns in your corporate worship. Note: These hymns are also included in our devotional booklet for individuals and families to sing at home.
We’ve curated a long list of music ideas—both traditional and contemporary—for worship, fellowship, and listening. We’ve outlined worship music ideas for each Sunday in Lent—plus Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday—that fit well with our Full to the Brim theme and weekly sub-themes.
Rev. Anna Strickland has crafted creative children’s lessons to complement our Full to the Brim theme and weekly sub-themes—perfect for worship or engagement at home.
MEET OUR GUEST CONTRIBUTORS
GUEST WRITERS
Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia
Commentary writer
Larissa (she/her) is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and founder of Courageous Spaces, inviting others to co-create spaces for disruption, transformation, and change. She also currently works as a consultant with Vandersall Collective. Larissa has dedicated her life and career to racial and gender justice, and is interested in the ways that the intersections of all parts of one’s identity can be embraced as strengths. This work brought her to denominational leadership, including service as the Vice-Moderator of the 221st General Assembly of the PC(USA) and as a current member of the General Assembly Committee on Representation. She’s a founding board member of the Collective Foundation, an organization researching and providing training concerning the fundraising practices in Christian communities of color. CourageousSpaces.com
Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt
Commentary writer
Ashley (she/her) is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She obtained her Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, a Master’s in Theater Arts from the University of Pittsburgh, and a BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. An outspoken advocate for youth ministry and social justice, Ashley recently served as the Co-Moderator of the Board of Directors for More Light Presbyterians and has written for the NEXT Church blog, Believe Out Loud, and the Progressive Youth Ministry Blog on Patheos. She also starred in two theological web series: "Theology Unhinged" and "A Quick Chat with Rev. Ashley." Her passion for ritual, worship, and theatre have not only pushed her to use theatrical and improvisational elements in services but also to respond to God as a worship light and sound designer, as well as a Zoom worship and ritual designer and technician. ashleybirt.com
Adrian White
Liturgy writer
Adrian (they/them) is a writer, Texan, and third year MDiv student at Vanderbilt Divinity School. They grew up in the PC(USA) and feel called to the work of bringing to life the church’s growing commitments to the inclusion and thriving of all children of God! They are proud to serve on the board of More Light Presbyterians. In Nashville, Adrian serves on staff at Woodland Presbyterian Church and organizes with Southerners On New Ground (SONG). When not working and studying, Adrian enjoys playing board games with their spouse Wynn and taking long walks with their dog Bex.
Each of our guest writers either currently or have recently served as board members for More Light Presbyterians. More Light is an organization working toward the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in the life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA)—and in society. Learn more at: mlp.org
GUEST ARTISTS
Rev. T. Denise Anderson
Visual artist
Denise (she/her) is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the acting Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries. A graduate of Howard University School of Divinity, she is the former Co-Moderator of the 222nd General Assembly (2016) of the Presbyterian Church (USA). A nationally-recognized writer and blogger, Denise’s work has appeared in The Christian Century, The Huffington Post, These Days, and on her own blog, SOULa Scriptura: To Be Young, Gifted, and Reformed: soulascriptura.com. Denise writes, preaches, and engages on issues of social justice, diversity, and reconciliation. As a gifted visual artist, she creates art that explores themes of spirituality, history, religion, and race: tdandersonart.com.
Carmelle Beaugelin
Visual artist
Carmelle Beaugelin (she/her) describes herself as an “Afro-Latin, West-Indian, Haitian-American, Miami-an” artist currently residing in Princeton, NJ. Her daily work swims in the waters of human flourishing and spiritual formation at the intersection of Christian Spirituality & Innovation. She strives to create work that engages some form of “God-talk.” Her art moves towards the exploration of Visio Divina (divine vision) via theological themes related to redemptive transformation, the concept of "home," hyphenated ethnic identities of diasporic communities, and human flourishing as a continued expression of divine creativity (Imago Dei). Her larger vocation is to point to the dignity, self-awareness, and spiritual connectedness of creative expression in the lives of those who carry hyphenated identities, particularly those navigating within what it means to both black and foreign in America. In the daytime, she works to champion the voices of young people and individuals who have been given Vision Divina towards their personal and communal flourishing. carmellebeaugelin.com
Paul Demer
Musician
Paul Demer (he/him) is a singer-songwriter, record producer, outreach musician, and worship leader. Paul connects with diverse audiences in living rooms, bars, churches, nursing homes, and hospitals in his hometown of Dallas, TX, and across the country. Passionate about the craft of songwriting, he has released several albums of original music, and was recently selected as a finalist in Kerrville Folk Festival's New Folk songwriting competition. In addition to producing his own records, Paul has produced over 50 tracks for fellow singer-songwriters. He has played over 1,500 concerts in local nursing homes and hospitals, in partnership with the Dallas non-profit Texas Winds Musical Outreach, and he currently serves as a Music Minister at St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral. Paul and his wife, Trisha, live in Lower Greenville, Dallas. When not making music, he enjoys reading, spending time outside, and good conversation. pauldemer.com