The lectionary for Year A offers us many stories of Jesus encountering people who are seeking: Nicodemus comes to him in the veil of night, he approaches a Samaritan woman at a well, he heals a man born without sight. In these stories, each person is seeking a new beginning, a different life, a deeper faith. What unfolds is an exchange filled with questions and exploration. Often, an unveiling occurs—assumptions are disrupted, a new perspective is revealed, mystery grows.
And so, we’ve crafted a Lenten series founded on questions. Many of our weekly questions feel restorative (“Can these bones live?”). Some feel like a charge or challenge (“Who will you listen to?”). Some questions are hopeful and curious (“How do we begin again?”). Our questions won't necessarily lead to answers, but they can help us find clarity and a new perspective. Ultimately, we pray they lead to a new beginning, a restoration, a wider grace.
Like the characters in our Lenten scriptures, we are also seeking many things: clarity, connection, wonder, justice, balance. We are seeking our calling, the sacred, and how to live as a disciple. Throughout the turbulence of the past few years, many of us are asking big questions about our lives and our faith. We hope this series will help us unpack some of those big questions in ways that are honest and faithful. Throughout this season, we hope you will continually ask yourself: what am I seeking? What is God seeking?
This Lent, we invite you to engage in the spiritual practice of seeking. We encourage you to stay curious, open, and nimble. We hope you will soften your assumptions and expand your perspectives. We pray that these questions will create a safe space to explore—to be drawn more deeply into the fullness of life, into the heart of God.
ABOUT THE BUNDLE:
This is a bundle of 11 multimedia ministry resources for the season of Lent–Easter, following the RCL for Year A. Download our free theme infographic to learn more about our theme, Seeking. 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: 2023.
what’s included in the bundle:
(All of the following are included in the bundle, but each resource is also available separately for individual purchase)
1. Seeking: LENT DEVOTIONAL BOOKLET
(Individual Price: $18–$85)
Beginning with Ash Wednesday, this weekly devotional follows the Revised Common Lectionary (Year A) through Easter Sunday. Each week offers commentary, poetry, visual art, hymns, and reflection prompts. 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. Bruce Reyes-Chow and Rev. Danielle Shroyer, and art and reflections by our guest artists, Rev. T. Denise Anderson and Carmelle Beaugelin.
2. SEEKING: WORDS FOR WORSHIP FOR LENT–EASTER (YEAR A)
(Individual Price: $25)
A collection of over 40 prayers, this resource provides fresh language for worship inspired by the RCL Year A scriptures and our Lent theme, Seeking. We’ve included liturgy for: Ash Wednesday, the 1st-5th Sundays in Lent, Palm/Passion Sunday, 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 benediction for the series and Communion liturgy for Easter Sunday.
3. SEEKING: DAILY DEVOTIONAL CARDS FOR LENT
(Individual Price: $7–$55)
Beginning with Ash Wednesday and continuing through the first few days of Easter, use these daily devotional cards to expand and deepen your spiritual walk through Lent. Each card has a daily question and a prayer. You might place the stack of cards by your bed to read first thing in the morning or right before you sleep at night. Perhaps use the cards as prompts to journal and reflect. Day by day, may these prayers remind you that, as you seek God, God is always seeking you.
4. Seeking: SERMON PLANNING GUIDE FOR LENT–EASTER (YEAR A)
(Individual Price: $20)
For the Revised Common Lectionary scriptures for Ash Wednesday–Easter Sunday (Year A), this guide offers biblical commentary, theme connections, guiding questions, and recommendations for further reading. This guide features biblical commentary on the weekly gospel scriptures in light of our Seeking theme by Rev. Danielle Shroyer and Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow.
We hope this guide is your starting point for shaping your sermons, worship services, and scripture study classes.
5. SEEKING: CHILDREN’S Curriculum for Lent–EASTER (Year A)
(Individual Price: $20)
This curriculum, written with children ages 5-10 in mind, invites children to engage in the RCL Year A gospel texts for Lent in light of our Seeking theme. Each of the 7 lessons includes a main idea, a storytelling script with suggested “stage directions” for visual storytelling, time for questions and discussion, a prayer, and suggestions for games, books, and creative expression to further engage the theme. Use the curriculum for Sunday School, Children’s moments in worship, or Lent take-home kits.
6. SEEKING: CHILDREN’S Bulletins for Lent–EASTER (Year A)
(Individual Price: $20)
To engage all ages in worship, these printable children’s bulletins invite children to look and listen to all that is happening in worship and use their holy imagination. Each week’s bulletin includes art inspired by the gospel story from the Year A Revised Common Lectionary, a main idea and short retelling of the gospel, a closer look at the Seeking logo, reflection prompts, words to listen for during worship, and space for drawing and coloring in response to prompts.
Print and fold the bulletins to distribute to children or place in worship bags each week.
7. SEEKING: VISUAL ART COLLECTION FOR LENT–EASTER (YEAR A)
(Individual Price: $75)
This is a collection of 15 visuals inspired by the RCL scripture texts for Ash Wednesday–Easter Sunday, Year A. These art pieces, created in a variety of mediums—paper lace, acrylic and oil painting, collage, and digital media—are visual meditations on these scriptures. 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, Carmelle Beaugelin and Rev. T. Denise Anderson.
8. SEEKING: A SERVICE OF SILENCE AND SORROW FOR GOOD FRIDAY
(Individual Price: $12)
This complete service for Good Friday, adaptable for in-person or online worship, invites worshipers into an intimate and vulnerable space for silence and sorrow, placing worshipers “in the round” and using a single familiar hymn to remove the need for bulletins. 3-minute silences, during which the worship space grows progressively darker, are placed throughout the service to remember the three hours Christ was on the cross.
Liturgy by guest contributor Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow.
9. Seeking: 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 Seeking theme with your community. Download includes beautifully-designed logos 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.
10. SEEKING: POETRY FOR LENT
(Individual Price: $15)
This collection of 10 poetic prayers explores our Seeking weekly sub-themes in light of the RCL (Year A) scriptures for Lent–Easter. Honest and intimate, these poems offer meditations that we hope become prayers of your own. We have also included weekly poetry writing prompts as a creative way to engage with scripture and our weekly sub-themes throughout the Lenten season.
I’m not sure exactly how we begin again,
but I know that moths wrap themselves in silk,
and after quite some time,
after many long nights,
after days spent alone,
they break out of their shell.
They pull themselves out under open sky,
and they spend the rest of their days chasing the light.
—Rev. Sarah (Are) Speed, excerpt from “How Do We Begin Again?”
11. BONUS RESOURCE—SEEKING: THEME SONG (by Spencer Lajoye)
(Individual Price: $25)
We hope our Seeking theme song written and produced by Spencer LaJoye helps connect your heart and soul to our Seeking theme. You are welcome to embed the included music video in your live-streamed or online worship.
"I became kind of enamored with the idea of a magical place called 'The Land of the Seeking,' which you can only get to via the shadow of your doubts, the moment a candle burns out, the point where you’re so lost you just keep going instead of turning around, etc. The idea that there’s an entire welcoming 'land' for us when we feel place-less and questioning and confused…that was appealing to me.”
—Spencer LaJoye
(Note: The un-watermarked video is now included with all Seeking bundle purchases. If you previously purchased the bundle, no need to buy the video—navigate to the Patron Access Page to download it.)
Free Supplemental materials
To help you implement all of the resources, we will progressively release the following free supplements:
bonus add-ons:
This is a collection of 6 original hymns inspired by our weekly sub-themes and texts, 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.
CONTENT CALENDAR FOR SOCIAL MEDIA (AVAILABLE NOW TO ALL BUNDLE PATRONS!)
To support you in sharing this Lenten series with your community online, we have curated a content calendar for you to use throughout the season. The calendar includes carefully-selected images, graphics, and excerpts from the Seeking resources 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 available only to bundle patrons—scroll to the bottom of the Patron Access Page to get it.
on our blog:
Communion liturgy for the seeking theme
We’ve offered general Communion liturgy for the Seeking theme for you to use/adapt for whenever you share Communion in worship throughout the season.
Songs FOR SEEKING: Music ideas for worship
We’ve curated a long list of music ideas—both traditional and contemporary—for worship, fellowship, and listening.
As a companion to the children’s curriculum and children’s bulletins included in the Seeking bundle, this blog post explores ideas to creatively involve your youngest congregants in worship each week throughout Lent.
In place of full liturgy for this holy day, we are providing a free worship outline for you to adapt or add onto. We also have several creative liturgies from past years that you may wish to use or adapt for this season.
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR YOUTH
This simple discussion guide helps leaders unpack the weekly scriptures and questions with youth.
Seeking Lent: a free planning webinar
On February 1st, 2023, we hosted a Lent Planning Webinar for anyone using (or interesting in using) our Seeking Lent series. Watch this recording to hear more about the theme and get ideas and inspiration.
seeking banners
for adornment
New printed-to-order items to adorn your sacred space! (Not included in the bundle)
Meet our guest contributors
GUEST WRITERS
Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow
Commentary & liturgy writer
Bruce (he/him) is an active speaker and writer on topics of faith, culture, race, and technology. He is the host of the podcast, “BRC & Friends,” and the author of five books. His latest is, In Defense of Kindness (Chalice Press, 2021), and he is currently working on his next book, Everything Good about God is True: Choosing Faith (Broadleaf Books, Spring 2024). Bruce has been an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) since 1995 and has pastored five churches and has been active in local politics in the San Francisco Bay Area for nearly three decades. He is also a Senior Consultant and Coach with Convergence and is a Gallup-Certified CliftonStrengths Coach. Bruce has an active online presence and can be found on most social networks via @breyeschow with all current links here: linktr.ee/breyeschow. Reyes-chow.com
Rev. Danielle Shroyer
Commentary & self-reflection tool writer
Danielle (she/her) is an author, speaker, spiritual director, and former pastor. A founding member in the emerging church movement, Danielle served as the pastor of one of the nation’s first independent emerging communities of faith for nearly a decade. Her primary goal as a pastor was to help people going through a season of spiritual deconstruction find healthy, sustainable, and meaningful ways to reconstruct their faith. Danielle has a particular heart for the spiritual-but-not-religious, and has long advocated for fresh approaches to spiritual community. Danielle is the author of Original Blessing: Putting Sin in its Rightful Place (Fortress Press, 2016), Where Jesus Prayed: Illuminations on the Lord’s Prayer in the Holy Land (Paraclete Press, 2016), and The Boundary-Breaking God: An Unfolding Story of Hope and Promise (Jossey-Bass, 2009). She holds a B.A. from Baylor University and an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. danielleshroyer.com
Guest Artists
Rev. T. Denise Anderson
Visual artist
Denise (she/her) is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and The Director for Compassion, Peace, and Justice Ministries at the Presbyterian Mission Agency. 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 (she/her) is a Haitian-American visual artist, Human-Centered Design Consultant, and "holy cheerleader" based in Princeton, NJ. She holds an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and as an artist, her creative focus includes abstract impressionism/expressionism painting inspired by Afro-Latin Caribbean art styles and Christian spirituality. She is the Founder and Lead Curating Artist at BeauFolio Studio, an emerging arthouse at the intersection of sacred art, human-centered design, and restorative equity. Carmellebeaugelin.com
Spencer Lajoye
Musician
Spencer LaJoye (they/them) is an award-winning folk/pop singer-songwriter, violinist, and vocal loop artist in Boston, Massachusetts, who believes everyone is made of the good stuff. They make music to remember what it means to be human, to find connection in a time of disconnection, and to feel something in a world gone numb. Spencer’s latest EP, Remember The Oxygen, was written before, during, and following their coming out as trans/gender nonbinary. Their newest single, "Plowshare Prayer," went viral among hurting and healing people around the world before the studio recording was released. It poses an answer to the question: what would a prayer sound like if used as a plowshare instead of a sword? What would a prayer sound like if it made space for actual people instead of trying to change them? spencerlajoye.com
