Published on
March 4, 2011
An overview of books that are useful for lent preparation, meditation, and reflection.

The 40-day season of Lent offers a fresh opportunity to begin a new practice, to commit ourselves to daily habits of scripture-reading and meditation.  These devotional books may become helpful guides for deeper reflection, as we journey with Christ to the cross and prepare to celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death on Easter.

The Worship Sourcebook is usually the first book we turn to for planning worship.  Parts J through N, pp. 552-654, offer sample prayers and other worship resources for each act of worship during Lent, Passion Week, and Easter.

Seeking God's Face is a new resourse that provides an entire year of daily prayers and readings from Psalm and other scriptures.

Talking with God, Henry Baron (Exxel Publishing, 2010) gives expression to themes of pain and beauty in this new collection of intimate conversations with God.

Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time, Dorothy C. Bass (Jossey-Bass, 2001) offers reflections on what it means to practice keeping Sabbath and moving through the liturgical cycles of repentance and grace.

Reflecting the Glory: Meditations for Living Christ’s Life in the World, N.T. Wright (Augsburg, 1998) is a devotional book of brief meditations showing how we can reflect the glory of God by modeling our life after Christ. The book includes a study guide for personal or small group reflection and is ideal for the season of Lent or any other time.

Reliving the Passion, Walter Wangerin (Zondervan, 1992) Wangerin retells the Passion story (from Mark's version) and gives it new relevance for today's reader. A forty-day devotional reader for the Lenten season.

The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard (Harper, 1991) An in-depth look at how spiritual disciplines form us into Christ-likeness.

A Lent Sourcebook: The Forty Days; edited by J. Robert Baker, Evelyn Kaehler, Peter Mazer (Liturgy Training Publications, 1990) A 2-volume sourcebook filled with scripture, prayers, song texts, and quotes from various sources. Book One begins with Ash Wednesday and takes you to the Monday of the third week of Lent; Book Two goes from Tuesday of the third week of Lent to Holy Thursday. A third volume centers on the Triduum, Good Friday through Easter.

Kneeling in Jerusalem, Ann Weems (John Knox Press, 1992) This collection of poetry offers thoughtful insights as we journey with Christ to Jerusalem and the cross.

Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster (Harper, 1988) This book explores the "classic Disciplines," or central spiritual practices, of the Christian faith. Along the way, Foster shows that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found.

Woman, Why are You Weeping?  Daily Meditations for Lent, John Timmerman (Liguori Publications, 2007) A Professor of English at Calvin College, John Timmerman writes 40 meditations probing Christ’s love for us and our love for him.

Forty:  Devotions for Lent, Kory Plockmeyer (Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2012) This Lenten devotional explores the biblical motif of "forty" through the stories of Noah, Moses, the exodus, Elijah, and Jonah.