Episcopal Relief & Development’s 2025 LENTEN Meditation Journey . . . A COMMONPLACE Lent

It is the responsibility of the abbot or prioress to have great concern and to act with all speed, discernment, and diligence…they should realize they
have undertaken care of the sick, not tyranny over the healthy. —The Rule of Benedict

At the turn of the 20th century, industrialization greatly impacted farming practices, as it did on most everything in the Western world. Big machines, fast-acting chemicals and the tyranny of the urgent replaced the slow and steady agrarian practices of the past. Over a hundred years later, we can assess the damage many of these advances have inflicted on farmland, prairies, forests, watersheds and the climate. Now, we must decide: how shall we live in the face of this harm?

This is where being a follower of a resurrected Christ helps. We are Easter people. We believe in the transfiguration of what is. In the face of death and destruction, we don’t have to start from scratch; we just need to transform what we already have. This is where regenerative agrarian practices come into the picture. Regenerative agriculture focuses on soil health, striving to work with creation rather than against it. It seeks to work backward, undoing harm by adding back and allowing what has been stripped away to flourish. We must find ways to let the land we have rest, restore and heal. We must nurture it as we nurture a tired toddler with snacks and a long nap. And we must do the same for each other.

Jesus commands us to love God with our whole hearts and to love our neighbor—and I believe this includes our neighbor soil. And yet, we don’t love ourselves well. We push and demand and extract work and exhaustion from everyone, ourselves included. If we let the soil rest, we will also have to rest ourselves. We are going to have to allow our neighbor to rest. We will have to shift our mindset of what success looks like, away from productivity and toward a rest-based flourishing.

For REFLECTION:

Who or what in your life or community needs to rest? Is it a habit, a person or a program? Who or what needs to be allowed to stop so that regeneration can begin its
holy work? 

Click here to read the introduction to the 2025 Lenten Meditation “A Commonplace Lent.”

The Lenten Meditations prepared by Episcopal Relief & Development invite readers to deepen their spiritual practice during the season of Lent, the time of preparation leading to Easter. Our 2025 meditations explore the idea of “A Commonplace Lent.” This concept reflects Episcopal Relief & Development’s tagline: “Working Together for Lasting Change.” We share in common the work of advancing lasting change in communities impacted by injustice, poverty, disaster and climate change.

We also share in common spiritual practices that strengthen our faith—prayer, worship, love, grace, service and so much more. The author explores another meaning of common in the  meditations: finding God in the common and ordinary as well as in the extraordinary mountain-top moments. Each day begins with wisdom from desert mothers and fathers, monastics and other spiritual leaders who offer insight into our common path of faithful discipleship and service. Each meditation concludes with a question for deeper reflection.

Episcopal Relief & Development is the compassionate response of The Episcopal Church to human suffering in the world. Hearing God’s call to seek and serve Christ in all persons and to respect the dignity of every human being, Episcopal Relief & Development serves to bring together the generosity of Episcopalians and others with the needs of the world.

This Lenten Meditation Journey is provided courtesy of Episcopal Relief & Development and was authored by Jerusalem Jackson Greer, co-executive director and agrarian minister for the Procter Center, an Episcopal farm, camp and retreat center in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. As former manager of evangelism and discipleship for The Episcopal Church under Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, she co-founded the Good News Garden movement and oversaw Way of Love and Evangelism initiatives for the wider church.