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

One cannot simply open his eyes and see. The work of understanding involves not only dialectic, but a long labor of acceptance, obedience, liberty and love. —Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

There is nothing quite like farm living to teach you about the true essence of each liturgical season, including, or maybe especially, Lent.

Lent is a season for introspection. For repentance. For remembering the wilderness of the soul, for pondering a life without hope. It is a season for simplicity, waiting and preparing. It isn’t a 40-day diet, exercise plan, or a chance to become more organized or organic (at last!). Instead, it’s a time to peel away the layers of distraction that blur our ability to see the intersection of the holy and the common. On the farm, in this season of Lent, we are keenly at the mercy of Mother Nature and Father Time. It may rain. It may snow. It may freeze. The sun may shine hot and bright. The bulbs might break free from the earth too soon, a snowstorm may shut down all work, the earth may remain hard, and the mud might be hip-deep. The transition from winter to spring is full of false starts and delayed plans.

During this time, I begin to haunt the garden stores for succulents. Over the past few years, these funny rubber plants have become my Lenten icons, a way to bridge the yet-not- yet gap between Epiphany and Easter. These succulents provide little bursts of green scattered throughout the house, and their steady and low-drama existence provides reminders that good things come out of patience and contentment. If I can let my plans and my timing be laid low, setting aside the distractions of what could be and cultivating gratitude and love for what is instead, I might see and understand the goodness of God’s timing that much more.

For REFLECTION:

This Lent, consider the upcoming or desired transitions in your life or your faith community’s life. How can you cultivate gratitude for what is instead of focusing on
what could be?

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.