Lent Resource Kit 2019

Coffee with the Dean Video Series

Coffee with the Dean Lent 2019 Week 7

During the final week of Coffee with the Dean, Dean Heather Vacek and Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Steve Tuell discuss preaching from the Old Testament during Holy Week, how we're called to be guests, and using well-established prayers in worship services.

In Week 6, Dean Heather Vacek and Director of the Worship Program Kendra Buckwalter Smith discuss worship resources for planning services, why some churches consider it Palm Sunday while others approach it as Passion Sunday, and Holy Week hymn suggestions. Watch Week 6

Week 5: During this Coffee with the Dean Lent Week 5 segment, Dean Heather Vacek and Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Assessment Barbara Blodgett converse about the future of theological education, foot washing as a Lenten practice, and preaching on Isaiah 43, where God says, "I am about to do a new thing." Watch Week 5

Week 4: During Week 4, it's Dean x 2. Deans Heather Vacek and John Welch chat about the church's role in community engagement (especially during Lent), Christ's suffering and our own, and being a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5). Watch Week 4

Week 3: In this Week 3 video, Dean Heather Vacek and Professor of Urban Ministry Drew Smith converse about Lent as a season of assessment, how context influences the understanding of our faith, and the personalizing of the Easter story--both the Crucifixion and resurrection. Watch Week 3

Week 2: During this Coffee with the Dean Lent Week 2 segment, Dean Heather Vacek and Director of Enrollment and Retention Tracy Riggle Young discuss simple Lenten practices for busy families, how the church should communally commit to observing Lent, and learning through good works of fiction. Watch Week 2

Week 1: Dean Heather Vacek and the Rev. Andy Greenhow, executive assistant to the president and secretary to the Board of Directors, kick off the Coffee with the Dean Lent 2019 Series. During this Week 1 video, they discuss the stark contrast between Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday, preaching during the season of Lent, and going back to basics this Easter season. Watch Week 1

LENTEN REFLECTIONS E-BOOK

From Lent through Easter is both an important and an especially busy time for pastors and Christian leaders. In these pages, some of Pittsburgh Seminary's faculty and program directors offer fresh insights and practical ideas to foster the spiritual nourishment of your congregation—and yourself. The informal remarks of these pastor-theologians have been excerpted from "Conversations with the Dean" (a video series developed last year) on a variety of topics relevant to Christian ministry and witness at this reflective and celebratory time in the church year. May they enrich your ministry and your soul.

Download the Lenten Reflections eBook

This year we'll release a new Coffee with the Dean video each Wednesday March 6-April 17, 2019. These conversations between Dean Heather Vacek and leaders of the Seminary offer insights into the relevant lectionary passages, Lenten practices, and the scholarship and work of the faculty and administrators. Check back weekly for each new video!

BIG BOOK OF LENTEN DEVOTIONALS

The Seminary's 2019 “Big Book of Lenten Devotionals” gives you a valuable resource for personal and corporate Spiritual formation during the Lenten season. From Day 1 through Easter, each section includes multiple biblical passages from the daily lectionary, reflections based on those passages, and accompanying prayers based on each reflection. Seminary alumnae/i, faculty, staff, Board members, and students have contributed to this resource to help enrich your Lenten worship for many years to come.

Download the Big Book of Lenten Devotionals

HYMNS FOR THE LENTEN SEASON

Director of the Worship Program the Rev. Kendra Buckwalter Smith ’12/’13 provides a list of some hymns appropriate for Lenten worship, including Sundays and Holy Week. These lists include both familiar and less familiar songs for enriching and expanding your congregation’s Lenten repertoire.

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - First Sunday

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - Second Sunday

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - Third Sunday

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - Fourth Sunday

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - Fifth Sunday

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - Palm Sunday

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - Maundy Thursday

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - Good Friday

Download the Hymns for Lenten Season PDF - Easter Sunday

SYI Hymnal for Wind Instruments

The Miller Summer Youth Institute Hymnal for Wind Instruments coordinates with the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal and the 2013 Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal. This resource contains three charts for each song, and each chart shows the vocal lines from the hymnals transposed for a collection of instruments--the ones that the youth in your congregation learn to play for marching and symphonic band. Involve your kids and young adults in an upcoming service! Have them accompany your choir, perform special music in a small group, or play a solo on their flute, saxophone, trumpet, or other wind instrument.

Access the SYI Hymnal for Wind Instruments

Worship Service Inspiration

Lenten Liturgy

Kendra Smith, Director of the Worship Program

The Rev. Smith and seminarians planned this Lenten worship service at PTS. Use this service of readings, songs, Scripture, and communion as a way to imagine what it must have been like to witness Christ' crucifixion.

Download the liturgy

Right but Dead Wrong!

Edith Humphrey, William F. Orr Professor of New Testament

In this 14-minute talk, Dr. Humphrey notes that as we approach Lent we are confronted by Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25, and by Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 8 about making good judgments in life. She discusses these two passages in the light of the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel’s parable of the Shepherd and the sheep (Ezekiel 34). This talk, from an Eastern Christian perspective, comes from her podcast, “A Lamp for Today: Understanding the Old Testament with Jesus and the Apostles,” is titled “Right but Dead Wrong! Judgment Sunday,” and can be heard online. For a written version of Dr. Humphrey’s talk, with the same title, see her blog.

Don’t Be a Hero! And Other Guidelines for Choosing a Lenten Discipline

Roger Owens, Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality and Ministry

These insights by Christian spirituality and ministry professor the Rev. Dr. Roger Owens can aid you in forming Lenten disciplines that are helpful, realistic, and focused on honoring God, not yourself.

Read the blog

On Roads of Faithfulness

Christine Chakoian, Vice President for Seminary Advancement

This sermon by PTS’s Vice President for Seminary Advancement, the Rev. Dr. Christine Chakoian, focuses on repentance—its necessity and significance for the kind of faithful Christian living we concentrate our thoughts on during the Lenten season.

Read the sermon

Standing at this tomb of water . . .

Steve Tuell, James A. Kelso Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament

This reflection on Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection by Old Testament and Hebrew professor the Rev. Dr. Steve Tuell gives food for thought—and hope!—especially on Holy Saturday as we contemplate Christ as he lay in the tomb.

Read the blog

Galilee to Golgotha Slideshow

Via captioned lantern slides from the Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology’s historic collection, this Powerpoint resource, compiled by alumnus the Rev. Richard Byerly ’07, follows the Gospel of Luke’s account in taking you on a visual trip of the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, the city of Jesus’ Passion. Use this slideshow as the basis of a Sunday school class at the start of Passion Week.

Download the Galilee to Golgotha PowerPoint

Download the Galilee to Golgotha PDF

Common Questions Kids Ask about Lent, Holy Week, and Easter—and How to Answer Them!

When kids ask questions about Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, you might find that you don’t really know how to answer them! Here you’ll find suggestions for what to say in response to some of those questions. You might even use them as the basis for a children’s sermon or Sunday school lesson, or for conversation at home around the dinner table.

Download Easter questions and answers

Easter Breads – A Brief Overview and Sample Recipes

Special (mostly) sweet breads are traditional Holy Week and Easter fare from Great Britain eastward across Europe and through Russia, and also in the United States. Find out why, take a look at some recipes, and try out a few of them at home and/or your church for coffee hour—or Communion!

Download Easter bread recipes

ADDITIONAL LENTEN RESOURCES

For additional Lenten resources, visit the Seasonal Resources - Lent section of our website.

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Lent Devotional 2019