40 days of lent: Family Faith Practices

Have you ever celebrated lent with your family? Maybe not at all? Well, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Check out some ideas Pastor Becca has for how your family can celebrate Lent together this year.

1. Read Jesus’ Sermon on The Mount as a family. Matthew 5-7 2. Pray for your enemies or someone who has persecuted you. 3. Don’t waste any food today 4. Pay 3 people a sincere compliment 5. Tithe your time: Spend 10% of your time (2.5 hours) serving at church. (This could be weeding the parking lot, cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming, or asking a pastor for a way to serve) 6. Listen to someone who seems lonely 7. Take 5 minutes of silence before you eat dinner 8. Celebrate! Enjoy a family game night 9. Do someone else’s chore for them without being asked 10. Spend 10 minutes writing out a prayer to God 11. Forgive someone 12. Tithe your money: Give 10% of the money you made that week to the church, helping people in need in the name of Jesus. 13. Thank God for 20 blessings in your life 14. Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while 15. Give up social media for a day 16. Tell someone in your family something you love about them 17. Ask someone to pray for you 18. Ask to pray for someone 19. Take communion 20. Buy a couple $5 gift cards to gas stations to give to the families living in their cars at the church 21. Purge your closets, donating unnecessary items to the goodwill 22. Apologize 23. Donate some books or art supplies to your local elementary school 24. Write someone an email, telling them you appreciate them. 25. Turn off your T.V. and go outside 26. Pray for your church 27. Bake cookies for someone 28. Read Psalm 139 as a family before dinner 29. Ask God for help 30. Introduce yourself, or reconnect with one of your neighbors 31. Have someone over for dinner 32. Walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation to work/school 33. Thank someone who is in leadership for their service (Like a pastor, teacher, police, etc) 34. Cook dinner together as a family 35. Pray for the current events in the news 36. Don’t turn on music during your car ride- enjoy conversation or silence 37. Go for a walk or hike as a family 38. Ask God to help you know Him more 39. Spend 10 minutes praying for someone you work with/ go to school with 40. Read the Easter story John 18, 19, 20

About The Author:

Becca McCary

Becca is a children's pastor and part of the preaching team at Washington Cathedral. She writes on motherhood, spirituality, and biblical interpretation. She also has her own personal blog with resources for mothers and Sunday School teachers.