Between the Ashes and Alleluias

Between the Ashes and Alleluias, a Lenten devotional guide produced by the Mississippi Conference, is a collection of 47 personal reflections, one for each of Lent’s 40 days plus the Sundays. The writers are United Methodist clergy and laypeople. Most are members of the Mississippi Conference.

Introduction
By Steve Casteel

The Lenten season is a paradoxical time. As we prepare ourselves for the promise of Easter, we must go through days of self-examination and confession. This is as essential as the Israelites wandering in the wilderness before they could enter the Promised Land. In the wandering we discover things we never knew about ourselves, others, and God.

This devotional guide is a tool for a wandering people. We are on our way to a perfect "dream" world, but we are not there yet. We are living "between." Some have asked why we chose the subject of racial reconciliation. Some feel that we have talked enough about race, or that conversations about race are just too hard.

Lent isn't about easy conversations. We don't get to Easter without the cross. No one really wants to go back to Jerusalem for those last days. No one wants to return to the memories that remind us of our brokenness and sinfulness, but my prayer is that God will use this Lenten journey to move us closer to a place we all long for.

May you find many settings and ways to share the stories collected here. May God use this offering to invite us into concrete changes in the way we think and act. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done," we pray.

God bless your journey between the ashes and alleluias.

Some ways to use the guide

• Read and meditate on the reflections daily as part of your personal devotional time. 
• Share the readings in small groups at church and around the dinner table at home.
• Use the stories in the guide as illustrations for Sunday School, Bible study, youth group programs, or sermons.
• Encourage members of your congregation to share their own stories.
  
  

Read Daily Reflections

Download the Complete "Between the Ashes and Alleluias."