Lent 2026: Ash Wednesday
- Evan Taylor
- Feb 18
- 2 min read
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land…"
Isaiah 58:6-11 NIV
February 18, 2026
Ash Wednesday
Breath Prayer
Inhale: Lord Transform my hunger
Exhale: Let my desire be for justice.
Reflection Questions
What practice of solidarity with suffering are you choosing?
What needs do you need met during this Lenten season?
Lenten Guide 2026
Time passes so quickly from Advent to Lent. We open the new year with ambitious resolutions to change behaviors, habits, and patterns that were excesses or didn’t serve us well. The new year really brings an amplification of the former year’s trials, retributions, trauma and injustices.
Lent, however, is really the new year; the time we should resolve to sacrifice, seek repentance, renewal and revival. We use the forty days that lead to Easter as sacrificial time, but what do we really sacrifice? We clearly see the turmoil that engulfs the world. What is our role?
As we weigh our roles in the dramas of life, what can we sacrifice? Surely giving up our favorite ice cream or chocolate for forty days does not equate to giving a coat to the homeless, food to the shelter, writing a congressperson asking for right actions, or giving and doing what is needed for those in need. A true sacrifice.
Dr. Yvonne L. Bolling
Director of Christian Education
Embark on a 40-day Journey with Us
Tune into Morning Meditations at 7am each morning, Read the guide along with us each day, share in community with us during the Lenten season on our collective journey and/or download the book to read and reflect along with us individually.
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