Who would have thought we would ever find ourselves here?

Across the world, followers of Christ are questioning their faith, leaving their churches, and shaking their heads at what their cherished religion has become. It seems like almost everything we once believed to be true about Jesus and his way is now being called into question, framed as anti-Christ, and twisted into something unrecognisable. So many of the worst characteristics of our broken humanity are now being ‘sanctified’ with the name of Christ, while the mercy, compassion, grace, justice, and love that Jesus preached are now being demonised as ‘woke’, ‘socialist’, and elitist. What are we do to when evil is called good and good is called evil?

 On January 21, 2025, the Right Reverend Mariann Budde, Bishop of Washington, preached at an interfaith prayer service. She listed three foundations of unity: honouring the inherent dignity of every human person, honesty in both public and private conversations, and the humility to listen to and learn from one another. As she ended her message, she turned to President Donald Trump and asked him to show mercy toward LGBTQIA+ people and immigrants. Her message was rooted in the teachings of Jesus, especially the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7. The response from a large proportion of evangelical Christians was vitriolic. The bishop has received death threats and been threatened with deportation.

When the basic message of Jesus is met with such hostility and violence, what are we to do? Do we tone down the message to make it more palatable to the powers that be? Do we silence the prophetic voice of the Scriptures and settle for a gospel that sounds good but changes nothing? Or do we go back to our roots and allow the Sermon on the Mount to speak even louder and more clearly? In this Liturgical Guide, I have chosen to follow the latter path.  

Allow me to introduce you to:  

Living an Abundant Life
A Lent Journey through the Sermon on the Mount 

Beginning with the Beatitudes, Living an Abundant Life explores what it means, personally and collectively, to follow Jesus into a life of meaning, purpose, justice, and love. Each week offers a reflection on one aspect of the Sermon on the Mount, moving from the Beatitudes; to being salt and light; to reimagining the three foundational practices of giving, prayer, and fasting; to hearing in a new way the call to seek first God’s reign; to choosing to build our “house on the rock.”

At this time in history, the prophetic nature of Jesus’ sermon needs to be proclaimed louder than ever. And those who are truly committed to following Jesus need to become more intentional, active, and determined in their faith and action.

What better time could there be to renew our commitment to Jesus’ message and mission of love and justice than Lent? 

When we commit, as individuals and communities, to live by the values and vision of Christ, the impact on our world can be dramatic and healing—history has shown this to be true. And if our world needs anything right now, it is for followers of Christ who are willing to take his gospel seriously.

Living an Abundant Life
is available in three options:

LIVING AN ABUNDANT LIFE
Liturgical Guide includes:
● Sermon starter chapters for every service of the series based on the Sermon on the Mount;
● Purpose-written prayers and liturgies for all services from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday;
● Gathering, Responding, and Integrating Practices for every service;
● A theme-based Table Liturgy that can be used at any service in the series;
● Theme-based graphics for your projection software, including welcome screens and backgrounds for song lyrics, liturgies, and sermon notes. 

 LIVING AN ABUNDANT LIFE
Devotional Guide includes:
● Preparing, Responding, and Integrating practices for every day to help you enter into your devotional practice as deeply and mindfully as possible; 
● Copies of the Sermon Starters for each week for easy reference while doing your daily practice;  
● Daily reflection questions to enable you to listen more deeply to the message of the Scriptures and apply it to your life and relationships.
LIVING AN ABUNDANT LIFE
Bundle includes:
Designed for communities that want to journey together, while also providing a meaningful personal journey for congregation members, the Bundle includes both the Liturgical and the Devotional Guides. It also includes a license to share the Devotional Guide through any or all of the following channels: 
● Printed handouts to distribute to congregation members; 
● Digital copies sent to members via email; 
● Posted on your church's social media channels; 
● Posted on your church's website.

_____________________

Living an Abundant Life
includes the following chapters:

Ash Wednesday - Abundant Blessing
Ash Wednesday is an invitation into the Lenten journey of true blessedness. It is an opportunity to dive more deeply into God’s life, nature, presence, and creativity, in our ‘dusty’ lives. It is a chance to learn how to become, as Jesus was, blessing-bringers in our families, friendships, churches, neighbourhoods, and society.

Lent 1 - Abundant Presence
As we learn to be people of flavour and healing, of colour and clarity, so we discover that not only do we bring life to others, our own lives become increasingly full and vibrant. And we learn how wonderful and fulfilling it is to show up and be truly present in our lives and relationships.

Lent 2 - Abundant Generosity
There are those who have much, but, through their lack of enjoyment, will always be poor, and there are those who have little, but through their capacity to enjoy and share (because sharing always increases enjoyment), will always be wealthy.

Lent 3 - Abundant Awareness
What we need is not less prayer, but better prayer. It is time to retire the kind of prayer that blinds us or puts us to sleep and embrace the prayer of Jesus that awakens us and shapes how we think, see, live, and relate to one another.

Lent 4 - Abundant Enjoyment
In these difficult times, we do not need more sad-faced or angry-faced spirituality. We need laughter, smiles, singing, and dancing. We need the kind of fasting that connects us more deeply with one another and empowers us to work together to build the joyful society we all long for.

Lent 5 - Abundant Confidence
What we need is a new definition of faith that truly liberates us from anxiety, fear, and worry. We need a faith that spreads abundance around. We need the abundant confidence that motivates us to take the risks and forge the connections that manifest God’s communal, interdependent reign as a reality among us.

Palm Sunday - Abundance Embodied
The abundant life Jesus offers is not a life without pain, suffering, and conflict—it is a life of fullness in the midst of these experiences. And it is found not by calling on the name of Jesus, but by living according to the ways and words of Jesus.