Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with Holy Week (the week before Easter). Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, meaning “lengthen” and refers to the lengthening days of spring. The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring temptation and preparing to begin his ministry.

Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. Today, Christians focus on relationship with God, growing as disciples and extending ourselves, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of ourselves for others.

This year we at Pulaski Heights will be focusing on the Last Week of Jesus as King, a different kind of king than people expected or even wanted. Each week in worship you will hear a different story of Jesus’ last week before his death as told by the Gospel of Mark. In order to fully understand the meaning of that last week, though, we really must better understand the life and ministry of Jesus. And so, we are inviting our congregation to read the Gospel of Mark together during the season of Lent. Enclosed in this booklet is a guide for reading and reflecting on this story of Jesus. Each day you can read a portion of the gospel, and over the course of Lent we will read the entirity of Mark’s gospel together. The translation printed here is New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE). You are invited to read it along with your own Bible and Translation, reflect on words or phrases or questions that stand out to you.

May this Lent bring about a deeper understanding of Jesus’ life for us and for the world and our calling to follow him as disciples.