Communities for Spiritual Vitality, a ministry for interparish formation born from a collaboration between the dioceses of Vermont and Massachusetts, is compiling, for a second year, an interdiocesan Lent-Easter devotional.
This year’s devotional focuses on the prophet Isaiah and will feature daily prayers and readings alongside individual reflections from members of all seven Episcopal dioceses in New England, as well as artwork from Christian artists.
The devotional will be available online by early March here. Request print copies here (at cost).
"It's a really lovely collection of voices, lay and ordained, from a wide range of our worship contexts," the Rev. adwoa Wilson said, in an interview, of this year's devotional and its approximately 55 contributors. Wilson is the director of the Communities for Spiritual Vitality and serves as the vicar of the Vermont Green Mountain Online Abbey.
"You can think of the devotional itself as a companion for the Lenten journey that also has companions nested within it--those who have written the daily reflections," Wilson said.
The devotional spans Ash Wednesday through the second Sunday of Easter but can be used in future years or at other seasons. Wilson hopes it will benefit individuals as well as congregations seeking a resource around which to ground their seasonal practice or adult formation, and that it might also help mitigate isolation that many feel in their personal or ministry contexts.
"The overarching message of this project is: We are together, look how beautiful we are and how God is working through us together," Wilson said.
For those who would like to "continue and deepen the companionship with others," Wilson said, the Communities for Spiritual Vitality will host nine weekly gatherings via Zoom to reflect on the devotional and the spiritual journey through Lent and in Easter.
An introductory session will take place on Thursday, March 6, with subsequent gatherings on Wednesday evenings, March 12 through April 30, 6-7:45 p.m. The sessions will take place via the Vermont Green Mountain Online Abbey, and participants are welcome to join the online service of Compline that follows at 8 p.m. E-mail communities@diovermont.org to register for the series.