Sustain in Me

A playlist? For the season of Lent? A Lenten playlist? What an odd idea. Lent is often seen as a somber and even silent season. Certainly, there is space for contemplation, for embracing the quiet, for being still to seek out God. Many of us, however, find music a helpful tool for contemplation. So, we offer this playlist as another tool for your worship experience this season. We chose a song for each worship moment in the series from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday. We aren’t suggesting that these are to be used in worship, unless that fits your context. Rather, this is preparation work, thinking about making connections, about plumbing the depths of heart and soul, of the community of faith and the wider culture. However you use them, let music be a guide into worship this Lent.

As part of the worship resources for this series, we have put together a playlist for inspiration, meditation, and reflection through Lent. Click here to see the full playlist. At the end of the worship planning notes for each week, you will find a social media devotional and YouTube video link that link the themes of that service with the related song from the playlist.

Planning Notes

Ash Wednesday begins our Lenten journey, and it can be – needs to be – both an individual and a corporate experience. There is space, as the worship planners determine, for quiet reflection. Worshipers are used to an Ash Wednesday service that allows them to contemplate the state of their souls and their continuing walk with Christ. Am I moving forward on my discipleship journey? Am I prioritizing the things that will bring me healing and wholeness? Am I paying attention to the relationships that come with my faith, with God and neighbor? All of these and many other questions are good to consider as the Lenten journey begins.

Some consider Lent a time for repentance, for making a catalog of personal sins as a way of asking for forgiveness and leaving behind old behaviors and priorities. Confession and repentance are central to this season and this service. But dwelling on sin and sinful behaviors without considering what might replace or transform these behaviors doesn’t bring the changes that are sought. What spiritual disciplines, for example, could be suggested or modeled in this time of gathered worship to begin that work? What hope are you offering for those who year after year find themselves in the same place in their faith walk?

The other resource for transformation is found in the work of the community. Together we can encourage and keep one another accountable as we seek to grow as disciples. In worship, we can practice this as we sing together and pray together. We accompany one another to the chancel to receive the imposition of ashes. While this may seem like a private and individual act of worship, it is done in public, and the sign of our mortality and need of a savior is visible to all. The difference here is that there are those around us who also bear that sign. We seek the comfort of fellow travelers on the journey, pilgrims making their way with us to that embrace of holiness we call sanctification or, in Wesleyan terms. Christian perfection or perfection in love. Love is about relationship, about binding hearts together for mutual support and to multiply acts of service.

From our Lenten playlist, we begin with Coldplay’s “Fix You.” Whether this is something you play during worship depends on your context. But the invitation is to let all these songs be a spark to individual and corporate contemplation. The song talks about the individual experience of missing the mark and the relational promise to work together for healing. Ash Wednesday may not be about being “fixed”, but it is certainly an acknowledgement of the need to continue the journey toward being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

PLAYLIST SONG

“Fix You” by Coldplay

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season of forty days (minus Sundays) during which we prepare ourselves for the events of Holy Week and Easter. We start the journey of Lent with confession, pardon, and the imposition of ashes, a reminder of our mortality. Though this can often feel like a serious service, Psalm 51:1 says, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.” We begin Lent with the reminder that God’s love is steadfast—it never fails. In words like those of Coldplay’s “Fix You,” God’s love is like a light that guides us home, ignites our bones, and fixes us, putting us back together for relationship with God and one another. As you listen to Coldplay’s “Fix You,” consider where you notice God’s love reaching out and guiding you home.