Weekly At-Home Devotional: “Wendell Berry and the Sabbath Poetry of Lent” Available in the Narthex and in the Weekly E-News The word “Lent” comes from the old English word for “lengthen,” and refers to the lengthening days of spring. Anticipating Easter, the church prepares with forty days of prayer and reflection. We are called to set time apart, to observe a sabbath each week, when we pause from the busyness of our lives and clear space to reconnect – with ourselves, with nature, with beauty, and with God. The poet Wendell Berry calls “the idea of sabbath…as rich and demanding an idea as any I know” – and over the decades, Berry has devoted many Sundays to writing “sabbath poems” that explore the depths of this rich, demanding idea. In this Lenten devotional, biblical texts walk hand-in-hand with Berry’s sabbath vision of the natural world, and together they suggest simple, accessible practices you can try yourself, with your family or friends, in your workplace, or even at church. Week by week, as the light continues to lengthen, we’ll walk through the woods together toward Easter morning, keeping sabbath as we go. This devotional is produced by the SALT Project.