When Joseph Moore was a pastor, during Lent he rarely spoke about enduring temptation or trivial, once-in-awhile sacrificing. Instead, he focused on the giving side of sacrifice, the generosity of spirit and gifts.

“A lot of my work involves connecting generosity with discipleship,” says Moore, now a Ministry Relations Officer with the Presbyterian Foundation. “If cultivating generosity is part of what it means to follow in the way of Jesus, then generosity and discipleship go hand in hand with honoring the one described in Colossians 1:15 as the ‘firstborn of all creation.’

“One of my favorite stewardship texts is the section of Deuteronomy 14 in which it talks about ‘if you can’t make it to the temple, you should throw a party,’” Moore says. “I think the text points to the deeply communal reason God calls us to be generous. This applies to every aspect of our lives, including the way we structure economies and treat the environment.”

Lent celebrates the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The 40 days prepared him for his public ministry.

While many of us grew up with the idea of giving up some treat or treasure for Lent – think chocolate, candy, pasta, etc. … – the world is different now. Climate change and all its effects have a growing impact on life, and to many churches, Lent is an opportunity to talk about making sacrifices to help sustain the planet and human life.

Tread Lightly for Lent is an initiative by the Presbyterian Church in conjunction with its Hunger Program, which seeks to work with people toward choices that restore and protect all of God’s children and creation.

“As people of faith, we seek to ‘serve and preserve’ God’s world. However, some of our collective choices have led to a changing global climate, which translates to warmer temperatures, rising sea-levels, and severe storms, just to name a few. To turn this tide, we must commit to treading lightly on God’s Earth,” according to the Presbyterian Church USA website.

A key resource in Tread Lightly for Lent is the daily reflection/action calendar for 2024. The day-by-day guide includes short Biblical readings as well as challenges such as for one day, try to drink only water. It takes 600 cups of water to produce a single cup of coffee, and 125 cups of water to produce a cup of tea, according to the daily reflection calendar. Find more at https://www.presbyterianmission.org/resource/tread-lightly-for-lent/

“The ‘Tread Lightly’ calendar was first produced by the Environmental Ministries office around 2011,” says Jessica Maudlin, associate for sustainable living and Earth care concerns at the Presbyterian Hunger Program.

“That program eventually moved into the Hunger Program, joining another area of work housed there, Enough for Everyone, that promoted opportunities such as Eco-Palms and Fair Trade Coffee to the denomination. The church has a long history of environmental and hunger justice and advocacy.”

Moore works closely with church leaders and offers his own take on Lent. “When I’ve served in the parish, Matthew 25 has been a go-to for me in terms of what I consider the heart of the Gospel.  It speaks directly to issues of hunger and poverty and loneliness,” Moore says, to him some of the key elements of Lent.

Other churches around the world have embraced the idea of helping others during Lent through a program known as 40Acts ( 40 Acts Lent Resource (stewardship.org.uk) . What started small has grown to more than 100,000 participants in the London-based Stewardship Services initiative.

While the daily “kindness challenge” via email ended with the COVID pandemic, five years’ worth of kindness connections can be accessed on their website. It’s well worth a visit and serves as a reminder that small acts of kindness, over 40 days or over a lifetime, make life worth living.