Kickstarter + Lent

This day, Ash Wednesday, is a signpost on a journey. Well, two journeys, if you will. Locally, for Coastland Commons this day marks a sense of beginning, so let me begin by speaking about the things we are looking forward to.

Since our gathering in September, we have been working hard to create space to continue what we began in that room together. One thing we have done is to create this website. This website is for you. We will be posting some of our own work and some work that we may commission, but for the most part, this is your place to share in the creative process together. You can submit your work on this website. You can share ideas and what you are learning and creating. Take a minute to explore. There are ways to share writing, photography, music and video (and hopefully anything else you can imagine). This is your space, and we need your voice.

Alongside this website, we are launching a Kickstarter campaign on Monday, February 23 to finance the recording of an album. Many of the contributors currently involved with Coastland Commons are musicians and some of them have already been creating in this common space. This album is our chance to celebrate and share that work. Click on the “get updates” link to your left to get on the mailing list so you know what’s going on with this project. And don’t forget to share the Kickstarter and this website with everyone you know!

Liturgically, today marks the start of the observance of Jesus’s journey to the cross. The season of Lent is one of intention in which we acknowledge the trajectory that Jesus’s life was on, and the one that we share with him: from dust we are made and to dust we shall return. In this there is an inherent sense of ending, or at the very least grief, even though we know there is more to the story. As a way for us to observe this season together, we are embarking on a written exploration of the lectionary texts of this season. Every week, one of our curators will explore one of the Scripture readings, and every Friday there will be a new post here.

But, here is your invitation: join us. Spend this season of Lent working through the lectionary texts with us. Take time to do the daily readings. Let these stories seep into you and touch or even interact with your own story. Write a reflection about one of those texts, and send it to us. If you contribute a blog, poem, song, painting (anything!), we will post it on the website. We want to hear your voice along the way.

Don’t forget to sign up to receive updates about what Coastland Commons has on the horizon, and keep your eyes peeled for the Kickstarter launching Monday!