By Phyllis Gregg, Presiding Bishopric Office director
And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family.
Lent is a season of turning our hearts back toward God, examining the systems we participate in, and asking what must be released so new life can emerge. Within scripture, one of the clearest expressions of God’s vision for renewal and justice is Jubilee.
The biblical foundation of Jubilee is found in Leviticus 25, where every fiftieth year the people of Israel were commanded to let the land rest, forgive debts, free enslaved persons, and restore land to its original families. Jubilee was not charity. It was a reset of economic relationships so poverty would not become permanent and abundance could be shared. This radical practice flows from a foundational truth: everything is a gift from God and not owned by us.
In Luke 4:18–19, Jesus proclaims, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…to bring good news to the poor…to proclaim release to the captives.” This is Jubilee language—an announcement that God’s reign disrupts unjust economic systems and restores dignity and wholeness for all creation. Lent invites us to sit with this slightly unsettling good news. Scriptural Jubilee challenges our way of life sometimes in uncomfortable ways.
Living in God’s abundance offers a distinctive lens through which to enter the season of Lent. Instead of assuming there is never enough, we are invited to trust that God’s economy is rooted in generosity and shared flourishing—an understanding reflected in the biblical vision of Jubilee. While scarcity thinking breeds fear and hoarding, living in God’s abundance calls us into co-creating systems and relationships that embody God’s justice and care for all.
Jubilee is about living this abundance communally, not just personally. It invites us to see ourselves not as isolated individuals, but as a community called to live God’s abundance together, trusting that our shared life can reflect God’s healing, justice, and peace for the whole world.
Lent offers an opportunity to sharpen this awareness. Fasting, prayer, and reflection help us see where our expectations are shaped by privilege rather than trust. It calls us to imagine, and begin to live, God’s promised future now: a world where debts are released, resources are shared, and no one is left without enough.
Prayer Phrase
“Happy are those who observe justice” (Psalm 106:3).
Healing and Reconciliation
Gather a small mound of stones. Meditate on the stones as symbols of differences and destructive acts that continue to separate and wound the human family. Name and anoint each “stone wound” with a drop of water or scented oil. Offer them to God in a prayer for healing and reconciliation.
Today’s Prayer for Peace
Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.