Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Emily Dickinson - and Lent

Lent is a time for exploring great mysteries: repentance and forgiveness, love and justice, death and new life. And when it comes to this kind of exploration, the power of poety can be like a lantern in the night.

SALT offers three devotionals for Lent that make beloved poets your guide to the season: one based on Wendell Berry’s Sabbath poems, a second based on Mary Oliver’s poems celebrating the natural world, and a third based on Emily Dickinson’s work, in which she seeks to follow her own advice: “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.”

Both the Oliver and the Dickinson devotional are structured according to scriptural passages from Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary (the year we are currently in). The Berry devotional is based on the scriptural passages for Year A — but since their themes are universal, this devotional can be used fruitfully during any Lenten season.

So pick a poet, grab your favorite Bible, and make this Lent the most beautiful, insightful, illumined Lent yet.