Yesterday saw J. S. Bach easily blasting Alfred the Great with both organ music and votes (65% to 35%). In a statement for the media, Johann said in a thick German accent, "I'll be Bach...to face Anna Cooper in the next round."

Since we had the only Saturday contest of Lent Madness 2014 last weekend, this is the first full weekend without any voting. Many veterans of the saintly smackdown describe these long periods between votes as difficult, indeed. Thousands of fans suffer Lent Madness Withdrawal or LMW. We've offered tips before (here and here). This year, we want to encourage you to "live into" LMW. Embrace it. Face those demons. Here are five ways to survive LMW by embracing it.

If you can think of a machine that might stave off LMW, you can contract with an actual LMW factory in India to manufacture this device. Give the SEC a big enough cut, and we might sell it in the Lentorium.

Move to a new state or country and buy a car. Repeat until you get a license plate staring with LMW. If you get this particular number and drive a white VW Beetle, you can also show that you're a fan of the Beatles, who will doubtless be added to the Episcopal Church's calendar of saints one day.

If you can invent a medication to treat LMW, you'll become rich. Or find another way to become an LMW profiteer.

Find a way to harness the nervous energy of thousands of people pacing back and forth as they wait for Monday morning's voting to open. If you can pull that off, you'll have something better than green energy: purple energy. It's a win-win.If all else fails, throw a party.

Hey, the good news is that voting will return on Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time. We might even add some bonus content on Sunday morning to help you through the weekend. That's how much the SEC cares about your well being. You're welcome.

In this morning's email from Lent Madness global headquarters, there was a broken link to the voting page. While voter turnout has been decent, the Supreme Executive Committee is concerned that some fans might not find their way over to the polling place. So here is the correct link: https://www.lentmadness.org/2014/03/david-of-wales-vs-f-d-maurice/ Please share it widely on social media, bulletin boards, windshield flyers, bumper stickers, and billboards.

As an homage to Facebook's popular Throwback Thursday, we thought we would provide some retro images to encourage you to vote. If you're of a certain age, the name "Maurice" conjures images of a television star from days of yore: Morris the Cat. Sure, it's spelled differently, but they sound the same.

And of course, David of Wales is easy. We've provided a handy antique picture of whales. Hey, it was either going to be this or Welch's grape juice in reference to the Welsh. We made the right choice, I think you'll agree.

If you are worried about remembering to vote, you can sign up for daily emails. Just put your email address in the little box over there on the right side of our website and hit the subscribe button. In the event there's a problem with either our email or your overly aggressive spam filter, make sure you have a backup plan. Here are several ways to remember to vote each day:

• Buy a purple alarm clock and set it for 8:00 a.m. Eastern time.
• Like us on Facebook and see the daily posts, as well as regular updates.
• Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-second news.
• Tell your priest or minister to call you each morning. She or he has nothing better to do than activate the parish calling tree to get out the Lent Madness vote. Tell them we said so.
• If your town has tornado or civil defense sirens, call the mayor and ask that they sound every day of Lent to call people to vote.

Will F. D. Maurice get a cheshire grin as David goes extinct like a whale? Or will David gobble up F. D. Maurice only to vomit him out on the shores of defeat? Your vote will decide the outcome. Vote now (but only once per person!).

Yep, it's that time again. Tim and Scott hold forth on all things madnesstastic. Tune in for the latest news about Lent Madness Fever sweeping the nation and/or the House of Bishops. Watch LentMadnessTV every day. Or multiple times a day if you want a true wilderness experience.

Remember, you can be a Lent Madness evangelist. It's not too late to invite your friends, your church, and your nation to join the bestest Lenten discipline in the world.

After Alcuin easily dismissed Ephrem of Edessa (77% to 23%) in our only Saturday battle of Lent Madness 2014, today is a rest day until Monday's battle between Joseph of Arimathea and Anna Cooper. To help you cope with a day without voting, we encourage you to go to church and share the Good News of Lent Madness with your fellow pew-sitters. Go ahead and print out some brackets and pass them out. Encourage people to fill them in during the sermon. Your priest will love that.

After church, make sure you tune into this week's update from everyone's favorite color commentators, veteran Lent Madness competitors Archbishop John Chrysostom and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Throughout Lent Madness, they will offer a new video each week. The videos will look back on the contests from the previous week and preview upcoming battles.

Of course, Lent Madness is not the only thing happening during the forty days and forty nights of Lent. The official sponsor of Lent Madness is Forward Movement, and they offer a whole range of publications to nourish your Lenten journey. So if you're looking for something beyond the saintly smackdown, maybe these will help. Since Lent's already started, here are some digital resources that you might enjoy.

If you'd like some daily meditations to go with your daily voting, try Lent is Not Rocket Science: An Exploration of God, Creation, and the Cosmos by W. Nicholas Kinsely. The season of Lent prompts us to ask questions, big and small, about the nature of our being, and about our role in the world. Astronomer, physicist and Episcopal Bishop W. Nicholas Knisely explores the intersection of faith and science, creation and the cosmos. Available on the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and on iTunes.

If that one doesn't strike your fancy, how about Disciples on the Way by Carol Mead? Experience a Lenten journey that will prepare you to walk throughout your life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Carol Mead reflects on discipleship and the season in these daily meditations for the forty days of Lent. Available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and iTunes.

Finally, Good Lord, Deliver Us offers daily reflections for our Lenten journey guided by the heart and vision of thirty-two timeless petitions from Thomas Cranmer's Great Litany. Leonard and Lindsay Freeman offer strength and encouragement for our walk to the cross as they look at the many ways in which deliverance comes to us. Like the Great Litany itself, their reflections speak of human frailty and holy grace, of the longings and aspirations of our human hearts, and of the transformative power of God's abiding love. Available on the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and iTunes.

We won't want to miss the obvious. Forward Day by Day is beloved throughout the Episcopal Church. Chances are you can get a paper copy at your own parish, but it's also available digitally. Each day you'll read a meditation based on the assigned scripture readings. In addition to print, you can get Forward Day by Day as a daily email, an iPhone app, or an ebook. You can also read it on the Forward Movement website for free. Get a daily reminder by following on Facebook or Twitter. By the way, the cover of the current issue features Lent Madness 2012 Golden Halo winner Mary Magdalene.

Last, but not least, for those of you who want something that's not a daily meditation but which might help you through Lent Madness, check this out. Stars in a Dark World: Stories of the Saints and Holy Days of the Liturgy.

Stars in a Dark World illuminates for us those individuals who knew in their hearts the great love of God, who knew how far they were from perfection. They lived courageously, taking steps without knowing what would be accomplished, addressing the complexities of their world with singleness of purpose and understanding, and confronting the struggles of daily life because they were no more and no less. This compelling familiarity and intimacy invites us into the mystery of the gracious God who called the saints to maturity in Christ. -- from the forward by Bishop Richard F. Grein

Stars in a Dark World, by Fr. John-Julian, OJN, is the most comprehensive and detailed collection of the biographies of the saints and background information about the holy days of the Episcopal liturgy available today. This 700-page book is the result of over seven years of research and study, and covers all liturgical commemorations approved for use through 2006. Available for Amazon Kindle,  Barnes & Noble Nook, and iTunes.

We'll see you Monday morning at 8:00 a.m., Eastern time, for the resumption of the Madness.

Earlier today, we received our 1,000,000th page view on this site. For a Fortune 500 company, that might not be remarkable, but we think it's noteworthy on a site devoted to Lent. While the Supreme Executive Committee is not shy about trumpeting our supremacy, even we could not have done all this alone. Of course, our Celebrity Bloggers deserve the credit for writing compelling, entertaining, and even inspiring bios. We also give thanks for the Global Lent Madness Viewing Public. You keep us going whenever we get discouraged, whether it's Tim's Luddite inability to run a website or Scott's procrastination at doing his part of the epic SEC book proposal that will change the face of Lent.

One million page views means that many of you find something worthwhile here. We've heard that some of you enjoy Lent Madness because of the glimpses of God's glory we see in the lives of saints. Many others take great delight in the vibrant conversations throughout Lent. We sometimes have well over 200 comments each day of Lent, and we're well over 10,000 total comments. Community doesn't end here though. We've surpassed 8,000 likes on Facebook and over 2,000 likes on Twitter. Opening day yesterday set a traffic record with over 30,000 page views.

Our point in sharing all this is that perhaps there is a lesson here for the church. With a very modest budget (just ask our volunteer Celebrity Bloggers) and a simple concept, Lent Madness has attracted a wide audience. Perhaps there is a message that we would do well to think about joyful ways to proclaim the Good News. Perhaps we should find other ways to do Christian education outside classrooms. Perhaps we should use Lent as a time to invite others to join us on a journey as we all seek to follow Jesus.

Keep up the madness. We look forward to sharing some more numbers when we post our 2,000,000th page view. It might be sooner than you think!

Happy Lent!

Tim+         Scott+
The Supreme Executive Committee of Lent Madness

Every year on Ash Wednesday, it is the custom of Lent Madness to take a brief hiatus from our yearlong sojourn of silliness. We like to take this occasion to remind ourselves, and you, dear reader, of what we think this is all about.

The title of this blog post is taken from the opening line of George Herbert's exquisite poem, "Lent." In the poem, Herbert writes movingly about the invitation of Lent to embark on a holy journey to grow closer to God.

It's true, we cannot reach Christ’s fortieth day;
Yet to go part of that religious way,
Is better than to rest:
We cannot reach our Savior’s purity;
Yet are bid, Be holy ev’n as he.
In both let’s do our best.

This season of Lent is about the journey. We won't get it all right, but in trying, we will gain something for ourselves. Lent Madness is surely not the best Lenten discipline for everyone. As Tim reminds us regularly, Lent Madness is optional. Some will find here their very first encounter with the practice of a Lenten disciple, while others will discover that levity and saints do not sit well with their idea of Lent.

Above all, we must remember that this season is about recommitting to following Jesus, to follow him with lives of worship, prayer, study, and service to others. Lent invites us to set aside unimportant things and to focus on what matters most. We think that the ridiculous veneer of Lent Madness covers something much deeper and holier. Scott often reminds us that the Book of Common Prayer describes Lent as a season to "prepare with joy for the Paschal feast." And that's what we're doing. We are preparing with joy for the Easter feast, and for our eternal feast with all the saints.

So, dear friends, we invite you to the observance of a holy Lent. Partake in Lent Madness. Try some other disciplines. Spend this season in the company of fellow pilgrims as we grow ever closer to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And know that you will be in our prayers on this day and throughout these next forty days and forty nights.

Tim+           Scott+
The Supreme Executive Committee of Lent Madness

Note: George Herbert was the first-ever Golden Halo winner (see this post from Tim's blog). Over on Scott's blog, named for another Herbert poem, he's got George Herbert's "Lent" with original spelling (read it here).

For the third year in a row, we are taking Lent Madness to the streets. These days, you simply can't expect everyone to come to Lent Madness, so it's important to bring Lent Madness to the people. Coming inside and asking for a bracket can be intimidating to many people, so we like to go to train stations and street corners with the Good News of Lent Madness.

Pictured at right (Lent Madness Press Bureau file photo) is a bracket distribution taking place at a train station on...wait for it...the purple line. Proving that Lent Madness is ecumenical, this grateful commuter is a Methodist. "It was @#$!@# cold outside waiting for the train, and then when I got my bracket, I was strangely warmed -- by my rage at being forced to choose between John Wesley or Charles Wesley in the first round."

Offering a bracket to a grateful passer-by

Another bracket recipient said, "As a cradle Episcopalian, I thought this whole Lent Madness thing was garbage until I noticed Julia Chester Emery on there. The founder of the UTO? Now I am a fan." The contest is not without controversy. A passer-by saw the bracket and exclaimed, "Haven't the people of Egypt been through enough? How dare you put Mary of Egypt against Antony of Egpyt!"

The experience was clearly powerful. "I didn't think the SEC really cared," said one man, "but then when I saw that Lent Madness was coming into the streets, I knew there was more to them than shallow personalities and grandiose egos. Perhaps not much more, but at least something."

NOTE: The SEC is having a bit of fun with the Ashes to Go media sensation. We’re not mocking it, but rather riding the coattails of this internet meme. One member of the SEC has gone on record in support of Ashes to Go. So there. Of course another is on record as being a bit skeptical. So there.

Well, friends, it's almost here. Less than three days until Ash Thursday, the formal kickoff off Lent Madness 2014. This week, Tim and Scott talk about how you can get instant gratification by buying the Saintly Scorecard for your Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, or Apple iThing. (Visit the Lentorium for more indispensable items for your Lenten journey.) Scott and Tim also give you instructions on how to take Lent Madness to the streets with Brackets to Go. Last, but not least, they tell you the precise moment that this year's competition begins, including a sneak preview of an addition to this year's opening day ceremonies.

If you enjoyed this -- and who wouldn't -- you'll want to watch the Archbishops' latest update from Quinquagesima Sunday.

Make sure you encourage everyone you know to like Lent Madness on Facebook or follow Lent Madness on Twitter. Getting through Lent without that would be Lent without the Madness, like Ash Wednesday without ashes or Palm Sunday without palms. Inconceivable, yes? So evangelize for Lent Madness!

In the latest action-packed episode of Monday Madness, Tim and Scott talk about everything from Celebrity Blogger "Week" to Presbyterians. Make sure you have a widget on your website, and you too could get a shoutout by the Supreme Executive Committee. When you finish watching this video, make sure you watch Maple Anglican's excellent Sexagesima video and then visit the Lentorium.

Last, but not least, there's only nine days left until Ash Thursday, so the clock is ticking on Lent Madness evangelism. This is the day to go door-to-door in your neighborhood to share the joy of the Saintly Smackdown.

This week, Scott and Tim welcome the first-ever featured guest to Monday Madness. The Rev. Nancy Frausto joins from Los Angeles, CA to talk about how one parish is using Lent Madness (Locura de Cuaresma) in her bilingual congregation of Trinity Melrose, Los Angeles. Tune in to see which saint this ECF Fellow plans to cheer for in the race to the Golden Halo.

To get the resources she has created, you can email Nancy Frausto directly at the email address shown in the video. She'll be glad to email you her Spanish/English materials. Meanwhile, here's a photo of happy folk studying their Lent Madness materials -- a well-prepared congregation!

You can also visit the Lentorium to stock up on Saintly Scorecards or Lent Madness bracket posters. Don't worry if it says we're sold out of Saintly Scorecards. We've got more on the way, and you'll have yours in time for Lent.

While you're in the mood for Lent Madness television, don't forget to tune into LentMadnessTV on Youtube.

One more thing. Celebrity Blogger Week starts tomorrow! Are you ready to be dazzled by our stellar array of Celebrity Bloggers, video blogger, and Bracket Czar?