Dear friends in Christ,

On Ash Wednesday every year, we set aside our usual silliness and frivolity as we begin the holy journey of Lent. Our fervent hope is that you will, if possible, find a way to receive the imposition of ashes today. This gritty reminder of our mortality is an important part of the earthly pilgrimage for those of us who follow Jesus.

This year, it may seem incongruous to play Lent Madness. Headlines are filled with news of a powerful nation seeking to use might to exert its will over an unwilling people. Here in the USA, people of all political persuasions can at least agree that our political system is broken. Social, racial, and economic divisions run rampant. Is there room for a silly approach to Lent?

As always, we remind you that Lent Madness is optional. If this is a year you decide to take off from the festivities, we understand. But maybe you, like us, crave the reminder that Lent Madness brings.

Amidst all the silliness, Lent Madness reminds us that God does extraordinary things in the lives of ordinary people. People of all sorts and conditions can be bearers of Christ's light in the world if they but open themselves up to God's transforming grace. When you play Lent Madness, you are constantly shown the imperfect but yet inspiring lives of people from many cultures, nations, and eras.

If Christ's light can burn brightly in their hearts, might there be room for Jesus Christ to shine from our lives?

Lent is our opportunity to reorient. We are given the gift of a whole season to turn away from the allure of worldly things and toward eternal things. We are invited to reject fear, hatred, judgment, and scorekeeping and to choose hope, love, mercy, and grace.

Whether you seek Christ's light in the scriptures, in prayer, in fasting, or even in Lent Madness, we hope you have a holy and blessed Lenten journey.

Tim+        Scott+

The Supreme Executive Committee

Image from flickr user John Ragai.

We continue our introductions of this year’s lineup of Celebrity Bloggers. Following Part 1 of this little exercise, we finish things up with the aptly named Part 2. Again, we’re asking our faithful crew to share a picture doing something they love; ask what most excites them about Lent Madness 2022; and find out if there’s anything they’d like to promote.

To see the full group and read their bios, click here.

You can usually find David Creech wearing a bicycle helmet.

What most excites you about Lent Madness 2022? I am excited for the madness. The close calls. The surprise upsets. The impassioned pleas for votes. The sweet victories. Mostly, though, I am excited to learn about the joys and travails of being human and the messiness of what it means to be faithful to God.

Anything you’d like to promote? I’ve got nothing to plug except a certain rector who is in the running to be Bishop of Southwest Florida. [editor’s note: surprisingly enough, that would be Tim]

Here’s Miriam McKenney with her girls at a BTS pop-up shop in Chicago. As she
puts it, “stanning and being with my daughters are two of my favorite things.” (What BTS? A Korean boy band. Mic drop).

What most excites you about Lent Madness 2022? What most excites me about LM 2022 is what excites me every year: learning more about saints I’ve never heard of. I’m always better for the edification Lent Madness puts out, the weirder the better.

Anything you’d like to promote? I don’t do much so I got nothing to promote.

David Hansen is a cat guy. If he’s not preaching or teaching, chances are he’s hanging out with the cats.

What most excites you about Lent Madness 2022? Overlooked in the past, this is the year of the patron saint of Coffee. Surely, equipped with Father Tim’s coffee book and a strong cup of joe, this is Saint Drogo’s year!

Anything you’d like to promote? During the pandemic, I have increased my work as a coach of congregations and clergy seeking renewal. Check out digitalpastor.org.

Anticipation of the start of Lent Madness XIII this Thursday couldn't be higher! Tim and Scott are back with the last pre-season episode of Monday Madness to share some BREAKING NEWS! God and technology willing, a new Lent Madness website will launch today or tomorrow. Hear more about it -- including some hot new features -- on this week's show!

The new website (at this very same URL!) will add many features. It looks great on any device. It has better email delivery features. Perhaps most exciting, it has a built-in feature where you can put in your bracket picks and track your success compared with Lent Madness fans all over the world, nay, the universe.

They also talk about a fun interview with Ryan Dunn on the Pastoring in the Digital Parish Podcast. Ryan is on the denominational communications team for the United Methodist Church, so it was great to build some ecumenical bridges with this whacky devotion.

Lastly, there's a shout-out to David Simmons and his gift to the Lent Madness global viewing public. David has created a sticker sheet that prints on standard Avery 5160 label paper. You can use these stickers to mark up your giant bracket poster if you don't like looking at your own chick-scratch handwriting and prefer the high-quality professional image that Lent Madness deserves.

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In the days leading up to the start of Lent Madness 2022, we're taking a moment to highlight the amazing Celebrity Bloggers who will bring alive our 32 saintly souls. Our talented stable of writers have their laptops at the ready and are amped up for an exciting battle for the Golden Halo.

The only thing we ask is that when you run into them in the grocery store or in church, please respect their privacy. It's hard to believe, but they're human beings just like the rest of us. When you meet them in public, you may notice they're wearing masks -- this is mostly to hide from the seasonal adulation.

This exercise is intended merely to humanize these paragons of the penitential. We've asked for three items: a photo that shows them doing something they love; a brief answer to the question, "What most excites you about Lent Madness 2022?"; and whether there's anything they'd like to promote? (broadly defined).

To read their full bios, click here.

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Fire up your novenas, it's just nine days until Lent Madness XIII begins! Tim and Scott are back with essential pre-season viewing on this week's episode of Monday Madness. Among other things, they highlight some of the big-time saints in this year's epic bracket.

Since most of the Lent Madness merch is sold out, the product placement is limited this week, for a change. However, they do point out that you can order a Saintly Scorecard for your Kindle, and Tim graciously offers to sign your device. You can, of course, play Lent Madness for free.

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After a two-week break for the hardest working Lenten script writers in the business to create more brilliant dialogue, Tim and Scott are back with another Emmy-worthy episode of Monday Madness. In the interim, the producers and key grips also put the Supreme Executive Committee back in their places (with Scott on the left and Tim on the right). That sound you hear is the world breathing a collective sigh of relief.

The Lentorium's shelves are getting bare, so make sure you order your Lent Madness merch right away! You can order your giant bracket posters or Saintly Scorecards at this very moment.

While you're waiting for Lent Madness to kick off in 23 days, now's a good time to Google all the saints on the bracket and learn all about them. It's also a good time to decide which saint you'll dress up as when you go to church (zoom OR in person) during Lent. If that's not exciting enough for you, you can always binge-watch the entire oeuvre of Monday Madness. We're on our eleventh season of pure penitential gold.

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It's the moment you've been waiting for! Tim and Scott are back with an action-packed episode to kick off the 2022 Lent Madness season. Besides the usual delightful, yet appropriately penitential repartee, the members of the Supreme Executive Committee cover such important topics as online devotional safety and appropriate gifts for Valentine's Day. All that and more! Much, much more...

Although playing Lent Madness is, like grace, absolutely free, you can still add to the experience. If you want your own Absalom Jones Golden Halo 2021 commemorative mug, order it today. Stock, unlike grace, is limited. Update! The mugs are now sold out. Stay tuned to order your 2022 Golden Halo mug.

And you can get Saintly Scorecards (individual or bulk price) or bracket posters too. Unlike some items that have skyrocketed in price during the pandemic, the Lentorium still offers incredible bargains with no supply chain issues.

With just 37 days until the Lent Madness 2022 kickoff, it's time to start preparing by studying up on the saints and telling all your friends & neighbors about the world's largest (and best) online Lenten devotion.

Yes, we're back for another year of saintly thrills and spills. We hope you'll join us for another exciting Lenten adventure. Oh, and if you'd like to preview which saints made this year's bracket, click here.

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Following the heady days of Nominationtide, and the submission of hundreds of saintly nominations from the Lent Madness faithful, the Supreme Executive Committee is pleased to release the highly anticipated 2022 Lent Madness bracket. Following their Spring Retreat, held in a socially-distanced, secure, undisclosed Zoom room, amid the consumption of massive amounts of single origin black coffee, Tim and Scott whittled the field to 32 saints, who will compete for the coveted Golden Halo.

This year's bracket is broken up into four themed quadrants -- Martyrs & Mystics, Theologians & Thinkers, Healers & Helpers, and the ever popular Confusion Corner, which debuted last year. While you may have many favorites among the contestants, there does not appear to be a runaway favorite in this year's contest. Which means it's anybody's bracket to win! Well, you have to be in the bracket. And dead. And a saint...

But enough of this yakking. Let’s get to the 2022 bracket!

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For one full week, the Supreme Executive Committee will be accepting nominations for Lent Madness 2022. The nominating period will remain open through Monday, June 7, at which point this brief exercise in Lenten democracy will cease and the SEC will return to their regularly scheduled benevolently authoritarian ways.

Nominationtide, the most underrated of liturgical seasons, never begins at the same time other than the vague "sometime after Easter Day." This is partly because Tim and Scott have day jobs and partly because "whim" is one of their ecclesiastical charisms. But it's here! And the world rejoices!

To insure your SUCCESSFUL nomination, please note the Nominationtide Rules & Regulations, which reside in an ancient illuminated manuscript tended to by aged monks who have been set aside by saints and angels for this holy calling.

1. The nominee must, in fact, be dead.
2. The nominee must be on the official calendar of saintly commemorations of some church.
3. We will accept only one nominee per person.
4. You must tell us WHY you are nominating your saint.
5. The ONLY way to nominate a saint will be to leave a comment on this post.
6. That means comments left on Facebook, Twitter, attached to a brick and thrown through the window at Forward Movement headquarters, or placed on giant placards outside the residences of Tim or Scott don’t count.

As you discern saints to nominate, please keep in mind that a number of saints are ineligible for next year’s Saintly Smackdown. Based on longstanding tradition, this includes the entire field of Lent Madness 2021, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2020 and 2019, and those from the 2018 Faithful Four.

Needless to say Jesus, Mary, Tim, Scott, past or present Celebrity Bloggers, and previous Golden Halo Winners are also ineligible. Below is a comprehensive list of ineligible saints. Please keep this in mind as you submit your nominations. Do not waste your precious nomination on an ineligible saint!

For the sake of "transparency," the rest of the process unfolds thusly: Tim and Scott will gather for the annual Spring SEC Retreat at a secure, undisclosed location/coffee shop to consider the nominations and create a full, fun, faithful, and balanced bracket of 32 saints. Then all will be revealed on All Brackets' Day, November 3rd. Or at least, "that's the ways we've always done it."

Time to nominate your favorite saint! But first, look over this list. Don't throw away your shot.

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Proving, once again, they are accountable to no one, the Supreme Executive Committee has released Monday Madness on a Tuesday, whilst still calling it "Monday" Madness. Tim and Scott are here this week to celebrate the 2021 Golden Halo victory of Absalom Jones.

You might like to celebrate Absalom's victory with a commemorative 2021 Golden Halo Winner Absalom Jones mug. Enjoy your favorite warm beverage and treasure the memories of this year's Saintly Smackdown. Actually, buy two in case you break one!

By the way, if you're trying to round out your Lent Madness mug collection, we still have a few 2019 Golden Halo Winner Martha of Bethany mugs left. (vintage Lent Madness mugs are a sound financial investment, by the way - basically the ecclesiastical equivalent of Bitcoin)

Tim and Scott also remind everyone how to nominate your favorite saints for Lent Madness 2022. Sometime during Eastertide, the SEC will start Nominationtide, a weeklong season during which you may submit your nominations for the Lent Madness 2022 bracket. Each person is invited to submit ONE saint and say why that saint should be included. That's the one and only way to nominate saints, and it's happening in the next few weeks.

While you wait for Lent to start next year, you might like to pass the time by enjoying reflections for each day of Eastertide. Scott has written reflections for Eastertide, and they're being posted every day over on 50days.org.

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