This week, in the aftermath of the Oscars, join Tim and Scott on the purple carpet as the world prepares for Lent Madness 2020. Despite being snubbed (again!) for Best Lenten-Themed Movie, the Supreme Executive Committee reminds viewers that, contrary to appearances, Lent Madness is, like grace, FREE. They also answer viewer mail and recount the early days of Ye Olde Lent Madness. All that, and more, in this week's episode of Monday Madness.

Today is the last day for you to order stuff from the Lentorium -- or from our sponsors at Forward Movement -- and pay the cheapest shipping rate with guaranteed Lenten delivery. So if you want to buy stuff, it’s time to get your very own giant bracket poster or Saintly Scorecard (single copy, bulk copies for savings, or ebook for your favorite Kindle device). Scorecards are as low as a buck each, and the bracket poster is only $10 if you buy two or more. Visit the Lentorium to see the full range of merchandise, including Golden Halo winner mugs.

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If you've spent more than 15 seconds on this website, you'll know that the Supreme Executive Committee loves nothing more than the endless and shameless promotion of Lent Madness. Tim and Scott think the Saintly Smackdown is a pretty great way to share the stories of how the love of Jesus has burned brightly in the hearts of saints new and ancient, lay and clergy, prophet and martyr, and so on.

We also know that many Lent Madness fans like to engage in this Lenten season in other ways. The custom of self-denial through giving up those things that distract us from God is a worthy practice. Lent invites us to spend time with the scriptures and in prayer. Lent calls us to look beyond ourselves, to focus on loving God and loving our neighbors.

It's only three weeks until Ash Wednesday, so we thought now might be a good time to mention a few resources to take with you on your Lenten journey.

To that end, Forward Movement offers an array of Lenten resources. You can see the whole list online, but we wanted to highlight a few for Lent Madness fans.

A Spring in the Desert: Rediscovering the Water of Life in Lent by Frank and Victoria Logue
Jesus stepped out of the water of baptism into uninhabitable wilderness, emerging forty days later to offer the water of life for those thirsting for God’s presence. A little more than two centuries later, a group of Christians withdrew from a spiritually barren Roman Empire to find their faith blossom in the stony soil of the Egyptian desert.

Frank and Victoria Logue offer a Lenten journey inspired by the many passages of scripture that use images of water in the desert as a sign of the healing and wholeness that come through God alone. To this they add the distilled wisdom of the Desert Mothers and Fathers and the surprisingly rich inspiration of the plants and animals that thrive in an arid land. Along the way, they will share the ways our faith speaks to the barren places in our lives and how those times of drought can be a source of strength.

The paper book is available from Forward Movement (bulk discounts available) or from Amazon for your Kindle app or reader.

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Well, friends, with the Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, it's time for another action-packed episode of Monday Madness! This week Tim and Scott toss viewers a Hail Mary by explaining why it's okay to play Lent Madness during the somber season of Lent. They also answer a "viewer" question about how they make a living doing this (spoiler alert: they're never retiring). And of course, there's plenty of time for shameless promotion of the Lentorium.

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Lent Madness 2020 begins ONE MONTH FROM TODAY! As the excitement continues to build for Ash Thursday on February 27, we know that you, the Lent Madness global viewing public, have been staring at your screens for weeks wondering when the 2020 Monday Madness season opener would come your way. Wait no more! Tim and Scott are back at it with an action-packed episode recorded in a rare joint appearance at the Rooted in Jesus conference in Atlanta, GA.

In this week's episode, learn about Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Michael Curry's bracket picks (we're pretty sure his enthusiasm for Lent Madness is merely a ploy for a promotion from PB to Supreme Executive Committee).

Now, everybody knows Bishop Curry is friends with Harry and Meaghan (do yourself a favor and rewatch his royal wedding sermon here). And obviously, Lent Madness was the talk of Buckingham Palace during that heady time. In fact, our royal watchers tell us that the real reason these two (Way of) Love birds are leaving England is to get closer to the Saintly Smackdown. We'll try to get them booked onto an upcoming episode of Monday Madness. Or maybe Her Majesty The Queen. When it comes to royalty, the SEC is uncharacteristically flexible.

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Sure, the regular season of Monday Madness begins just after Christmas. Okay, just after Valentine's Day. But it's never too soon to anticipate the thrills and drama of the Lent Madness season that is to come. After all, there are only 114 days days left until Ash Thursday!

Fortunately, Tim and Scott have taken some time out of their busy pre-Lenten schedules, for a special broadcast of Monthly Madness. In this edition, they highlight a few key battles of the newly-unveiled Lent Madness 2020 bracket, rack their brains to recall the Lent Madness url, and generally engage in penitential tomfoolery. And as you'll see, the opening battle of the upcoming 11th year of the Saintly Smackdown promises to be, more or less, one of the epic battles of all time.

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After the heady days of Nominationtide, and the submission of hundreds and hundreds of saintly nominations, the Supreme Executive Committee is pleased to release the highly anticipated 2020 Lent Madness bracket. Following their Spring Retreat, held in a secure, undisclosed coffee shop where Herculean amounts of single origin coffee was consumed, the SEC whittled down the field to 32 saints who will compete for the coveted Golden Halo.

This year, All Brackets' Day just happens to fall, appropriately enough, on All Saints' Sunday. Which means that people everywhere will have something to talk about at coffee hour, besides critiquing the preacher's sermon. Let the bracketological conversations, feuds, and smack-talk ensue!

All Brackets' Day also completes the Autumn Triduum (which will surely appear in subsequent Prayer Book revisions) consisting of All Saints' Day (November 1), All Souls' Day (November 2), and All Brackets' Day (November 3).

But enough of this preamble. Let's get to the 2020 bracket!

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Welcome to Nominationtide!

For one full week, the Supreme Executive Committee will be accepting nominations for Lent Madness 2020. The nominating period will remain open through next Thursday morning, May 30, at which point this brief exercise in Lenten democracy will be unceremoniously snuffed out.

To insure your successful nomination, please note the Nominationtide Rules & Regulations:

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, or attached to a brick and thrown through the window at Forward Movement headquarters, 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 2019, those saints who made it to the Round of the Elate Eight in 2018 and 2017, and those from the 2016 Faithful Four.

Needless to say Jesus, Mary, Tim, Scott, 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!

The Saints of Lent Madness 2019 (all ineligible)

Nicholas of Myra
Rudolph of Gubbio
Paula of Rome
Marcella of Rome
Pandita Ramabai
Damien of Molokai
Photini
Ananais
Zenaida
Apollonia
Gobnait
Hrostsvitha
Marguerite d'Youville
Phillips Brooks
Tabitha
Dismas
Ephrem of Nisibis
Mellitus
Marina the Monk
Dominic
Richard Allen
Hanna Grier Coome
Nicodemus
James the Greater
John Chrysostom
Margaret of Cortona
Ignatius of Loyola
Tikhon of Zadonsk
William Wilberforce
Agatha Lin Zhao
Mary of Bethany

Past Golden Halo Winners (ineligible)

George Herbert, C.S. Lewis, Mary Magdalene, Frances Perkins, Charles Wesley, Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Florence Nightingale, Anna Alexander, Martha of Bethany

From 2016 to 2018 (ineligible)

Constance
Julian of Norwich
Sojourner Truth
Eglantyne Jebb
Martin de Porres
Maria Skobtsova
Phocas the Gardener
Richard Hooker
Peter
Esther
Stephen
Franz Jagerstatter
Amelia Bloomer
Augustine of Canterbury
Mechtild
Raymond Nonnatus
Martin Luther

As you contemplate your nomination, you may want to take a moment to visit the Lentorium and order your very own Martha of Bethany mug. The 2019 Golden Halo winner will surely assist you in your deliberations.

And now...Let the Nominations for Lent Madness 2020 start rolling in!

It's time for the annual Easter Monday Lent Madness post-game show with Tim and Scott. This episode celebrates the victory of Martha of Bethany, winner of the 2019 Golden Halo. You'll also witness Tim messing up the intro but, well, it's Easter Monday and he's tired. Hence his drinking coffee out of a giant vat/vintage Julian of Norwich Silver Halo Winner soup tureen.

Of course, there's also product placement, namely the pre-ordering of the 2019 Golden Halo Winner Martha of Bethany Tenth Anniversary Commemorative Mug. Get yourself a mug for only $11 and sell it on eBay later for millions, if not billions. You are also reminded that there are limited quantities left of the 2018 Golden Halo Winner Anna Alexander Mug and the 2016 Golden Halo Winner Dietrich Bonhoeffer Pint Glass. And...going somewhere? Who could forget the Lent Madness Travel Mug?

But that's not all. Nope, your last gasp of Lent Madness 2019 also includes a preview of Nominationtide, the ONLY window when the Lent Madness public (that's you!) gets to suggest saints for the upcoming year of the Saintly Smackdown. Look for this brief but exciting period  coming up later in Eastertide.

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The Supreme Executive Committee of Lent Madness congratulates Martha of Bethany for winning the 2019 Golden Halo. Martha became the 10th saint to wear the golden crown by defeating the inspiring runner up Pandita Ramabai. She joins previous Golden Halo winners George Herbert (2010), C.S. Lewis (2011), Mary Magdalene (2012), Frances Perkins (2013), Charles Wesley (2014), Francis of Assisi (2015), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2016), Florence Nightingale (2017), and Anna Alexander (2018).

To help celebrate Martha's victory, we've invited the creative geniuses who have shared their talents throughout this holy season to honor the Golden Halo winner. We're delighted they answered the call!

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Well, friends, we set out upon this Lent Madness journey over five weeks ago on “Ash Thursday.” With your help we have narrowed the field of 32 saints down to just two: Martha of Bethany and Pandita Ramabai (who defeated Zenaida 61% to 39% yesterday). Who will win the coveted Golden Halo of Lent Madness 2019? Only 24 hours and your voting participation will reveal this holy mystery.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome, we’ve met some truly remarkable saintly folks along the way. Perhaps you learned about some saints you’d never heard of or maybe you renewed acquaintances with saints who have long offered inspiration. Of course the entire notion of placing saints in a bracket is absurd — each “contestant” has already earned a crown of righteousness in addition to a “golden halo.” But at the heart of Lent Madness is the abiding conviction that encountering those who have come before us in the faith enriches and enlivens our own walk with the risen Christ.

In the process of this whimsical Lenten devotion we’ve all made some new online friends, encountered a community of believers who take their faith but not themselves too seriously, learned a few things, were inspired by saintly witnesses, and had a lot fun along the way.

Of course we literally couldn’t have done this without our stellar Celebrity Bloggers to whom we offer sincere gratitude: Amber Belldene, Laurie Brock, Megan Castellan, Anna Fitch Courie, David Creech, Marcus Halley, David Hansen, Carol Howard Meritt, Emily McFarlan Miller, and David Sibley. Thanks to Bracket Czar Adam Thomas for his unsung behind-the-scenes work in keeping the bracket updated daily — in his inimitable style. You all rock! And we’re all grateful for your good writing, good humor, and adhering to most, if not all, of the SEC-imposed deadlines.

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