Did you ever think you'd utter the phrase "Thank God It's Lent?" Well, thanks to today's kick-off of Lent Madness 2013, you'll probably be hearing people saying "T.G.I.L." all day. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised to see a restaurant chain spring up called T.G.I. Lent's.

In any case, we're delighted to welcome you to this year's Saintly Smackdown with a First Round battle between Jonathan Daniels and Macrina the Younger. Yes, it's a martyred 20th century civil rights advocate versus a 4th century teacher and monastic. Such is the "madness" of Lent Madness.

If you're new to Lent Madness, welcome! You may want to check out the Voting 101 video if you have any questions. Be sure to sign up for e-mail updates on our home page so you never miss a vote, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and encourage your friends to jump into the fray. While you are on our Facebook page today, please "Check In" to Lent Madness so all your friends will know you have gone to Lent Madness.

We can assure you this will be a wild, joyful, educational, ocassionally gut-wrenching ride. Let the madness begin!

Jonathan Myrick Daniels

On Sunday, March 7, 1965, Jonathan Myrick Daniels, a second-year student at the Episcopal Theological School (ETS, now EDS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, watched as television newscasts showed Alabama State Troopers beating and tear-gassing civil rights marchers as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The next day, Martin Luther King, Jr. called for white clergy from the North and people of good will to stand with the protesters. Daniels and 10 other ETS students answered the call, flying to Atlanta and arriving late Monday night.

After traveling by bus from Atlanta to Selma, on Tuesday, March 9, Daniels and about 2,500 others participated in the second march to the Pettus Bridge and back. Later that day, three white ministers who had come for the march were beaten, one of them (who had traveled from Boston on the same flight as Daniels) dying two days later.

At the end of the weekend, Daniels and fellow seminarian Judith Upham missed the bus that would take them back to Atlanta and on to seminary. As they watched many of the white protesters leave, Daniels and Upham began to feel it wouldn’t be right to abandon those left in the struggle. Returning to ETS, they petitioned the seminary to let them go back to Selma for the semester.

Daniels and Upham returned to Selma on March 21 and joined the final march to Montgomery. Staying with a local family, they “just hung around, doing what we could to help,” according to Upham, including tutoring children, registering voters, and integrating St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

After taking his finals in Cambridge, Daniels returned to Alabama for the summer. On August 13, after picketing a whites-only store in Fort Deposit, Daniels and around 30 other protesters were arrested and jailed in Hayneville. Released a week later with no transportation back to Selma, Daniels, 17-year-old Ruby Sales and two others went to Varner’s Cash Store for Coca-Cola where they were confronted by an unpaid special deputy with a shotgun. The deputy threatened the group and took aim at Ruby Sales. Pushing Ruby out of the way, Daniels took the full brunt of the shotgun blast and died instantly. He was 26.

Ruby Sales, who was saved by Daniels’ actions that day, went on to attend EDS and founded the SpiritHouse Project and the Jonathan Daniels and Samuel Younge Institute. Judith Upham became a priest in 1977 and still serves at St. Alban’s, Arlington, TX. The Diocese of Alabama hosts a yearly pilgrimage to Hayneville in honor of Jonathan Myrick Daniels and the Martyrs of Alabama. In addition, Daniels’ alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute, has established a humanitarian award in his honor.

Collect for Jonathan Daniels
O God of justice and compassion, you put down the proud and the mighty from their place, and lift up the poor and afflicted: We give you thanks for your faithful witness Jonathan Myrick Daniels, who, in the midst of injustice and violence, risked and gave his life for another; and we pray that we, following his example, may make no peace with oppression; through Jesus Christ the just one: who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

-- Laura Toepfer

Macrina the Younger

Macrina the Younger (to distinguish her from her granny, Macrina the Elder, in a time before surnames) was the oldest child of a wealthy Christian family in Caesarea, Cappadocia, in the Roman Empire. She was educated in Holy Scriptures, and had a particular interest in the Psalter and the Wisdom of Solomon and focused on ethics in the Bible. When her betrothed died (she was to be married at the ripe old age of 12), she decided to dedicate herself to a journey into Christian wisdom. Her theology, known to us through the writings of her brother Gregory, reminds us that a Christian’s journey is not an inconvenience simply to get to the destination; the journey is the joy itself, filled with the wealth of relationships good and bad, mistakes, successes, and moments that take our breath away and moments that leave us in tears. For Macrina, the journey with Christ is the destination.

Macrina’s journey may not have left us speeches, writings, or sermons, but her life was preached in a breathtaking way through her relationships. Two of her brothers, Gregory and Basil, became two-thirds of the Cappadocian Fathers, men who helped finalize the Nicene Creed and gave words to the great mystery of the Christian faith. Gregory and Basil were bishops, as well as another brother Peter, in part from their sister who refused to let them believe their own hype. She reminded them that Christian faith demanded humility, dedication, and service. She told Gregory his fame had nothing to do with his own merit, and when Basil returned from a successful preaching tour with the big head, we are told she dressed him down considerably (or, as we say in the South, took him out to the veranda for a talking to). She served as an example for Basil and Peter, who followed their sister’s lead and renounced material wealth and focused their education on theology and Holy Scripture. While her brothers may have been early church rock stars, Macrina frequently challenged them on their theology, spiritual practices, and opinions and often, they realized she was right.

She also converted her family’s large, wealthy estate in Pontus to a monastery that cared for the poor and provided a safe, peaceful shelter for study and meditation for women and men alike. Many who lived, studied, and prayed in her monastery were starving women she would find while walking on the roads around the city. Basil and Peter used her life as a monastic to write a Rule for community life; therefore, Macrina became the spiritual mother of monasticism.

Gregory of Nyssa visited his sister as she lay dying and later shared her last words, a mixture of a Greek farewell oration and reflections on Holy Scripture, in his writings. One of the great fathers of Christian theology, Gregory of Nyssa (a saint), and one of the great fathers of Christian spirituality, Basil the Great (a saint, too), called this woman, their sister, the greatest teacher of the faith they ever encountered. Macrina, in her faith, her intelligence, her deep humility, lived a gentle life, and the elements of strength, love, and mercy so mixed in her that the great Fathers of our faith would say to all the world, “This was a woman.”

Collect for Macrina the Younger
Merciful God, you called your servant Macrina to reveal in her life and her teaching the riches of your grace and truth: May we, following her example, seek after your wisdom and live according to her way; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

-- Laurie Brock

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Dear Friends,

Blessings to you all on this Ash Wednesday. While we like to have a lot of fun here at Lent Madness and occasionally engage in a bit of holy hyperbole, we're always mindful of why we host Lent Madness. Learning about and being inspired by saintly lives is food for our respective journeys of life and faith. The season of Lent has a wonderful way of stripping everything down to its essentials and bringing us back to the basics of our faith.

We can learn much from those who have come before us as faithful witnesses to the Gospel. And they always seem to come back to this: "Love God, love neighbor." Each one of these holy men and women did just that in their own time and in their own circumstances and they can inspire us to do the same in our own day. Like us, the saints weren't perfect -- but it's freeing to remember that perfection isn't the goal but faithfulness. Lent Madness helps make real these heroes of the faith by reminding us that they were living, breathing human beings not lifeless statues or distant figures immortalized yet immobilized in stained glass.

So as we stand at the cusp of another season of "madness" (it all begins tomorrow at 8:00 am EST), it's important to take a step back to remember why we engage in this unique online devotion. Yes, Lent is a time for self-examination and repentance but the essence of Lent Madness is to remind us that Lent is also a time of joy. After all, what could be more joyful than a time specifically set aside to grow our individual and collective relationships with Jesus Christ?

Know that you are all in our prayers on this Ash Wednesday and we encourage you to attend today's liturgy as an entrance into the season. Fortunately, the church has many "branch locations" spread throughout the world -- check your local listings. Then reflect on these words from the Book of Common Prayer:

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided  a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy  Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning  of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

In Christ,

Tim and Scott
(AKA the Supreme Executive Committee of Lent Madness)

Dateline: Commuter Stations Everywhere

Based on the overwhelming response to last year's Brackets to Go, it was decided to offer it again this year. You know, it's important to take the brackets to the people, rather than expecting the people to come to the brackets. Spreading the good news of Lent Madness at train stations 'round the world is just part of how we roll.

In the photo on the right, you'll notice that the bracketifer has even colored the train's map sign purple. It's another way of proclaiming Lent Madness to a world in search of voting direction.

People were, as you'd expect, moved by the experience. One recipient said, "With St. Chad of Lichfield in the bracket this year, I've been so worried about dimpled chads that I was afraid to print my own bracket," adding, "you've taken my fear away." Another person, named Martin, was thrilled, saying, "I'm so excited that the people of Lent Madness would seek out wandering souls like me, eager to make connections with first-round saints, such as Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Martin of Tours" In a flat rebuttal to those who think Brackets to Go is trite, Martin continued, "I will come to adult formation at the nearest Lent Madness parish, because I'm really confused about whether to vote for ML or MLK or MOT."

One clergy bracketifer shared her experience, "It was so moving to tenderly place the brackets into people's outstretched hands." Her lay assistant said, "Setting aside that egregious split infinitive, I agree. This was an amazing experience of providing reassurance that Lent Madness encompasses an inclusive array of saints, with at least one saint to which each person can connect." The bracketifer nodded in agreement, also impressed by the assistant's grammar.

The Supreme Executive Committee declined to issue a statement, seeking to empower the bracketifers, whether lay or clergy, to speak for themselves. Seeing an opening in the media limelight, another bracketifer contacted the reporter. "I don't understand why anyone would oppose this amazing experience of taking Lent Madness out of the interwebs and into the streets. Lent Madness is too important to keep to ourselves."

- 30 -

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.

As many Lent Madness fans will know, the whole thing is run by the modestly named Supreme Executive Committee. Composed of Tim and Scott, the SEC works tirelessly throughout the year to bring you Lent Madness. But there are sometimes grave challenges between these two, as they have mutually declared the other to be an archnemesis. This archrivalry began on their two blogs, Seven whole days and Clergy Family Confidential.

Anyway, because of their love of Lent Madness and you the global public, the SEC has agreed to set aside their differences for the Lenten season. Look for a (temporary) spirit of amity and cooperation.

Today both Tim and Scott have posted a notice on their respective blogs. Please go visit their blogs and leave comments of encouragement or derision. You are also welcome to take sides, if you so choose. But come Lent, let us all unite behind the banner of purple in the glow of the Golden Halo.

This rapprochement means Lent Madness can go on without melodrama inside the SEC. It also gives each of them about 47 days to scheme for advantage when the détente ends at the Great Vigil of Easter. For now, as we bury the alleluia on Shrove Tuesday, the SEC is burying the hatchet of enmity.

The anticipation is palpable. Lent Madness 2013 begins in just three days, on Ash Thursday. Go ahead and set your alarms now: the voting kicks off at 8 a.m. Eastern time on February 14, 2013.

Here's this week's episode of Monday Madness. If you love our new theme music, make sure you watch the "Making of" video.

While you wait, this would be a good time to go over your preparations. Now's when you should be ordering your Lent Madness 2013 mug (and a poster-sized bracket, too!). If this is your first time at Lent Madness, you might want to review Maple Anglican's excellent Voting 101 video.

Yesterday, we shared some Lent Madness buzz that we noticed on the interwebs. Today we thought we'd share the excitement that's building for Lent Madness in the form of Purple Fever. Make sure you tell all your friends to tune in on Ash Thursday (February 14) to vote in Lent Madness 2013!

Top Ten Signs of Purple Fever

10. People are eating purple food.

9. Large crowds are forming. We don't know if the guy in front is "blowing up the trumpet in Zion" per the Ash Wednesday readings, or trying to get the crowd to sing the Lent Madness theme music.

8. New York City is taking Purple Fever to the sky.

7. At least one member of the Supreme Executive Committee regularly uses a purple bridge.

6. People have started wearing purple hats to show their enthusiasm for Lent Madness. Others actually wear purple shirts.

(more…)

Around the globe, excitement is building as we approach the tip-off of Lent Madness 2013. We expect most sermons tomorrow will be about Lent Madness, so we're providing some fodder for you last-minute sermon writers. However, we do not encourage a reading from USA Today in lieu of the Gospel, as tempting as that might be. Here are some buzzing bits from around the interwebs.

On Thursday, hotel guests around the world had their breakfasts interrupted with a photo of the Supreme Executive Committee on the pages of USA Today, along with a pretty great article. Tip of the hat to Jim Naughton from the Episcopal Café for mentioning the story to the right people at the right time. We expect that, due to incredible Lent Madness fandom, everyone at the Episcopal Café is now sipping their coffee from Lent Madness mugs. They are a café, right?

In a more sober and inspiring vein, someone struggling mightily with disease has been looking to Lent Madness to provide her some joy in the weeks ahead. Out of respect for her privacy, we won't link to her journal, but we ask your prayers for her and for all those seeking hope. May Lent bring renewal to us all, and may Lent Madness bring joy.

We're glad to see some dioceses on the Lent Madness bandwagon. The dioceses of Newark, Arizona, Lexington, Washington, and Texas are on board. Perhaps we're most impressed by the Diocese of Hawai'i, which has Lent Madness front and center. Last year they got behind local hero Queen Emma, and she went all the way to the championship. This year, it looks like they're rallying behind Damien of Molokai, who has a firm connection to Hawai'i.

Last year, we thought it was cool when we appeared on the pages of the Washington Post, but we're more excited this year to appear on the pages of St. Paul's K Street monthly newsletter. Yep, you heard it right. Being Anglo-Catholic, how long can it be before they have Solemn Evensong and Benediction of the Golden Halo, or the until the choir leads the congregation in chanting of the Litany of Saints (In The Bracket)?

Minnesota is a big Lent Madness stronghold. We've heard from St. Clement's and St. Paul's on-the-Hill, both in St. Paul. Purple fever is strong there. You can see a photo from St. Paul's on-the-Hill on our Facebook page. Of course, it's not just Episcopalians who get Lent Madness, as evidenced by a certain Methodist congregation in the distant realms of Idaho. In the heartland, you'll find plenty of Lent Madness fans at St. Thomas, Overland Park, KS. Back east, you'll be able to have a big debate over the merits of various saints at coffee hour if you show up at Cunningham Chapel in Virginia.

Our own Celebrity Blogger is rocking both Lent Madness and clerical fashion, as evidenced by a photo and story on Kentucky.com. Laurie Brock is doing Lent Madness in style here on www.lentmadness.org, and also in her parish, St. Michael the Archangel, Lexington, KY.

We've been mentioned on a bunch of blogs, including RevRuth's Rantings, Building Faith, Fr. Jonathan's Blog, and Word and Table. In case you were wondering if we are really important, we've been labeled as an official Vital Practice. There are lots of others, so if we missed you, please leave a comment to alert our readers. We'll do another round of shout-outs in a bit.

Oh, and in crossover appeal, we're apparently popular with Detroit Tigers fans.

Last, but not least, we've received what we consider to be a celebrity endorsement. Barbara Crafton has gone on record about Lent Madness, saying, and we quote, "You guys are wacko."

After a brief hiatus for a bit of national media attention, Celebrity Blogger Week both continues and ends with the Rev. Adam Thomas. While not technically a Celebrity Blogger this year, Adam Thomas is a former CB (2012) who enjoys the lofty title of "Bracket Czar." Adam's one of the unsung heroes of Lent Madness who quietly goes about creating and updating brackets from his Czar-like lair.

The Rev. Adam Thomas, Lent Madness Bracket Czar, was a 2012 Celebrity Blogger (most closely identified with upstart Philander Chase) who has morphed into our keeper of the bracket. He is associate rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Cohasset, Massachusetts, which is about ten minutes away from the church of our illustrious leader, the Rev. Tim Schenck. Adam is the author of Digital Disciple: Real Christianity in the Virtual World (Abingdon 2011), which you should read since you are using the Internet right now and you are more than likely a Christian. Adam just celebrated his second wedding anniversary with his wife Leah, who is wonderful and lovely and every other good adjective you might think of. He is busy being married, serving God at his church, and writing a novel, which is winding its way through the editorial process right now. Check out his website WheretheWind.com, for nearly five years of content. You can fan Adam on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @RevAdamThomas.

How long have you been a CB? What do you like about doing this or what have you learned along the way?

Throughout the world, people are wondering how they will manage to wait until Ash Thursday. Just one week from today, Lent Madness 2013 kicks off on February 14, 2013. In an effort to serve our global audience, the Supreme Executive Committee hereby shares the Top 10 Ways to Pass the Longest Week of the Year.

10. Get your bracket for Lent Madness 2013. Print it out. Start picking your saints.
9. You'll need to do some research to succeed at number 10. Besides Wikipedia, there are some great resources listed on this site. Naturally, we especially recommend The Calendar of Saints: Lent Madness 2013 Ultra-Revised Edition.
8. Go on a worldwide Lent Madness pilgrimage. Build an itinerary with St. Louis, St. Bart's, San Francisco and other saint cities and/or islands.
7. Sip coffee from your official Lent Madness 2013 coffee mug. Just please do not put lousy coffee in it. Life is too short, and the mug is too great.
6. Plan to take part in Brackets to Go this year on Shrove Tuesday. It's important to take the brackets to the people, rather than expecting people to come to the brackets. Print out some brackets and hand them out at train stations or street corners.
5. Watch the entire corpus of Monday Madness episodes again. If possible, get the director's cut on Blu-Ray. Make sure you learn our new theme music so you can hum it constantly.
4. As you know, the SEC does not condone gambling. However, we do encourage fund-raising for charity. Start up a betting pool, and give the proceeds to a great cause such as Episcopal Relief & Development.
3. Plan to hijack the pulpit at your church on Sunday. Get everyone rallied up. Suggest various places where brackets could be placed (the front of the altar, on the back of the celebrant's chasuble, or projected onto giant screens).
2. Connect with other Lent Madness fans by liking our page on Facebook, following us on Twitter, or getting Pinterested in our other social media.
1. Tell your friends about the good news of Lent Madness. Why keep the joy to yourself?

Before you know it, it will be time to cast the first votes in Lent Madness 2013. Who will win the Golden Halo? No one knows, but it will be a grand competition. Expect laughter, learning, inspiration, and no small amount of snark.

Celebrity Blogger Week winds up with the Rev. Chris Yaw. Actually that's not entirely true since we're sticking in Bracket Czar Adam Thomas tomorrow -- we need to keep him happy. But Chris is our eighth and final Celebrity Blogger this year. He's so busy that he kept his answers brief; however we have read through the lines to determine that he won't be giving up chocolate for Lent.

The Rev. Chris Yaw lives in Detroit, where the weak are killed and eaten. He serves the good people of St. David's in Southfield, Michigan who have yet to figure out his three-year-old actually writes his homilies. Chris is thrilled to be entering his second year of celebrity blogging (sure, he writes those too...) and is actually quite enthralled with online Christian learning. Visit the experiment at churchnext.tv

(Editor's note: Chris is too humble to mention that he won an Emmy Award in a previous life as a TV journalist, writer, and producer. We translate this to mean that Lent Madness has won an Emmy. Take that, Susan Lucci!).

How long have you been a Celebrity Blogger? What do you like about doing this or what have you learned along the way?
I love this job! And since I'm in my second year, Tim has doubled my pay. The best part of this job is being around some of the most gifted and energetic voices in the church who have a deep love for God despite her obvious bias for female saints.