Lent
- Scott & Steve
- Feb 20, 2007
Lent is about a journey. It’s a Christian holy day/time similar to advent leading up to Christmas.
Lent is a journey of preparation. A time to personally prepare one’s heart & soul to receive, celebrate & live in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In the western Christian church, Lent is the forty days prior to Easter Sunday (the Sundays are not included as they are celebrative of Jesus’ resurrection). Lent begins on Ash Wednesday which this year will be February 21 & concludes Easter Sunday, April 8.
The length of 40 days for Lent is derived from various places in scripture, most notably the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting & praying before he started his earthly ministry. This is also why Lent consists of fasting & praying. Jesus spent this time preparing himself for the reason he came, seeking his father’s heart & communing with the spirit of God. Lent finds its meaning in these spiritual practices.
When we observe Lent, we are preparing ourselves to celebrate Jesus’ life, death & resurrection and to live more in the way of Jesus. When we take time to meditate and commune with the spirit of God we are seeking his transformation in our lives. At the end of this 40-day journey, we hope to better reflect the person of Jesus, embrace & celebrate the fullness of his death & resurrection, and discover more of what it means to live in the way of Jesus.
Prayerful dependence is one of our practices that expresses our value of being Christ-centered in faith. Lent is a natural time for us to grow in this practice. To help create & enhance this prayerful time for you and your family, some actions we are suggesting are fasting, giving, & soul-searching. These actions have their roots in the earliest church.
Fasting – replaces our seeking satisfaction in food or something else with our seeking satisfaction through communing with God. It forces us to turn away from something and turn towards God. We would encourage you to fast from food (carefully & in stages) or from some daily routine, habit or consumption. The point is not so much what you fast from but that it stretches you out of a “comfort zone” and into God’s presence.
Giving – shifts our natural tendency from being American consumers to being better givers. In Jesus we have been given forgiveness, reconciliation with God, freedom from sin’s bondage, countless blessings from God, wholeness & healing and a life filled with meaning, beauty & joy. This journey can be a life-changing time to shift from being a consumer to a giver.
Soul-searching – cleanses us from the sin that so easily nestles into the corners of our hearts. We often become so numb and accustomed to this sin in our lives that it goes unnoticed…sometimes for years. Soul-searching through Lent becomes an extended time when we are asking the spirit of God to dig out those hidden or habitual sinful pockets in our hearts and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Regardless of whether you fast, give, spend time soul-searching, engage in some other action, or practice a combination of these, remember to have a prayerful spirit so these actions aren’t meaningless activities but are spiritually transforming.
As a community we will observe Lent at our weekly gathering that reminds us of why God has freed his people from sin throughout the generations. His desire was not just that they would celebrate his resurrection & be restored with him but they would then lead others into freedom from sin and reconciliation with God. Our Sunday focus will be on how God would continue to use our relationships, missional living opportunities & even our physical space/location to see people and cultures redeemed and transformed.
For lent readings that we as a community will be doing together:
For more information about lent visit:
http://www.crivoice.org/cylent.html
http://www.kencollins.com/holy-04.htm
As we journey through this time of Lent, may our spiritual practice of prayerful dependence become more descriptive of our lives and a rhythm we live in long after the season of Lent.