Flourishing Life

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of the season of the Christian Year called Lent. Lent is a time of preparation for Easter and the waters of baptism and new life.

What can you do this year differently during Lent?

I was reading another blog the other day by someone in the "emergent" crowd talking about Lent:

Lent is not about "giving something up" it's not even about making "some meaningful sacrifices." Lent is about penitence. Period. That's what it is. Penitence.

Originally, Lent was a time of preparation for candidates for baptism. The baptisms were being held exclusively on Easter, and the period of time prior to Easter became associated with a season of self-examination and penitence for the candidates for baptism, called catechumens.  Fairly soon after this became widespread, other Christians recognized that an extended period of penitence and focussed prayer was spiritually beneficial to anyone, not only the catechumens, and so the observation was extended to include all the faithful.

Need to be careful. Anything related to the Christian Year can easily become religion. Religious people were the ONLY people to whom Jesus had anything negative to say. To be religious is to miss the mark. There is no way around this truth. I am not advocating for a low-church, anti-Church Year view, I am arguing for a via media, a middle way. Methodism has long been associated with the middle way that was prevalent in the Church of England, from which Methodism rose as a renewal movement. 

The purpose of Lent is self-examination. Jesus went to the cross for a simple reason: sin. Sin separates people from God. Sin includes actions and attitudes which deceitfully encourage our independence from God. We are not independent from God, though, so sin is falsehood. Jesus referred to Satan as the 'Father of Lies." Appropriate. So, Lent is a journey to the truth: the truth that my sin is a barrier between me and God; the truth that my sin is my fault; the truth that God's love is undaunted by my sin; the truth that in the Cross of Jesus Christ, my sin is forgiven.

I have been forgiven, but… there remains in me a "bent to sinning." When, with the Holy Spirit's help, I overcome some sinful habit or deceitful way of thinking, another layer of the onion is uncovered, another manner in which I have been and am sinful, but am only now seeing it for what it is. The process begins again: confession, forgiveness, cleansing, and new creation. Ooops, there's something more, another layer!

So Lent is not for seekers and new believers alone. Lent is a journey for all followers of Christ. As a matter of fact, the closer I grow to God in spiritual maturity, the more aware I become of my own brokenness and sin. So, I need repentance. I need a time of self-examination. I need a renewal of my prayer life. God is love. He's waiting for me to turn to him, to turn to the truth, to receive his help, his comfort, and his peace. May Christ and his peace be your companion during this season of Lent.

One last thing: The word, "Lent" simply means "spring." Nothing at all spiritually important about the word, it just describes the time of year it is observed.