“Lent is a time for discipline, for confession, for honesty, not because God is mean or fault-finding or finger-pointing but because He wants us to know the joy of being cleaned out, ready for all the good things He now has in store.” ~N.T. Wright
We start the Lent with Ash Wednesday March 6. This special season continues 40 days until
Easter. While different Christian traditions have various thoughts about observing
Lent, our tradition considers this as a time of prayer, fasting and
self-examination in preparation for celebrating the resurrection at Easter.
I think of Lent as a time learn new habits, or
re-new old ones; very much like the time for discipline that we find in N.T. Wright’s quote above.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines discipline as “the practice of training
people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct
disobedience.”
Too often we think of discipline only as punishment, yet when we look at discipline and disciple they both come from discipulus,
the Latin word for pupil. This makes Lent about so much
more than denying ourselves something just because we secretly want to lose 10
pounds - it is about shaping our Christian character.
A traditional Lenten practice is fasting; using
it as a time of self-denial in order to better identify with Jesus’ 40 days in
the desert and His reliance on God. Lent can also be a time of adopting a new
practice; engaging in meaningful prayer, Bible study or devotion, or some other
active habit that trains us and focuses us on Christ.
Regardless of the Lent activities we pursue, the
questions to keep in front of us are:
·
Are we practicing something that God calls for?
·
Is this activity anything that reminds us to
love God and love neighbors as ourselves?
·
Are we focused on God’s work and Jesus’
ministry to the poor, vulnerable, oppressed, sick and lonely?
·
Are we practicing love, kindness, justice and
mercy?
I hope you’ll join us in our Lent and Holy Week
activities (Ash Wednesday at Prineville Presbyterian, Maundy Thursday April 18 and Good Friday April 19 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church - all start at 7PM) and use them as an invitation to deepen your relationship with
Jesus as we all focus on Him and our Christian discipleship.
Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike