“(The LORD) knows our frame;

He remembers that we are dust.”

— Psalm 103:14

Welcome to Lent.

In the same way that Advent comes to us as a season of expectation and preparation leading up to our celebration of the the birth of Jesus, the season of Lent provides us the invitation and opportunity to slow down and prepare our hearts to receive the transforming reality of Easter. We meditate upon the breathtaking depths of the Gospel as we encounter Jesus in the midst of our mortality and sin, as the love of Christ manifests itself in the journey towards the cross, and through it, to the resurrection.

Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter, not counting Sundays) has been traditionally understood as a season given to prayer and fasting, remembrance of the cross, preparation for baptism, and acts of charity.

The season begins with Ash Wednesday, as we confront the fact that our physical existence will one day be reduced to dust and ash. We receive the mark of ashes as a silent and communal way to declare to one another: “You and I are going to die.”

In this way, Lent begins by confronting us with the reality of death, but the point is not to dwell on death itself. The point is to confront the reality of death and let it drive us closer to Jesus. Why? As Justin Whitmel Earley puts it, “Because unless death scares you, resurrection won’t surprise you. Unless death makes you tremble, new life won’t make you sing. Unless you see that without Christ all is ash, you won’t see that with Christ all is newness.”

It is only by way of the cross that we come into resurrection life.

Fasting and prayer are two traditional focuses of this season.

Fasting, joined with fervent prayer and reading of Scriptures, is a spiritual discipline of humbling ourselves in abstinence before God to seek his presence, guidance, and greater depths of intimacy. Fasting is traditionally the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a limited time. Some people give up a certain behavior or habits (alcohol/social media/sweets, for example) during the season.

We fast (not just during Lent) because Jesus told us to do so (Matt. 6:16, Mark 2:20). We fast because we continue to see the pattern of fasting practiced in the Church (Acts 13, for example). We fast because it is one of the means God uses to break the power of sin in our lives, prepare us well for prayer, and humble us before him (for unlike God, we need food to live).

The act of self-denial can be a helpful tool in your Christian growth. There is nothing magic about it; fasting can be a helpful reminder of your deep need for Jesus and the way that Jesus meets and satisfies your every need.

So as we fast and pray and reflect, we join the psalmist in praying:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

(Psalm 139:23-24).

( credit: www.vintagenc.com - “Why bother with Lent?” )

Lenten Resources & Practices

Author Justin Whitmel Earley ( justinwhitmelearley.com ) has put together a Lenten devotional resource entitled “The Way Down is the Way Up”, including weekly themes, suggested weekly practices, and daily readings. You can access a .pdf copy of that resource via the link below.

The Season of Lent is an opportunity for us to reset and refocus on God. We always commend exploring our TRELLIS practices as a pathway for intentional formation and spiritual growth. Aligning with the Justin Whitmel Earley resource linked above, you may also want to specifically consider:

FASTING

“Far from empty tradition, fasting is the radical idea that we voluntarily remove pleasure from our lives in order to focus our minds on Jesus. It is a faithful response to the free grace of Jesus. It is easy, particularly in the modern west, to live as if your every desire has been fulfilled. It is easy to mindlessly reach for something to numb the pain of life. Anywhere you are, you are offered sugar, screens, or something else that promises to distract you from your emptiness.”

SILENCE

“We must be silent in order to hear. Such is the spiritual discipline of prayer. We often think of prayer as talking to God. And true. In one sense, it is. But as any relationship will teach you, the more important part of a conversation is the listening. In this sense, silence is the other twin pillar of prayer. The less practiced (but arguably more important) art of communing with God.”

VULNERABILITY / CONFESSION

“To follow Christ means to practice vulnerability as a way of life. It means living in such a way that acknowledges your weaknesses instead of avoiding them; naming them instead of hiding them. We do this because, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9, God’s power is actually made perfect in our weakness. We have nothing to fear and everything to gain.

The most meaningful way to practice vulnerability is to practice it in friendship. Set aside time with a friend to tell your secrets. In one sense, this is the traditional practice of confession. But it does not necessarily have to be your sins or what you’ve done wrong, it might just be saying the truth of who you really are. It may just be saying the things that you’re afraid to say, because once someone hears the words of your true self, they are capable of wounding you – and that is vulnerability.”

REPENTANCE

“Repentance means to turn away from sin. We do it because it takes more than head knowledge to follow Jesus. It takes a walk, and that walk is simultaneously away from sin and into faith. Consider how often Jesus paired the command to “believe” with the command to “repent” and “follow Him.” To repent is to thus acknowledge that it is more than intellectual ignorance that holds us back. We need more than education. We are gripped by sin. We love twisted things. Our hearts need rehabilitating, and we must quit the addiction before we can begin the recovering. This is the good–and difficult–news of Jesus.”

HUMILITY

“Humility is not self-deprecation so much as it is self-forgetfulness. Tim Keller’s wise definition of Biblical humility is: it’s not “thinking less of yourself” so much as it is “thinking of yourself less.” Certainly, part of humility is realizing that we are broken sinners before we are redeemed saints. But that’s not the end of humility, because that is still about us. The end goal of humility is someone else. It is when the goodness of Jesus eclipses your vision of yourself. When you think more about who He is and what He’s done rather than who you are and what you’ve done. Humility is the pleasant state of contentment you get when you turn the spotlight away from loving yourself and focus it on loving God and neighbor. That other-centeredness is the Christian call to humility.”

RESURRECTION HOPE

“In Christ’s resurrection power you can walk out of your sin, you can heal from your trauma, you can recover from your addiction, you can get over your loss, you can move forward into a different future. A new life is possible! No wonder we say “Hallelujah!” so much at Easter. It is the day we re-realize that a new dawn has come. And that new futures are possible.” Create space to reflect upon the real and transforming hope of the resurrection life that is ours, in Christ.

Credit: “The Way Down is the Way Up”, Justin Whitmel Earley