Lent

Lent – what is this time all about? Many of us are limited in our knowledge to knowing it begins when we see those people with the ashes on their foreheads and ends with Easter. But what do we DO for Lent.

Lent encourages us to concentrate on five spiritual disciplines. The first of these is prayer. Obviously, we would say that it is the obligation of every Christian to make prayer a priority all the time in their spiritual life. However, during the period of Lent, the believer is encouraged to be exceptionally diligent in the observance of the Divine Office. The Divine Office includes eight periods of prayer throughout each day, beginning with daybreak and ending with a prayer at midnight or immediately before sleep. In the original form these prayer included hymns to be sung even if the believer was worshipping alone. In this season of Lent concentrate on your prayer life. Schedule times of prayer, each day and every day!

The second discipline is penance. Penance can include all behavior designed to express a believer’s sorrow for their sins. This often includes fasting. With great apologies to my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, I would paraphrase it like this. If God needed convincing as to the sincerity of our faith, what would you do to convince him you were serious about obtaining salvation? In this season of Lent express your sorrow for your sins in a way most appropriate to you.

The third discipline is repentance. Repentance is a turning from sin and seeking to lead a holy and righteous life. It is fair to say that most of us are quite conscious of our sins, but we do little to rid ourselves of that sin. We ask forgiveness and, for the most part, go on our merry way with only half-hearted attempts to make sure we don’t do the same thing again. In this season of Lent, don’t just give up a bad habit, concentrate on the SIN in your life and seek to turn from it as best you can.

The fourth discipline is almsgiving. Where are the poor, the lonely, the suffering, the widow, and the orphan in our community? What can you do to help them? In many other religions around the world almsgiving is not true almsgiving unless it is given directly to the person in need. In this season of Lent, find a person you can help, not an organization (as much as they may need it as well), but a person. It will change your life and theirs.

 The fifth discipline is self-denial. Self-denial helps us focus on leading a simpler lifestyle. We begin to separate our needs from our wants, things we tend to get confused on a regular basis. Self-denial is an area where only a few of us excel. We like our comforts, and most of us try not to think about what we might contribute to the Kingdom of God if we were willing to live with a little less. In this season of Lent see if there may be ways you can decrease your personal expenditures to sponsor a hungry child or a missionary in a foreign land.

May these practices enrich every aspect of your life during the season of Lent and beyond. Amen

Pastor Craig