For Love Of Words: Living Lent

The next best thing on the holiday calendar is on the horizon. For Christians, we are about to move from Ordinary Time to Lent.

To skip Lent and jump right into Easter is missing depth and richness leading up to the Big Day.

Easter is too monumental to the Christian faith to only give it one day of the year. Impossible! Heart preparation is needed.

Like Advent (my 2nd favorite sacred holiday), Lent is a time to open the doors of our hearts a little wider and understand our Lord a little deeper, so that when Good Friday and eventually Sunday comes, it is not just another day at church, albeit an exciting one bursting with pastel colors and Spring flowers.

Unlike Advent, more characterized by excitement and abundance, this is a more solemn season, meant to be a lament. One can't appreciate the light and the miracle of resurrection without spending a significant amount of time remembering the dark side, the sin, the pain, the rejection, the suffering, the death.

Both holidays - the focus is Jesus. During Advent, we anticipate His comings to earth (the first 2000 years ago, the 2nd date TBD). During Lent, we walk the footsteps of Jesus to the cross of suffering all the way to the empty tomb. He is risen, hallelujah!

I've heard practicing Lent called spiritual housekeeping:

Praying (drawing close to God)
Fasting (denying self for a spiritual purpose)
Giving (to the poor what we no longer need)

If I want annual heart transformation and to present God with pure, meaningful worship, it has to cost me something. All spiritual growth does, by the way.

I actually look forward to fasting (after the initial dread). I look forward to denying self on purpose. I've seen the results and I need this annual purge.

I guess you could consider this my annual invitation for you, too, to open your calendar and heart a little wider. To approach Easter - the holiday that sets Christians apart - and enter into a 40-day journey with Jesus on His path of suffering and death to purchase our salvation with an empty tomb. This is the stuff!

Lent starts next Wednesday, March 2nd. I write today so you have some time to think about it and pray. Make a plan (like a good Type-A personality would!)

Ask God what He has in mind for you, what would make it most meaningful to you and pleasing to Him. How to live Lent. The goal is always to grow closer in our relationship with Him.

This could look like so many things.

Focused Bible readings. Start with any Gospel. That's where the story picks up. In addition, there is no shortage of printed and digital devotional guides that will lead you in awareness of sin, repentance and appreciation.
Fasting from something you will truly miss daily (not something you hate, but something you love and think you can't live without - go big or go home!); denying of self (when you miss it, you trade that desire for prayer).
Giving to the poor. Purging our souls of sin and self, also emptying our home of excess. What can we give away to benefit another (both money and stuff)?

If you've never done anything like this, I'm excited for you.

Explore some of the ideas above.

Maybe it will become the (other) Most Wonderful Time of the Year for you too. Who doesn't want that?

Bible reading, prayer
Confession of sin
Fasting
Giving to the poor

We can do this. We need to do this. When we decrease, Jesus will increase and our focus become sharper. (any other 50-somethings out there need some clarity?)

Living Lent is not simply a religious ritual. It's better than that - this is about relationship, relationship, relationship. God wants more of us and the attention we give to sacred holidays is an outward sign of how much we give to Him. It matters. Our efforts will not be wasted.

When we hit the final stretch - Holy Week - we are going to have so much to share with those around us regarding what we've experienced. How real and present God is. How sinful and helpless we are without Him. How mighty and loving Jesus is.

And that's part of the point - spiritual growth and celebrating sacred holidays is never just for us, it's meant to be shared.

Finally, when Resurrection Day is upon us and we gather in our churches, we will sing "Up from the Grave He Arose", "He's Alive", and all the other Easter songs with gusto!

Did I mention it's so much more than just a holiday?