My Thoughts On Lent
Personally, I believe that the Protestant Church has lost some beauty, variety, and power that comes with celebrating the Liturgical Seasons (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Good Friday, Dark Saturday, Easter, and Pentecost). While we may not feel the need to ascribe to some of the Catholic or Lutheran church’s ways of celebrating these seasons, finding our own ways to experience them through ceremony, celebration, and commitment may help us find new ways of staying connected with our Spiritual Life.
The problem with being human is we get “bored.” Even our favorite foods, after a while, become distasteful if we eat them every day. We crave variety of experience. We need times of somber quiet and times of raucous laughter. It’s not that the “same-ol’ same-ol’” isn’t good, it’s that it becomes tedious and loses meaning.
So, reincorporating seasons into our spiritual Life can reinvigorate and bring new meaning.
Advent is a season to celebrate the Hope and Joy of the Perfect Gift given to humanity by sharing our own gifts as well as finding ways to show gratitude to God for His gift to us. After all, there would be no Easter without Christmas and Christmas could have no meaning without Easter. A season to share Hope.
Epiphany reminds us that Christ came for everyone (Shepherds and Magi alike)—a light revealed to the world. It is a season to share Christ.
Lent is a season modeled after Christ’s own 40 days of fasting in the wilderness in which people take time to fast from things in their own life that keep them from relying on God, and seek a more meaningful relationship. It is also a season of repentance (not just seeking forgiveness, but also in turning from sin) as it looks forward to the need for Good Friday (the day of the Crucifixion to cleanse our sin) and dark Saturday (the day in which Christ spent in the tomb). It is a season to mourn, repent and sacrifice.
Easter is a celebration not of the crucifixion, but of the resurrection—that Christ’s work of redeeming us from the grave is accomplished, providing for us that we might live eternally with God. It is a season to be consoled and rejoice.
Pentecost is a season for living life to God faithfully as we rely on the Holy Spirit for the power not only to avoid the sins of commission (those things we are tempted to do) but also those of omission (those things we are called to do but are tempted to ignore—like sharing the gospel, our wealth, our time and talents). It is a season of power.
As far as Lent specifically, I find it one of the most powerful of the liturgical seasons. To me it is a time to reflect on my own life and ask some key questions:
Are there behaviors or attitudes in my life keeping me from a deeper relationship with Christ?
Am I living up to the man Christ has called me to be?
Am I investing in my relationship with Christ, or, as with a credit card, am taking advantage of my credit and only getting by with the minimum payment?
Am I seeing Christ move in my life in amazing ways? If not, why not? (the answer probably has to do with the answer to the previous question)
Am I seeing where God wants to use me more? Where He is calling me?
I’m not saying that Lent should be the “Season of beating one’s self up,” but it should be a season of honesty and conviction. It’s ironically kinda like Tax season—you look back into your expenditures over the past year and see that you’ve spent ridiculous amounts on fast food and soft-drinks that are not only not helping the state of your health, but also preventing you from putting finances away for the future.
While it is a time to mourn failure and the need for Christ to have had to die for us, it is also a time to see the Hope and find the Peace that comes in realizing that Christ’s sacrifice proves that God is going to love us like His children in spite of our failures. He has called us to BE His children. It is in that adoption that we can find gratitude that drives us to want to make our Father proud.
The key in not letting the liturgical seasons lose their power is to not simply do the same things every year, but to constantly seek the Spirit’s guidance for help in finding new methods to experience God anew. The liturgical season simply helps provide a framework within which to accomplish this.