I know that sounds a little strange, but I do like the season of Lent. For those of you who might not be familiar with this ancient church practice, Lent is the 40 day period before we celebrate Jesus’ betrayal, death, and resurrection at Easter. It officially started yesterday on Ash Wednesday. For those of you who are sticklers, you’ll notice that that’s actually more than 40 days—in the ancient church Sundays were exempt from the spiritual disciplines of Lent, and so they don’t count. Which means, if you gave up chocolate or binge-watching Netflix for Lent, you can do those things on Sundays!

The word “Lent” comes from an old-English word for the “lengthening” of daylight as Spring approaches. The period is meant to be a time of reflection, prayer, “fasting,” renewal, and service to others. Being more disciplined with our faith for this period of time is akin to an exercise or diet regimen. We “practice” in order to receive the benefits that come with “exercising” our faith, especially as we prepare for Easter. I’ve heard that it takes 5-6 weeks to break an old habit and form a new one—about 40 days!

The benefits of this exercise aren’t the end-all be-all, however. The beauty about God’s grace in Jesus Christ is that God’s promise and blessing is offered whether we “exercise” or not, are disciplined or not. So why do Lenten disciplines?? We do them in order to better understand and appreciate that GRACE, to strengthen our faith for when we really need it, and most importantly to live into the full LIFE God promises in Christ.

Peace,
Pr. Christian