We are just over two weeks into a season in the church called Lent. You may have grown up in a church that celebrated Lent every year. Or you might be like me and grew up with no idea whatsoever what Lent was. I knew that some people give things up for Lent. But I had no clue why my buddy would give up donuts or only eat fish on Fridays during the season.
The roots of Lent go back to the early church, when believers set aside a period of fasting and preparation for Easter. Eventually the church established a 40-day season for Lent, mirroring the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness before his public ministry began.
At its core, Lent has always been about deepening our connection to God. Traditionally this has been done through things like fasting and setting aside special times for prayer and self reflection. It’s also a time to remove distractions from our life. This is where the idea of giving something up for Lent started. That when we give something up, the point isn’t only self improvement. But whenever we miss that thing we’ve given up, it reminds us of our need for God. So for example if we give up chocolate for Lent, whenever we crave a sweet treat instead of thinking about how much we miss it, we pause and spend time in prayer. Again, it’s a time of deepening our connection to God through those everyday moments in our life.
But there’s been a recent trend (or at least I’ve recently become aware of it) that instead of giving something up for Lent, people have started to add new spiritual disciplines for the 6 weeks of Lent. Maybe doing a gratitude journal, calling a friend everyday on the way home from work, making time to read scripture and pray each morning. Or committing to doing some kind of service for someone else. All of these are great ways to prioritize faith for a season and see its impact.
We’re about a third of the way through Lent. So if you didn’t start a new discipline for Lent, you might think you’ve missed it. Nope. There’s still time because there’s nothing magical about the 40 days or the 6 weeks. So let me offer just a couple of possibilities that are happening here at Good Shepherd.
First, Pastor Cathy McIntire and Pastor Bryan Rezen have written a six session devotion for Lent called Intro to the Life of Jesus. It’s a simple guide through the Gospel of Luke and a reflection on how we can live a little more like Jesus. You can sign up for it through the link below.
Second, this coming weekend we are having the second Sunday of our Serve Expo. This is a great chance to take a step toward serving here at Good Shepherd and making the discipline of serving part of your life. Serving is a great way to meet people, to contribute to something bigger than yourself and to make a difference in our church.
