According to the universal church calendar, we are now entering the season of Lent. The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately 6 weeks later on Easter Sunday.
The purpose of Lent is to journey and walk with Jesus during those last days of His earthly ministry and to reflect upon our relationship with the Lord through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, atonement and self-denial.
Lent calls us to reflect upon our relationship with God and how we act and engage ourselves as disciples. Some give up habits and behaviors as a “suffering” test to the human condition. Others “give back” and offer more time to God in ministry, mission, outreach, reflection, scripture and/or prayer.
As for me, I will look to fast on Wednesdays and attempt to avoid indulging in the C’s of my daily life: Candy, Cookies, Cake, Ice Cream, Chips, Caffeine, Chocolate, and Chewing Gum.
For my spiritual journey for Lent, I will look to spending more time with the Lord in prayer, fellowship, ministry and scripture. Specifically, I will concentrate on
studying the 4 Gospel stories surrounding Jesus’ last week (Matthew 21; Mark 11; Luke 19 and John 12) that begin with Him entering the City of Jerusalem riding on a donkey and continuing through the end of each text; His celebrated entrance, His time in the temple, the Garden of Gethsemane, His betrayal, His trial, His death, His resurrection and His ascension (Acts 1:1-10)
The Lenten season gives us a unique opportunity to offer our thanks, praise and witness to being a Disciple of Christ through humbling ourselves through actions of grace and mercy.
May your Lenten journey provide you with new and abundant fruit for service, for ministry and for reflection as you engage in a closer, more personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Mark