Next Wednesday, February 26th, we will begin the 6-week long season of Lent with the commencement of the Ash Wednesday Service, beginning at 11:30 AM.
Each year, during the season of Lent, we are asked to reflect upon our faith walk and look for ways in which we could be better Disciples of Christ.
While the season of Advent is a celebration and a time of great anticipation, Lent is more frequently seen as a time of solemn observance and preparation for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter. From its start on Ash Wednesday until its conclusion on Easter Sunday, Lent has been a traditional time for prayer, penitence, fasting, giving something up, or maintaining an attitude of abstinence. Just as we carefully prepare for events in our personal lives such as weddings, birthdays or honorariums, the season of Lent invites us to make our minds and hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ life, death and body resurrection.
Any practice that we choose to uphold or deny from ourselves allows us to symbolically participate in being more disciplined, discerning and obedient to following in the footsteps of Jesus so as to help us be more open to God’s grace and mercy over our lives as we contemplate the immoral attitudes and behaviors of our sinful nature.
The Lenten season presents itself to us as a time of inner reflection, inspection and confession. We are to look to Jesus Christ, who offers us eternal hope that we can rise above those worldly views that at times enslave our spirits.
We should be encouraged to try to obey those things of God so we can enjoy the benefits of God’s blessings and righteousness upon our daily lives. For it is through the obedience of one that many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)
The Lenten season gives us an opportunity to repair the bridges, portals and thresholds that have caused a division between us and God so that we can heal and correct some of the damage we have caused by our neglect of doing God’s will.
May we humble ourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time the Lord shall exalt us. (1 Peter 5:6)
Pastor Mark