What is Lent and Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is the day Christians all over the world kick of the Lent season. Lent is a forty day period where we reflect and examine our lives in preparation for the Celebration of Easter. The idea is that we pray and ask the Lord to reveal areas of weakness, sin, distraction, etc. in order to more fully appreciate significance and need of Jesus’ death on the cross and celebrate his victory in resurrection. It is traditional to fast or give up something of significance during this time in order to prepare our hearts, minds, and bodies to respond the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season as we place ashes on our foreheads as a symbol of repentance and solemn commitment.

Reading:

The following passage is the traditional foundation for celebrating the Lenten season. Take some time to read it a few times and ask God to speak to you as you read and reflect.

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, ² where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. ³The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

⁴Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" ⁵The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ So if you worship me, it will all be yours." ⁸ Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" ⁹The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; ¹¹ they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" ¹²Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" ¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Prayer and Reflection:

After taking some time to reflect on the passage above, you may want to use the following questions to guide your prayers. These are just some questions to get you thinking about what God wants to say to you in this season. You may want to pick just one of these questions that really jumps out at you. Make sure to write down anything your feel the Lord reveals to you in this time.

Ask God:

What do you want to see done in and around me during this Lenten season?

Reveal to me any lies Satan has led me to believe about myself, God, or other people.

Am I depending on anything other than You as my source of provision, truth, encouragement, and salvation?

Am I putting any other cares, fears, loves, or needs of my heart above Jesus and his Kingdom?

Is there any part of my heart that is not fully submitted to God’s call and purpose on my life?

I am rebelling against or attempting to manipulate God to suit might needs?

How do you want me to move forward to deal with these areas in my life? How should I respond?

Follow Up: Giving Up and Taking On

Use this time of prayer and reflection to help you plan out what you will do during this Lenten season. There are many ways to respond, but most people find it helpful to observe Lent by giving up something that they feel is dulling their awareness of God's work and purpose in their lives. So, take some time now and think about what you might put aside for the next weeks to make space for God's work in you. You may also find it helpful to take on something new- like spending more time in with neighbors or being more generous with your time or resources. Whatever it is, make it purposeful!

Post What You're Doing

Feel free to post on this blog whatever is you are going to be doing (or not doing!) during Lent. It's great to share this with others to be held accountable and get ideas. You can post anonymously or by name.

Friends, Community, and Being There for the Big Moments

Over the last two weeks I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on the role of true friendships and community in my life. This was precipitated by a close friend of mine from college having a heart attack (he’s doing ok now!). This event set in motion a number of our friends posting hilarious memories and pictures from our college days on his Facebook page to try and lift his spirits. For me this set off a flood of memories- not so much about the events of the past, but the people with whom I share those memories. My college days were a microcosm of my life: a mix of extreme joys and deep pain. I traveled the world, made and played music for lots of people, made great friends, met my wife, but I also lost my first love, was betrayed by friends and people I trusted, doubted my faith, witnessed disease and death in loved ones, and lost my way for awhile. All of this nostalgia about that period of my life has expanded to reflecting on the whole of my life and the people who have been around for my best and worst times from childhood to today. Not to diminish any of my other friendships and acquaintances, but the people who really stand out in my mind are those who have experienced the true heights and depths of my life. They’ve seen me at my best and worst. They were a shoulder to cry on, an ear to fill with frustrations, people I could laugh with and not be conscious of my dumb smile, friends who were just as excited and happy about things that I wanted to celebrate as I was. These people made these important events in my life that much sweeter and that much easier to handle.

However, the opposite is certainly true. There have been plenty of times in my life, when no one was there. I was left to celebrate myself or morn alone. The lack of someone with whom I could share these moments made the “highs” less high and “lows” much lower. There’s a certain amount of this to be expected in life. Sometimes there’s just stuff that no one else will ever know about you. You can tell people why you love this song or hate that painting, why that moment meant so much or hurt so bad, but no one can experience that for you. And, sometimes it’s healthy just to process the important stuff in life by yourself and not feel the pressure of expressing it to anyone else.

The problem is that the older and more disconnected we get, the more we shut people out of these big events in our lives and the less we are open to being there for others. Life gets too busy. We become more guarded. We get pickier about our friends. We’ve got counselors to talk to. We’ve got spouses or kids to pay attention to. Whatever the reason, it seems we are less inclined for true friendships and community as time passes.

Yet, the big moments on life keep coming. Today the first three posts in my Facebook news stream were all big events: someone was celebrating getting the job of his dreams, another remembering the anniversary of a brother passing, another celebrating the anniversary of coming to know Jesus. Other friends have recently found they were expecting a new baby, started new business ventures, lost jobs, started grad school, and the list goes on The big moments keep coming and only get bigger, I think.

We’ve all got excuses and reasons for the lack of friendships and community in our lives, but what are we missing out on? What are we robbing other people of? How much sweeter would those celebratory moments be if we had a real group friends to celebrate with us? Friends who have cried us with and stood beside us in defeat.

I think there something is missing in our lives if we don’t have these type of relationships outside of our immediate families. The scriptures have a lot to say about baring other people’s burdens, as well as, morning, weeping, rejoicing, and encouraging those around us. We have a fundamental need for community. Where there are needs there are opportunities. We have chance to experience the love of God through other people. Moreover, we have the chance to demonstrate God’s love to people in real and tangible ways. If that’s the case, this is more of an obligation than it is mere opportunity. We don’t get to take a “pass” on sharing God’s love with people- not if we really care anyway.

Don’t get me wrong; community is messy business. You’re likely to get hurt and hurt other people from time to time. As long as we live on this side of the New Creation pain comes with territory of human relationships. But isn’t it worth it? Isn’t it worth the chance to be the one that brings comfort to someone in pain? Isn’t it worth putting yourself out there so that when you really need it, someone is there for you?

So here’s the challenge: pay attention to what’s going on in the lives of those around you. Make much of the big moments in the lives people. Comfort. Celebrate. Laugh. Cry. Ask questions. Be there. And in turn, be open to letting other people into your world. Then, just see what God can do in and through you. God chooses to work in the world in many ways, but most often he shows up in the context of our human relationships. Will you be part of that plan? Will you commit yourself to experience all that life throws at you in real friendships and authentic community? I will.