From Lent to Sent: The Missional Impulse Behind Lent

From Lent to Sent:  The Missional Impulse Behind Lent

On Ash Wednesday more than one billion people will kick off their Lenten observance by laying aside any number of vices, comforts or distractions for the next six weeks leading up to the celebration of Easter.  This ancient tradition of self-denial is rooted in the account of Jesus’s 40 days of testing in the wilderness as recorded in three of the gospels.

The particular tradition in which I was raised did not observe Lent; it was something “Catholics did as an empty form of religion.”  Ok, no one actually said that out loud, but it was most assuredly understood. As I have crossed the paths of followers of Jesus from other traditions, I found Lent to be a helpful spiritual discipline.  In fact, my entire church community observes Lent in different ways each year, and it’s one of those times of the year when we feel particularly connected to one another in our pursuit of God.

However, I must admit that many times my Lenten observances have been full of either failed commitments or over zealous asceticism instead of the sort of testing Jesus experienced in his 40 days in the desert.  The post-Lenten me doesn’t emerge anything like the Jesus, who returns “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14) and drops his  good-news mission like a bombshell in saying:   18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20..........“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Why is that?  Why does my “time of testing” looks so different and produce such different fruit in my life?  I suspect I’m not the only one that feels this way; finding Lent to be a helpful discipline but not altogether transformative.  

I think the problem for many of us is twofold: 1) we enter into Lent attempting to deal with areas of our lives that are too close to the surface instead of the sort of deep testing Jesus was lead to experience; and 2)  we miss the point that whatever purification or testing we endure is meant to transform us for mission.

On this first issue, most of us give some prayer and thought to what thing(s) we might give up during Lent, recognizing these things might be standing in the way of something God wants to do in us. This is certainly a noble thing to do!  However, Jesus’s time of testing was aimed at the core of who he was and the deepest of temptations:  the temptation to satisfy our appetites by other means than God’s provision, the temptation to earn approval from men rather than accept our identity from our Father, and the temptation to satisfy our ambition by gaining influence through means other than the Father’s authority.  In his book, Multiplying Missional Leaders, Mike Breen lays out these temptations- appetite, approval, and ambition-  as the primary temptations all of us will face in this life.  In each case, we are tempted to substitute or short circuit God’s rightful place and process in our lives.  Jesus, being fully human as much as he was fully God, faced those same temptations.  The Holy Spirit, Luke 4:1 tells us, lead Jesus into the wilderness for this time of testing- this was no time of simple reflection and correction of bad habits.  It was a time of evaluation and deep character formation, of overcoming these core temptations.  When Jesus emerges, it’s clear that he’s fully submitted to the Father’s will and his mission on this earth.  Neither his own ambitions, nor the approval of men, nor the comfort of created things will stand in his way.  

This deep character formation should be our aim in Lent. It is good to give up things that are unnecessary, but it’s better to submit  to the Holy Spirit’s leading and face these core temptations head on.  In fact, Jesus makes these clear conditions for discipleship- We must die to ourselves and our personal ambition and safety (Matt 16:24), we must be free from others (Luke 14:26), and we must be willing to give up everything to follow him (Luke 14:33). The point is this:  don’t let Lent be about anything less than being formed into an authentic follower of Jesus.

This brings me to the second point. Sometimes we mistakenly see the spiritual formation that happens in Lent an as end in itself.  The goal that we seek to attain is simply some higher level of spirituality by denying ourselves for a few weeks.  What I said above should make it clear that character formation is of utmost importance; however, if that character formation stops short of participating in mission- “announcing and demonstrating the Kingdom of God” or “participating with God in the renewal of all things” -then we have stopped short of being formed into the image of Christ.  Jesus, emerged from his time of testing with power and authority to engage the world.  The purifying work that God does in us as individuals is a part of something much bigger - the renewal of all things! We are made to be like Jesus to do what Jesus did and participate in his work in the world.  Being formed in the image of Christ implies that we also participate in mission.  Therefore, the result of Lent should be more than making us better, more spiritual people.        

The result of Lent should be that we are Sent just like Jesus was.

I won’t be satisfied with Lent as a simple spiritual exercise or part of my early springtime ritual.  To paraphrase Dallas Willard, I want to learn from Jesus how to be like Jesus.  I want my deepest desires to be uprooted and submitted to him so I can embrace my calling as salt and light in the world. 

 Will you join me? Will you allow the Holy Spirit to work in you over the next few weeks to produce deep character transformation and prepare you for Mission? If so, what is your plan? How will it be different than the past?
Feel free to post questions of comments!