Church in Bethesda Blog
Let the Lenten Season Launch!
Well, I can’t say that Lent snuck up on me. I guess I just wasn’t thinking far enough ahead to be prepared or Ash Wednesday this week. Last night when it really hit me that today was the Lenten kickoff, I wasn’t ready with any clear thoughts on fasting or what I may do this season.
Thankfully, as many can tell you, Lent is not just about fasting. It is a season of fasting, but also of repentance, penance, prayer and reflection. We are asked to take a forty day journey of the soul, much as Jesus wandered in the desert for forty days before a face-to-face time of temptation with the Accuser and the beginning of his public ministry. We are asked to look ahead to Easter’s meaning, to Easter’s beginning, and make ourselves ready. A journey is before us.
So what is Easter’s meaning? What might begin in me this year at Easter? What might begin in you? What might begin in us? These are the kind of questions last Lenten fasting, prayer and reflection will deepen in us.
Will I fast from something this Lent? Yes, I will. I can’t help myself. I love the ritual and the call to exercise self-control and mastery over myself. Will I fast perfectly? Probably not. As much as I might enjoy them, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with self-control and mastery of self. But I’ll give it all I have, and believe that God will handle the rest. I will say this… if you choose a Lenten fast, make it something you’ll miss. Make it something that will create a void, a space in your life, and fill that space with your prayers and reflections.
That space we’re creating in our lives is really the point of Lent, not the making of the space. Any fast we undertake is a vehicle, not the destination. So as you consider Lent and a possible fast this year, think of where you want be come Easter morning with that internal journey. With a course set, then prayerfully roll on.
Is setting the course a bit of challenge? Take the day today to reflect and pray. Ask a friend. Make a list. Start your fast tonight or tomorrow morning. It’s not about the legalities of the fast, but about making that space for God’s greater movement in you and then through you into the world.
May your Lenten Season, your internal journey, prayers, reflections and even your fasting be richly blessed as God gives you grace and challenge in the next forty days!
With all peace, Todd
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