So What Will You DO this Lent?

Last week, I gave everybody a much-needed heads-up about Lent (psssst, it starts February 22). In that article (click the highlighted text to the left if you want to read it), I also discussed a seldom-mentioned topic known as Spiritual Warfare. You will hear more about that in worship on Wednesday, February 22 at 7:00 pm at our annual start to Lent during a worship service, known as Ash Wednesday.

At that service we will challenge each other to keep Lent. This is to say, engage in the disciplines of Lent- Repentance, Fasting, Prayer, and Works of Love. Those are topics that can intimidate, but they do not have to. Remember, just as the secular world has trivialized Christmas as nothing more than excessive eating, drinking, and getting/giving gifts, it has also reduced Lent to giving up chocolate and preparing for the Easter Bunny in a few weeks.

Practicing the disciplines of Lent can seem like a tall order. But remember, our life with Christ is still one grounded in grace and mercy. We embrace the practices of Lent in order to create an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to change us, and grow us more spiritually. This will result in a testimony of what God did with you through that experience. No matter how well you do, it will give you a testimony. Either a witness to God’s grace no matter how successful or unsuccessful you were, or a witness to what the Lord has done in your life in changing you. I challenge you to embrace this opportunity. To follow Jesus as you live as a Christian this Lent.

If you’ve never fasted before, I wouldn’t recommend starting with entire days. Perhaps just give up lunch on a Friday, for example. If repentance is still a strange concept to include in Lent, be gentle with yourself. You know what it means. It’s an about face in one area of life that you are confident does not honor God. If can’t think of anything in your life that does not please God, ask a loved one near you.

I guarantee they’ll come up with something.

Also, I would be more than delighted to be busy this Lent making pastoral visits to help people sort out some of these things. Spiritual conversations about repentance have the capacity to change things for the better in people’s lives.

Repentance (really, any of these disciplines) creates Christians who have a contemporary story (think testimony) about something God is doing in their lives. And Christians who have contemporary stories of something (however small) that The Lord has helped them to change are far more convincing in their invitations to others to join them in church. In other words, you have a practical experience they can most likely relate to and you do NOT come off as claiming to have it all together.

Hint: one of many objections people have toward returning to church is their perception that church-goers think they have it all together in life. Since most people know this is not true for them, they stay away.

We know better, of course, but learning and directly addressing perceptions is part of being effective at joining Jesus on his mission to the greater St. Louis area.

This brings us to prayer. Most people claim to pray. All well and good. I’m not here to challenge that claim. But where can you grow in your prayer life right now? Prayer takes many forms. It’s not just a conversation with God, although it is. It’s not just a rote recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, although it is that also. It’s not just meditating on a scripture verse and using that verse to suggest a dialog with God. Although it is. And SO MUCH more. Need some more suggestions? Guess what your local pastor is trained to do :~) Pick up the phone and give me a call. This is the meat and potatoes of having a living faith in Jesus, rather than just play-acting at religion.

Works of Love. As I think of all the disciplines to work on, this one is perhaps the easiest to start. Some people already volunteer at a ministry center like Home Sweet Home. Ever wondered what that was like? Lent can be a way to try it out for a season. If it doesn’t work out, well, Lent is only six weeks. Like being sneaky? Try one Random Act of Kindness per week? Keep it as secret as you can. Roll your neighbor’s trash can in for them after pickup. Drop off a gift certificate for good coffee in your pastor’s mail box when he isn’t looking. Seriously? Is anyone even reading this far down :~)

You get the idea. Most of all, strike a healthy balance between appropriately challenging yourself and being gracious and gentle with yourself. Pick one area. Just one. And dive in. See what happens. You just might mature in your faith a little, unless you’re very careful! Because this stuff can be dangerous. It will change you. It might even start to form you more into the image of Jesus. You just never know.

Pastor Mark

P.S. An entirely different area to work on: If you are not already a daily scripture reader, consider the Lenten devotional resources provided by the North American Lutheran Church.

PPS: You can get that content HERE.

PPPS: Options to access it include:

~Downloading a pdf that has everything you need. Warning: if you are determined to print if off, it will take about 86 pages, so that’s a lot of ink and paper. Some people just save it to their tablet and go back to it each day, your call.

~Receiving a daily email (same content, just in an email, one day at a time).

~Receiving a daily text (again all the same content, just in a text message on your phone with a link to download).

~Podcast. Here the format is audio. For this, you will need to use Apple Music or Spotify.

Here’s that link again (HINT:click the different colored text)