Lent

Lent is a season of preparation dedicated to repentance, self-denial, and fasting to prepare one’s heart for the celebration of Easter. Like Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:), Elijah's journey to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19), and Jesus in the Judean Wilderness (Matthew 3; Mark 1:13; Luke 4), we submit ourselves to forty days of preparation. From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, we dedicate ourselves to repentance, self-denial, and fasting in order to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter and the resurrection of our King.

“…And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

– Ezekiel 36:26

Themes of Lent

Repentance: Turning back to God

The main theme of Lent is repentance. The people of God undertake a forty-day journey of searching our hearts for disordered desires that run contrary to the Kingdom of Jesus. It is a season of introspection and heart-searching. A moment in which we all contemplate the evil of our world, our community, and our own heart. Repentance is not a practice in self-deprecation or guilt-wallowing. It is the act of returning to the love of our God. The words of the prophet Joel echo as the Lord beckons us;

“return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
So rend your hearts and not your garments,
and return to the LORD your God.
For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger,
abounding in loving devotion.
And He relents from sending disaster.
–Joel 2:12-13 (ESV)

In the Season of Lent, we are beckoned to submit ourselves to forty days of repentance– to search our hearts for sinful desires and to purge our lives of our disordered desires. For a lifetime our allegiance has been to ourselves, and it will take the rest of our life to set those allegiances towards Christ–but we can begin with forty days at Lent.

Self-denial: the way of the cross

Self-denial is the practice of creating margin in our daily schedule for the purpose of reorienting our lives towards Christ. The goal is to not be miserable but to be devoted. Self-denial is not putting away evil things, rather it is putting away good things that have become a distraction.

In Self-denial, good things that have become distractions are put away revealing brokenness, hard-heartedness, and sinful patterns contrary to the Way of Christ. During lent, we work to replace those patterns with prayer and serving.

Fasting: the Body & Spirit Aligned

Fasting is the practice of going without food and drink(excluding water) for a period of time. In fasting, body & spirit come into harmony expressing a unified hunger for God, and of God alone. This embodied practice engages the whole of our person (body & soul) in a unique way, deepening our hunger for answered prayers and our resolve to “seek first the kingdom of God.”

The ancient practitioners of fasting believed that through fasting our disordered desires (called “the flesh” by Paul and the “world” by Jesus) would be broken allowing us to be fed by the Spirit of God. Patterns of sin, destructive cravings, and the temptation of excess are exposed in our hunger pains and confronted in the power of the Spirit.

In fasting our heart is trained to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world trapped in poverty and food insecurity. Our unity as the body of Christ is transformed from an abstract idea into an embodied experience.

Practicing Lent

1: Consider removing social media, television, video games, a recreational activity, a hobby or a regularly scheduled activity from your life through the season of Lent.

2: We suggest fasting (going without food and drink) twice a week for twelve or twenty-four hours. This can look like not eating breakfast and lunch, or skipping dinner one night and breaking your fast the next night.*

3: Commit to extended periods of introspection, prayer, and “soul-searching” to uncover disordered desires, allegiances to idols, and thought patterns contrary to the Way of Jesus. Practicing Abstinence and/or fasting can aid you in uncovering these things in your life.

*A note on eating disorders and medical conditions– if you’ve ever suffered from an eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia, rumination, etc) or live with a diagnosed medical condition, you should consult a doctor, therapist, or pastor prior to fasting. Fasting is a helpful practice given to us by Christ, but notice that fasting is not intended to harm the body. Rather, it is designed to bring the body and soul into alignment.