5 Ways to Enter into the Lenten Season
I was in my junior year of high school when my Sunday school class decided that we would all collectively give up chocolate for Lent. Hardly two days had passed before I broke that pact. I was over at my friend Aaron’s house when he offered me a Klondike Bar. Who could say no to a hunk of vanilla ice cream covered in a thin chocolatey shell? I had just finished the last bite when I remembered the promise I had made to my Sunday school class.
In a panic I said, “Oh my gosh, I forgot I gave up chocolate for Lent!”
To which Aaron coolly replied, “What would Andrew do for a Klondike bar?”
“He would break Lent.”
Lent is a season of forty days, excluding Sundays, that begins on Ash Wednesday and helps prepare us for the coming of Easter. Traditionally, Christians around the world participate in the season of Lent by give something up (like chocolate) in order the share in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
As Mark states, “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him” (Mark1:12,13 NSRV).
We fast during this time because Lent reminds us of when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for forty days.
Lent is also a time for repentance, prayer, and almsgiving. It is a time of purification, repentance, and redemption. It is a time when we confront our sin and confess our guilt. It is a time of self-sacrifice and discipline. The season of Lent is so important, because it invites us to look inward and ask some important questions like: “What is in my life, that should not be in my life anymore? What is it that I need to change? What steps do I need to take in order to better follow Jesus?”
Lent invites us to ask these questions. Lent invites us to confront our sin and confess our guilt. Lent invites us to realize our need for God’s divine grace. Lent allows us to realize that we have been forgiven.
I want to explore 5 different ways to enter into the season of Lent.
1. Fasting
I know a lot of people who give up something for Lent just because it is really difficult. They feel like they have to suffer and punish themselves by giving up something that is really challenging. Others choose to give up something because it is really easy. They choose to give up broccoli or asparagus, for example. Still, others choose to give up something like dessert or soft drinks as a way to enforce a diet so that they can lose some weight. All of these scenarios are not necessarily bad, but they do not get to the heart of what this season is all about. Giving up chocolate for Lent was not a bad thing, but I cannot honestly say that it deepened my relationship with Christ. I cannot honestly say that I was participating in Lent as God intended. It is important to fast something meaningful in order to truly enter into the season of Lent. Give up something that will allow you to grow in your relationship with God.
2. Prayer
A second, but very important, component of entering into the Lenten season is through the discipline of prayer. Prayer is one way that we communicate and connect with God. Engaging in daily prayer allows us to draw deeper in our relationship with Christ as we enter into this Lenten season. It is an essential means of grace that invites us into knowing the God who formed us, created us, and breathed life into us.
3. Study
Communal study and daily Bible readings are great practices to adopt during the season of Lent. Study is an extremely important aspect of attending to the means of grace in our daily lives. Study invites us to not only expand our minds, but also our hearts as well as we dive deeper into our understanding of God. This Lenten season consider taking time each day to read through a devotional book or the Bible.
4. Worship
Worship is an important component of the Christian life and allows us to enter into God’s presence and receive God’s grace through word and sacrament. During the Lenten season, attending Sunday worship is a way to enter into communal fellowship as we celebrate what God has done, is doing, and will do in our lives and in the life of the church. Through music, prayer, Scripture, sermons, sacrament, and invitation, we can experience God in a deeper way this Lenten season
5. Reflection
Making time for reflection is also an important discipline to practice during the season of Lent. Whether it is through silence, prayer, or journaling, taking time to reflect on your own individual life allows us to realize what might be holding us back from being closer to God. Reflection is a process that exposes the things in our lives that we can purge in order to grow in our relationships with the God who formed us, created us, and breathed life into us.
Overall, this Lent I encourage you to find ways to deepen your relationship with Christ. Perhaps you might do this through one of the three traditional Lenten disciplines of the Church: fasting, prayer, or almsgiving.
May you find ways to answer some of those questions that force you to look inward.
May you experience the divine grace of Jesus Christ.
May you experience God’s forgiveness.
May you be transformed.
