Lent

What are you giving up for Lent this year? I've been asked that question a few hundred times, read about the topic on blogs, and heard about it on television and radio. I'm intrigued this time of year by the things that people sacrifice for 40 days. I'm even more interested in why they do it.

Popular this year, just like others, are sacrifices of chocolate, coffee, soda, television, and other guilty pleasures. Everybody has the opportunity to set their own rules for Lent. Some choose to go from February 25th to April 11th without any indulgence whatsoever - others choose to take off Sundays and celebrate them as "little Easters." A funny post on just these kinds of rules can be found here. Jon Acuff's got a great blog that pokes fun at the shallowness/wierdness/quirkiness of American Christians and he even makes fun of his own faith practice from time to time.

I wonder sometimes if we look at Lent more like a competition than a spiritual journey though. Often times we give up something so that we can say we gave up something. We challenge ourselves to give up something just so we can say that we conquered it. Isn't Lent more than that though?

Last Sunday, I preached about this topic and how Lent is a spiritual pilgrimage. We may never leave our homes or our communities, but we journey from the altar on Ash Wednesday to Jerusalem with each other and with Jesus. If we treat this season as a quest or journey, when we get to Palm Sunday, we'll raise our palm branches with great acclamation. On Maundy Thursday, we'll recieve the gifts of bread and wine with humble gratitude. On Good Friday, we'll stand, sit, or kneel at the foot of the cross - seeing just how much God loves us and realizing the sacrifice of Jesus in horrible suffering and painful death.

Easter will be different. We won't wake up thinking about that long-awaited candy bar, soda, cup of coffee, or episode of LOST. We'll stumble though the twilight hours of Sunday morning to find an empty tomb and, having been transformed by our pilgrimage, our hearts will swell with joy and excitement.

Giving up things for Lent is a great practice. It's not scriptural and I would insist that if you're going to do something special for this season, make sure it fits you. I've taken the route of many others - I habitually rearrange my priorities so that I can better discipline myself spiritually. What do I mean? I carve out more time for prayer, study, meditation, fasting, worship, solitude, etc.

If you're giving something up, great. Don't leave a void in your schedule or your wallet though - turn that sacrifice into something spiritually meaningful. Don't get caught up in the rules or the competition of your sacrifice either. I think sometimes we "swallow the camel but strain the gnat" when we worry about the wrong things.

How are you making this Lent a spiritually meaningful pilgrimage that will lead you to Jerusalem, the cross, and the empty tomb? What are you giving up? What are you taking on?

If you're in the area, come worship with us at Mt. Bethel. My sermon series for Lent is on spiritual practices, or disciplines, and we'll be examining some of them each week with the challenge of either refining our own practice of them or trying them out for the first time.

If you're not in the area, keep following here on the Yawp. I'm planning to post each week about these practices and how I'm using them and progressing with them.

Want more information on Lent? Here's a good post by a good friend of mine, Matt Parker.