As we approach Lent...

Easter is a popular holiday, and is perhaps the most important Christian holiday.  We likely have a weaker understanding of what Lent is all about than we do other Christian celebrations. 

          Lent is the antidote to that oversight.  We are comfortable with the joy and celebration of Easter but not so much the darkness of Lent that precedes it.  Lent is a chance to remember the dark before the dawn, the wrongdoing that Jesus took to the cross.  

          Why dwell on the darkness at all?  Jesus’ work is done – death has been conquered – Jesus is victorious.  If the cross has answered it all, then why be sad?  Before Jesus, the world called out to God:

Psalm 79:5

O Lord, how long will you be angry with us?  Forever?  How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

Easter is the once-for-all answer to this question.  Jesus took our place on the cross to appease God’s righteous anger.  He went alone to be punished – separated from God and deserted by His friends.  The drama of how this happened is the story of Lent.

Lent helps us experience our part in the suffering of Jesus.  We face our humanity during Lent – we learn that we still carry darkness.  Knowing that Jesus’ death and resurrection occurred ‘once for all time’, we will do nothing this year to earn it.  It is God’s free gift, given to us in love.

          Join us as we travel this Lenten pilgrimage – mourn for the darkness in our hearts, and rejoice in the light of God who came into the world to save us!

Joel 2: 12-17 (NLT)

The Lord says, 'Turn to me now, while there is time.  Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead'.  Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  He is eager to relent and not punish.  Who knows?  Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse.  Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine to the Lord your God as before.  Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!  Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together for a solemn meeting.  Gather all the people - the elders, the children, and even the babies.
Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room.  Let the priests, who minister in the Lord's presence, stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.  Let them pray, 'Spare your people, Lord!  Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.  Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say, 'Has the God of Israel left them?'

Psalm 103: 8-14 (NIV)

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.  He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.

 Let's pray...

God, your love for us is so great – you breath life into our dry and dusty souls.  You satisfy our thirst with living water.  By your mercy and love, we are alive!  Each day you lift us up.  Amen.