Monday, February 27, 2012

Journal: Why I Need Lent


Lent has begun.  The tone of this season in the church year is noticeably more somber than other times of the year.  And it should be.  Lent is a time of preparation and a time of reflection.  Lent is a time set aside to meditate deeply on our sinfulness, God's mercy, the blessings we undeservedly enjoy, the overwhelmingly great need for Christ in our communities, and the call we have to bring Jesus to our dying world.  I need Lent.

I need Lent because Lent forces me to focus on the Cross as something that is before me.  It's so easy to shove the Cross into the background of my busy life and let it become  an afterthought -- to treat the Cross as something behind me as I press on toward new goals with fresh ideas on how to walk with Jesus.  I need Lent to slow me down, to refocus me, to re-center my life.  I need the familiar pattern of its forty day journey that carries me from the heights of the mount of Jesus' Transfiguration through the valleys of betrayal, desertion, abuse, scorn, and death to the exaltation of Christ's Resurrection.  Without Lent I would rush to the empty tomb with an empty heart instead of one filled with the joy and praise and delight of being loved and forgiven at such a great cost.  I need Lent to keep from convincing myself that how I ordinarily live my life is preparation enough to celebrate Easter with a sincere heart and true joy. 

It's Lent.  It's time to draw near to the God who drew near to me, taking on human flesh to suffer and die so that I could live.  It's too much to embrace  in an instant or a day or just one forty day journey.  I need Lent over and over again in my life so that the single most important thing that has happened in human history never stops being what shapes and guides and moves me.  I need Lent because I need the crucified Christ in order to live in His Resurrection.

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