From their “earliest days,” the followers of Jesus – have set aside 40 days before Easter Sunday as a “special time” called “Lent.”
Just so you know…Sundays are not counted in the Season of Lent. Sundays are considered to be “free days”…because Sundays are always celebrations of the Resurrection of Our Lord.
This is now the fourth season of the church year. Lent has been preceded by Advent, Christmas and Epiphany…
Each season has its own special “feel about it and to it.”
Lent has a darker feel to it. It is heavier. It feels more burdensome. It is “meant” to weigh heavy “on our hearts.”
The season of Lent calls on each and every one of us “individually” to “make some space and time” for spending with God.
In this “hurried” “hassled” and “frenzied” world of ours one more thing is being added upon plates – that are already “quite full.”
We live in a culture that reveres wealth and acquisitions more than it reveres God. Stuff rules.
Lent is meant to be a time of “return,” a time of “renewal” a time of “repentance” and a time of “reorienting” our lives. Lent is “personal.” It is “very” personal and it’s very individual… It is about you and about “your God.” Your higher power…if you will.
Many of the great prophets Zechariah, Joel, Hosea “called the people of God out”…and talked about a day when we would seriously “return to the Lord.”
We have abandoned him.
We have given him lip service.
We think we have appeased him. We have not.
The good news here is that we are not “the first” to have trouble maintaining a “healthy relationship” with our God.
Very much, like us, from – the earliest times, the followers of Jesus – got “busy,” they got “distracted,” they got “forgetful,” “they became fearful and neglectful” and they allowed their relationship with God go sit on the back burner for awhile.
Lent came about as a result of Jesus spending forty days and nights in the wilderness – of temptation. We too, are tempted and pulled in a great many directions…
It is a reminder.
It is time to “get back to the Lord.”
It is time to make “that relationship” more of a priority in our lives.
It is time for us to take “God seriously, again.”
At a church bookstore, the following graphic t-shirts were on display: “God is my DJ”; “Jesus has Skills”; and, “I’m, Like, Totally Saved.” There are Christian breath mints called, “Testamints.” Gospel golf balls with John 3.16 printed on them for the avid golfer and then there’s “My Loving Jesus Doll,” a 16-inch plush toy designed to comfort lonely children. Stuff like this sells at the rate of over two billion dollars a year!
No judgments, just information…
Many Christians do not walk “in the fear of God anymore,” and the churches they go to, rather than calling them to repentance and into a relationship with God are “feel good houses of entertainment.” Good music, great bands…nice stages and lots of flowers.
Sorry if that sounded judgmental – but it just so happens to be a major part of popular Christianity today! We go to be entertained.
‘Your Best Life Now’ is preached’; ‘Recovery’ is preached. ‘Helpful hints for holy living’ are preached; ‘Wealth is the Answer” is preached. ‘Tithing’ is preached-provided that God gets his 10% off the top. ‘Save the Earth’ is preached. ‘Old Testament examples’ are preached. ‘Jesus is cool’ is preached.
It seems that everything is preached but the one thing that needs to be preached, and that is “the Gospel.”
Easy “believe-ism” is soft on sin…and runs from seasons such as Lent, because they are too dreary…too dark!
Somewhere there needs to be the voice that calls us back to God. A voice that calls us back into a deeper relationship with him… A voice that reminds us that we are saved by our God, and not by our popular culture…
We need to walk with our God again.
We need to talk with our God again.
We need to return to him.
Take it or leave it, that’s what the season of Lent is all about. It is about far more than “giving up” M&M’s.
Amen.