Contemplating Our Lives

Jess: For those of you who don't know or haven't been paying attention in church, we're in the glorious season of Lent right now. Some denominations don't really observe it, while others have blanket rules about the season. In the Lutheran church, for example, we do not use the word "Alleluia" in worship during the Sundays in Lent. I'm not sure how I feel about this particular rule, because the Sundays in Lent are supposed to be separate from the season--Sundays are always a celebration of Christ's resurrection. But I digress...

Lent used to be my least favorite season of the year. Why would I want to spend six weeks being sad? The only thing I understood about Lent was that when it was finally over, we celebrated Easter, my favorite service of the year. I understood parts of the season: 40 days to match Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, Maunday Thursday and Good Friday to remind us of Jesus' last days and suffering, etc. Yet I didn't get the point of the season overall.

Once I got to college, I started to realize that Lent wasn't just the stuff we had to get through to get to Easter. It's not just about giving something up and celebrating more on Easter by having that thing again. It's not about anything I do--much like everything else in life, Lent is about Jesus, his sacrifice, and his place in our lives. Lent is a time for me to reflect about what Jesus has done for me and what I am doing to honor and glorify him. If Jesus is not the center of my life, now is the time to change things so that he is. If that involves abstaining from something that has taken his place as my top priority, so be it. If that means doing something outside of my normal routine to glorify him and be his hands and feet, then I should do that.

I also recognize that I don't need a church calendar season to reflect on my life and whether I am living it the way Christ wishes. This should be a part of my daily life, prayer, and worship. If I want to live a truly Christ-centered life, I shouldn't wait for the late winter/early spring to do so. God is waiting for me every day, not just during Lent. I hope that this is the message people are receiving during this season, and one I can preach effectively in my ministry.

In the past, I have given up junk food, TV, caffeine, etc. for Lent. Last year, Wes and I each took on a new God-centered task; mine was reading the Gospel of Mark in Greek. This year, we have decided to work our way through The Love Dare, a Christ-centered approach to strengthen our marriage. It's going well so far and really making us take a close look at the way we interact. I look forward to the new challenges each day brings, and I am sure we will reach the end of this season with a healthier, happier marriage.

Wes: I would like to start things off by saying ALLELUIA! HA! Take that, Lutherans!

Now that this is out of the way, let us look lovingly and longingly at Lent. (This use of alliteration is brought to you by the letter "L"). I've always enjoyed Lent. For the longest time, I saw it as the time when God challenged me to give something up for 40 days, just to see if I could. Well, being the kind of person to never back down from a challenge (except Sunday morning crossword puzzles), I heroically stepped up to the plate, ready to show God that 40 days without soda, or gum, or video games, was easy. Come on, God! Bring on the challenge!

There were a number of years while I was in high school where I would give up a handful of things, just to make sure that I made it all 40 days still abstaining from at least one of them. I'd give up things like pizza, candy, soda, gum, wearing hats, listening to my cd player (I know... anachronistic...), etc... And, without fail, I would always mess up and divulge in all but one of them. I remember one of the years, my theater group had a pizza party. Not thinking about it, I enjoyed a greasy piece of stuffed crust deliciousness. Then, about 6 bites in, I realized I had screwed up and indulged in the unindulgeable. But I thought to myself, "Oh well... I can't let this pizza go to waste! Especially when I only have the stuffed crust left!" So, there went giving up pizza.

My senior year of high school, I did something really cool for Lent. I fasted every Wednesday lunch period and prayed for everyone in my school--students, faculty, and staff--by name. I didn't do this alone, though. One of my friends, Chuck, joined me most Wednesdays for prayer and fasted with me. It was a great time that helped me grow closer to my friend and closer to my God. This year sparked a change in my Lenten disciplines. Since then, I have worked to take something on instead of give something up. Last year (partly for a class assignment if I'm being truthful), I prayed every day for 30 minutes straight the Jesus Prayer, which is a very simple, very powerful prayer: "Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." I would pray this over and over again for a half hour, and I must say that it was very centering for me. I really felt like I was doing something worthwhile, something with real spiritual depth.

Lent for me, though, has always been a stumbling block. I struggle with Lent for the same reasons that Jessica mentioned above. So many people--me included--tend to place the focus of Lent on themselves. It is a time for us to show God how much we love Him by giving something up or covenanting to pray for so long. It is about what we do, not what God does for us. Even in my sermon at Ash Wednesday, I unknowingly preached this idea by talking about Lent as a time for introspection, a time for the person to learn more about themselves and learn more about their God. I fully believe this is the purpose, but it is by no means the entire purpose, or the main one.

What I am striving to do this Lenten season is to come to realize it as what it is: a time to take a step back and see what God is doing in the world and in me. I hope that through this time, I will begin to view the world through the lens of Christ, so that I might always be putting God in the center of everything, even and especially my own life. I am hosting a Bible study for my churches that goes through the book The 24 Hours that Changed the World by Adam Hamilton. Along with this, we begin our time together by engaging in a part of the practice of examen: We share with each other where we felt close to God in the past week and where we felt far away from God in the past week. It for me has become one of the ways that I recenter my world around God, reminding myself over and again that even if I feel far away from God, the truth is that God is always right there.


We hope that your Lenten season is a fruitful one, and that God works wonders through your devotional practice, whatever it might be.

You stay classy, World Wide Web!



-Jess and Wes