Atom“Lent is Always Leading us to Jesus”
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”
Luke 4:1-2
“So, Pastor, are you giving up coffee for Lent?” They usually smile when they say it. And I can’t always tell if they are serious…but they probably know that there are few things that it would be harder for me to give up on a daily basis! And, in case you are wondering…I am not. I am having a cup of coffee even as I write. (How else could I write “Over Coffee?)
But this Lent thing…some of you grew up with Lent in the cycle of the church year and you remember special services and “giving up” for Lent – an annual discipline of sacrifice and worship that acknowledges our Lord’s sacrifice for us. We focused on our sin and need and our response to Jesus gift. If you remember, “giving up” was not intended to be self-punishment, but rather “giving up” so I might “give more” in another way. I give up a meal or pop or chocolate, so from the savings I accrued, I might give a gift to those who do not have the same access to meal or pop or chocolate that I do. I give up television or a noon meal, so I might have a season of devotional reading or of serving – say visiting a neighbor or helping with a service project instead of watching “Wheel of Fortune” or re-runs of “Friends.” “Giving up” was intended to aid us in “giving life,” remembering that Jesus “gave up” to “give life.”
So…you know all that…but Lent sometimes seems so “yesterday.” Does it even work today? I mean, it is so counter to everything else that is going on in our lives. Our culture (watch the advertising on TV) is increasingly built on thrills and entertainment, and focused on youth and health. Spending time focusing on the brokenness and pain of life – Ash Wednesday and sin and “ashes to ashes” – is a bit out of the norm. Indeed. But it is also a gift that opens us to a freeing honesty about our humanness and our frailty and invites us to receive again the transforming power of Jesus that heals wounds and renews life.
My devotional reading this week led me to a piece by a friend of mine, Pastor Dave Risendal in Greenwood Village, Colorado. He writes:
“Lent done rightly is hard work. It is not easy to look our weaknesses and our failures square in the eye. But ultimately, as challenging as that kind of work can be, it can also be a life-giving gift. Because only by owning our brokenness and our frailty can we receive the gifts of forgiveness and renewal that God offers us. Only by admitting our need for the Savior can we experience gifts of forgiveness and renewal that God offers us. Only by admitting our need for the Savior can we experience the true joy that comes from knowing what God has done on our behalf. Lent is designed to be the winter of our soul that leads into the springtime of God’s grace.”
No doubt some of us would rather go south to Arizona or Texas and avoid winter and just have springtime! Some of us would rather avoid the reflection and confession and just have the grace. But they work together, you see. Lent is always leading us through honest reflection to a deeper reception of the wonder of Easter and the promised transformation of wounded, broken, dying lives (now) into the whole and restored and eternal lives (now and forever) given through Jesus.
From the prayer for the First Sunday in Lent:
“O Lord God, you led your people through the wilderness and brought them to the Promised Land. Guide us now, so that, following your Son, we may walk safely through the wilderness of this world toward the life you alone can give, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, Amen.”
Lent is always leading us to Jesus. May we make the most of the journey!
Pastor Wade
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