I'm not going to pretend that it hasn't been over a year since I've posted anything. I'm sure there are a couple of people out there who will faint when they see that I've actually posted something new. I struggled with whether or not to put some kind of profound musings for my first post "back", but decided that if I continued to wonder what would be a worthy return post, I would simply never post anything. Ever.
Now that I've acknowledged my lack of commitment to writing over the past year, here's my gratitude for new beginnings.
Today happens to be Ash Wednesday. I am in a seminary class right now that is studying the Christian year. In my experience in church, the only portions of the Christian year that we celebrated were Christmas and Easter. Being from an Independent Christian Church that uses the Bible only (and the word Lent doesn't happen to be in the Bible....at least in mine...), my thoughts of Lent are quite negative. They are unfortunately clouded by hypocritical, shallow choices that others have made while choosing to observe the season. When Lent is viewed as preparation for the celebration of Easter, it suddenly takes on new meaning. New beauty.
As a project for my class, I have invited several people to join me in a Lent Challenge. In order to prepare for the celebration of Easter, we want to somewhat identify with the suffering and sacrifice Christ endured on the cross. We are choosing to sacrifice something of significance over the next 40 days in order to be reminded of that gift.
This is a first for me...the whole Lent thing. I'll be honest, I am struggling with some feelings of self-righteousness. After all, fasting from anything is pretty spiritual, right? My husband and I have decided to give up t.v. That choice has been a big one. I knew it was the right one when it made me sweat a little. I'm praying that I can remember that my sacrifice of t.v. isn't costing me my life.
Because of the extra time that I'll have from not watching t.v., I hope to write more. To reflect more. I'm sending those involved in the Lent Challenge a daily "thought" and Scripture verse. I hope to share some of those here as well. Maybe that will force me to be in the habit of writing more....One can only hope, I suppose.
Lent Verse for the Day:
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2-3
Prayer for the Day:
Jesus,
Fix my eyes on you. Glue them there. They look so many other places and I cannot seem to keep them there by myself. Thank you for writing my faith, for making it right. Help me to approach my Lenten sacrifice with the same kind of joy that you approached the cross. Remind me of what you endured in order to redeem my life. May that be a motivator to keep me moving forward. Amen.
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I never did anything for Lent until B and I were dating. Our singles ministry at church did a Nazarite vow---praying for 20 minutes a day, fasting one meal a day (or one day a week), reading the Bible every day. The tricky thing was that we had to have an outward sign of our vow---something we could remove if we were to not complete something on a given day (I wore a ring, for example). Since there were at least 50 of us doing this, people were made to notice if your token was missing. It was embarrassing to hang out with my friends when I didn't have my token! Proof I messed up! Like I need proof of that most days. lol
I like Lent because it gives me a specific window of growth. People are talking about Lent and asking who gave up what, so people know what I'm supposed to be doing. If I announce a 40-day fast in the middle of July, people might think I'm being all holier-than-thou. But it's a natural time of accountability because so many people know about it!
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