The season of LENT invites us to repentence and renewal.
On the Sundays leading up to Easter we have been reflecting some of the more HARD ASKS of Jesus, where he calls his disciples to:
- deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him
- lose their life for Jesus and the gospel, yet gain true life
- consider people and things that we love more than Jesus
- (keep tracking with our series for more)
A great way to think about this is asking, what in your life is distracting you or dissuading you from following Jesus?
To help us renew our love for Christ as primary, we invite our whole church to a common lent practice - FASTING.
When we fast from food, we allow the hunger in our bodies to remind us of the greater hunger we have for God. Fasting is also a spiritual discipline where we invite God to help us overcome areas of our life that distract or detour us from the lordship of Jesus, or patterns that damage our spiritual and emotional health.
21 Days of Fasting
From Friday, March 8 to Good Friday, March 29
Physical Fast
- fast from eating on Wednesdays (or another day if Wednesday is not possible for you)
- fasting is usally from after supper in the evening until supper the next day
- if this isn't possible for health reasons, plan to fast one meal in your day
- read more about fasting or potential health situations HERE
Digital Fast
- refrain from digital media (deactivate or close down social media, apps, etc.; remove from phone)
- turn off notifications on your phone
- use your phone for utility not distraction
- Distraction examples: social media, news apps, games, a web browser,email, YouTube/video apps, Amazon/shopping
- Utility examples: phone, text, calendar, airline apps, building/garage access, camera, weather
- this is a good time to refrain from binge streaming
We want to use this time to make room for God to reveal anything we need to surrender to him; invite God to reveal things we can “love more than” him (Matthew 10:34-38). This is a time of self-examination (Psalm 139:23-24)
SCRIPTURE YOU CAN REFLECT ON DURING THIS TIME (unless you're already following a reading plan)
** plan to end this fast joining us for our Good Friday gathering on March 29 @ 7PM
