Underneath Lent is a belief that we can all detour from the fullness of God in our lives.
Lent is a season that reminds us of our need for repentance and renewal.
Whether you're beginning a relationship with God, feel like you've detoured from Him, or like many Christians, feel distracted or distant due to a world that clouds our judgement and tempts us towards sin, repentance is always the way to turn to God and seek renewal.
Follow along with our Sunday teaching series until Easter, as we explore these themes through scripture.
We started Lent with a theme related to Ash Wednesday from Joel 2:12-16. A text that called Israel to return to God during a moment of social and spiritual crisis.
(Listen HERE | Watch HERE)
“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
The season of Lent call us to slow down for self-examination, to discern inward or outward erosion.
Prayer and Worship
Practices like prayer and worship help us be present with God in community, as we do on Sundays, or in prayer during the week.
Join us for a brief mid-week, noontime reflection on Zoom (later posted on Instagram)
Fasting
The practice of fasting is an intentional way to protest against things that pull us away from the life God longs for us. As hunger rises in our bodies, it reminds us of what our souls truly long for—perhaps a cry for salvation, an honest awareness of our brokenness, a confession of sin that entangles us, or intercession for the people and world around us.
When we fast we generally abstain from 1 or more meals in a day.
We're inviting you to fast collectively with us every Wednesday, starting after dinner on Tuesday until dinner on Wednesday (break your fast at dinner on Wednesday). Please be mindful of your health conditions should this not be possible for you. To learn more about fasting, read here or listen to the following sermon series from 2023 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).
You can also expand your fast to abstain from distractions in your life or things that fill your time and mind. Social media? TV-streaming? News cycles? Reality TV? Certain books? When we fast from these things, we allow our mind and heart to hear from God; we communicate we hunger for life that is never fulfilled in those things either.
Reflection
Ways that you can be present with God during Lent could be a daily office, or reading through the gospels.
One app we recommend is Lectio365. While you can use this app all year round, they have a simple yet meaningful daily reflection that includes scripture and prayer during Lent.
However you practice Lent, we encourage you to be intentional and do it with community. This might not mean that you fast or read scripture in front of people; rather, that we are collectively committing to this together.
Finally, Joel reminds us to rend (or tear) our hearts, not our garments (Joel 2:13). Tearing a garment was a way to express sorrow for sin or tragedy. By calling us to tear our hearts, Joel is reminding us that what's most important in a spiritual practice or season like Lent is what's going on inside of us. Be careful not to make what you practice performative. Spiritual practices are a means of grace that give room to the Holy Spirit to work in us. While our spiritual practices might be public from time to time, they're never meant to be performative.
Tearing one's heart also reminds us to open our hearts to God. Let Him examine you during this season and do what He wants to do (see Psalm 139:23-24 or Psalm 51:10-12).
