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Lent-an opportunity
to kick start or renew our
spiritual walk with Christ
I didn't grow up with the opportunity of observing Lent. As a young boy, the churches that my family attended instructed that lent was a religious trapping that allowed nominal Christians to feel good, ultimately masking their need for salvation and/or a vibrant relationship with the living Christ. Before anyone "Amen's" that statement or condemns it, please allow me to continue. I now find myself desiring such a season as Lent.
Lent's dual nature appeals to the small post-modern part of me. In the Orthodox Church, Lent is called the season of Bright Sadness, because it is a time of both celebration and mourning. We celebrate the work of Christ upon the cross, and we mourn our frail condition. We do not mourn as a people without hope, yet we choose to enter into Christ's suffering by remembrance of our sin and the sacrifice it took to overcome. For all who embrace John Wesley's doctrine of sanctifying grace, this observance in our church year offers the believer an encouraged opportunity of daily reflection on the privilege of being set free from sin and growing in the Spirit of Christ. Something we all should be about daily, yet sometimes lose sight of with the busyness of our hearts and minds.
John Wesley may not have been a complete fan of Lent during his time, for the similar reason that the churches I attended as a child were not. However, I believe he would applaud the use of a 'method" to kick start or renew a vibrant spiritual walk with Christ. The words of the song "Opportunity" from the movie Annie say, "Now look at me, and this opportunity is standing right in front of me". We all have an opportunity beginning on Ash Wednesday. It is an opportunity to step out of a spiritual rut or mundane routine and seek invigoration. Whether such an observance of the church calendar alone is entirely helpful to you or not, let this serve as a gentle encouragement to choose to go deeper with the Lord in your quiet times, devotional time, scripture meditation, or journaling. The Spirit is ever ready to move us onward toward greater Christ-likeness.
I am all for embracing such an opportunity!
On the journey with you,
Supt. Ben
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