Friends we are getting ready to enter into the season of Lent. March second is Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday of Lent is March fifth. We are going to begin our preparation for Lent on Tuesday, March first with the celebration of Shrove (Fat) Tuesday. We will be serving pancakes, bacon, and sausage as we begin the preparation for Lent. I have always been fascinated with the contrast between Shrove Tuesday where we gather to eat until we can’t eat anymore and Lent where we fast and prepare for death and resurrection.
As we transition to Lent we begin to think about what we are going to give up for Lent. In many cases, we think about giving up things, like some kind of food like M&M’s or hamburgers. We think of giving up some kind of activity, like going to the movies or the theater. We may even consider giving up Sunday morning golf and actually going to church during Lent and on Easter Sunday morning. While all of these acts of lifestyle changes are good, especially the going to church activity I would like to ask each of us to consider a much deeper spiritual change.
I would ask you to consider the change as drastic as the difference between Shrove (Fat) Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. What I want each of us to consider is to live the two commands Jesus gave when he told us to love the Lord your God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. In essence, I am asking all of us to live out the biblical command in our everyday life. To discard all the things that keep us apart and let this season of Lent be the time we become one in Christ. If we could learn to love the way Jesus taught us to love we would be amazed just how much better we would feel and how much better our world would be.
I pray the season of preparation will be a season of change that changes our heart, our church, and the world.
Grace and Peace
David
