Lent has a heart to it. A core. And it might be hard to miss it if Lent is: "I'm giving up Twitter/chocolate/coffee/TV for Lent." Simply giving something up misses the heart of it.
There can be a lot of confusion regarding Lent. I’ve been pretty confused what it is. Often it just seems like an excuse to diet.
The Bible does not require us to recognize liturgical seasons like Lent, or even Advent. In Romans 14:5, Paul writes that the celebration of holy days is a matter of Christian freedom. He continues, “The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord” (Romans14:6). From that passage we learn that any recognition of Lent must be done in a way that honors God.
As Jesus made clear when he quoted Isaiah to the Pharisees, external actions that don’t engage the heart do not honor God: “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites… ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’”
So then, our goal is for Lent to be a time of focusing on the heart, a time for asking questions about our spiritual health. It would be the spiritual equivalent of an annual physical exam—a time to take stock of our lives and our hearts, not just to give up chocolate, TV, or Starbucks. It’s a time to focus on the death and resurrection of Christ, a time of assessment and repentance, and a time to allow the Spirit to make us new.
And yet, while at its core, Lent is an inward heart practice, we need to remember that we are not purely spiritual beings. God created us as physical beings, and what we do physically has an effect on us spiritually.
For example, while it’s true that my attitude in prayer is more important than my posture in prayer, sometimes being in a physical posture of humility—kneeling or bowing—helps me get in the right frame of mind. God created us with a connection between the physical and spiritual. That’s why, at the center of Christian worship, God gave us baptism and communion—simple physical rites involving water, bread, and wine—that lead us into the most profound of spiritual realities.
We recognize this God-created link between the physical and the spiritual in the Lenten season in a variety of ways. Historically, it has included a physical element, specifically fasting and other acts of self-denial. But Lent can also involve replacing the denied item with something else, such as scripture reading, spiritual examination, or even journaling. We must remember our goal in taking on any Lenten activity is never to bulk up our spiritual muscles or to test ourselves to see how sacrificial we can be. In fact, a very meaningful fast could easily be a very small fast, more like having a pebble stuck in your shoe, as opposed to trying to lift a boulder.
What are some of your ideas of how to practice Lent? Will you add something this year (reading the Gospel of Mark) or take something away (bye Netflix, see you in 40 days)? How will this action cause you to reflect inwardly over these 40 days?
And one last thing - Sunday is a day to celebrate the resurrection, so we break our fasts on Sundays (hi again Netflix). It’s a way to remember that he is risen throughout the season.
