Lent/Ash Wednesday

LENT: a 40-day period of penitence and spiritual self-examination before Easter which is observed by Christians worldwide.

Long before Rick Warren and Saddleback Church developed 40 Days of Purpose, the Christian church developed its own 40 day spiritual and renewal experience called Lent. Like many of us I grew up in a Baptist church where we never celebrated Lent. In fact, I do not remember even hearing about Lent until one day I was walking across my college campus with a friend who said she was giving up chocolate for Lent. “What is Lent?” I asked.

I mention Lent because I am calling our church to a time of spiritual reflection, sacrifice and renewal over the next 40+ days in preparation of Easter and God’s future. As a church we are stuck in the middle of transition. The old is passing away – Pastor Harry has left, and the new has not arrived yet. As I mentioned back in October, the middle can be the hardest moments of transitions. In the middle, we begin forgetting where we came from (remember the Israelites longing to go back to slavery), but we have not arrived into the future yet. The middle can be messy as we work through the normal developmental tasks of being in interim. In this messiness, however, God still resides and provides. No matter how often the Israelites complained or even disobeyed, God still provided the daily manna and the cloud and fire still led the people.

Lent comes at a God-designed moment in our interim period. As we exit out of our town hall meetings and the Pastor Search Committee continues its discernment process, we as church cannot just sit back and wait (or complain – remember the Israelites). We must also prepare our hearts for God’s future in this place. Lent provides a great opportunity for us. If you are like me, with no history or understanding about Lent, let me educate us all and call us to spiritual renewal.

Lent begins each year on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday (don’t count Sundays as part of the 40 days). Like Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism, Lent helps us as followers of Jesus to prepare our lives for something great – Easter Sunday. During this period of serious reflection, we spend time in self-examination and spiritual redirection. We acknowledge our shortcomings and seek forgiveness for where we have fallen in your faith. Lent offers us the opportunity to seek spiritual renewal through the practice of prayer and self-denial.

I invite each of us to practice some sort of self-denial during this experience. This reminds us of the sacrifice that Jesus made for our salvation and our own humanness. Life does not revolve around us. Life should be centered on Jesus. Some people might skip a meal a day (or even once or twice a week) and give the money they would have spent on the meal to a needy individual or group. Other folks might be giving up sweets, television, eating out or smoking, usually it is something that we don’t need but do or use habitually, something that will leave a “hole” in our lives. When we give up something for Lent, it is a reminder that we miss it and repent. We can use the experience of our “desire” for what we gave up as a way to remind us that we often use things other than God to fill our emptiness. As we experience this self-denial, I also call us to pray. Pray for God’s spirit to move in our lives and especially within The Baptist Church of Beaufort. Keep a journal of your prayers and your experience to remind you of this journey of faith.

Next Wednesday night (2/6) we will begin our Lenten experience with a special service called Ash Wednesday. This service will be a time of confession and remembrance. The people of the Old Testament used ashes as a sign of mourning (Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, Jeremiah 6:26). Even today, ashes are considered a symbol of death and of nothingness. We will use ashes to remind us of our helplessness and dependence on God, of our need to mourn our sinful nature, to feel contrition, and to repent so that we may receive God’s forgiveness. They are a symbol of sinfulness and of our commitment to spiritual renewal.

I’ve never been to an Ash Wednesday service, let alone led one. We cannot let the unfamiliarity of this experience, however, stand in the way of a spiritual moment of confession and forgiveness. As we as a church confess our sins of selfishness and “our way,” God will bless our lives, renew us and prepare us for the great future in store for us. I am excited about what God has in store for The Baptist Church of Beaufort. I hope to see you Sunday (and Wednesday). Pastor Eric