Reforming our Lives

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith.
Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?”
(2 Corinthians 13.5)

Lent begins on March 9. Lent is a 40-day season of spiritual discipline and preparation, beginning with Ash Wednesday, anticipating the celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ.

Lent is habitually marked by various forms of spiritual discipline – prayer, penitence, almsgiving, fasting, and so forth – that are all intended to help Christians grow deeper in their spiritual walk in Christ. Ideally, what happens during Lent has a lasting impact on a believer’s life; what we learn or experience during Lent should make a difference in how we live our lives after Lent is over. If, for example, a person gives up chocolate during Lent but then goes right back into chocolate-eating habits after Lent is over and changes nothing else about his or her life, then that particular Lenten discipline may have questionable value. On the other hand, one could make an intentional decision to spend forty days deepening one’s prayer life or exploring the scriptures in greater depth or stretching to try some new form of charity or service work or making some kind of difficult but hopefully permanent change to the living of one’s live (developing better Sabbath-taking practices, modifying one’s eating habits, becoming more fiscally responsible, confronting an addiction, getting more rest, changing the ways one interacts with other people, choosing to spend more time with one’s family, and the list goes on). Any of those disciplines or practices could result in a life filled with more joy and a greater connection with the divine Spirit that seeks to empower of us in our daily living. There are all sorts of things one can do during the season of Lent to deepen and enrich our lives as we seek to be faithful to Christ’s call in our lives. It is a wonderful time for disciplined experimentation or earnest attempts to make changes in our life that will help us grow to become more like the people God created us to be and more like the people Christ calls us to be. If, at the end of Lent, everything is pretty much the same for us as it was when Lent began, then perhaps we set our sights too low. If we give up on our chosen practice or habit two weeks into Lent, then perhaps we set our sights too high. The trick is to find something doable that will make a sustained and lasting change. By the time the season of Lent comes to a close, we should be deeper than we were before; our lives should be richer than they were before; we should be better people than we were before; we should be more deeply rooted and grounded in Christ than we were before. Lent should make a tangible, lasting difference in our lives.

I’d like to encourage each one of you to find something (or, possibly, more than one thing) that you intend to work on during Lent to bring a tangible, lasting difference to your life. Inside this newsletter you will find an insert that contains two boxes. The top box is for you. In that box, write down what you intend to do this Lent that will help you grow deeper in your spiritual journey. Put down anywhere from one to three things you plan to do intentionally and deliberately during this Lenten season that will enhance your spiritual life and help you become more faithful to Christ’s call and claim upon your life. Then, a little bit further down, complete the sentence: “I do these things because I believe that God is calling me to . . .” and write something there about why you have chosen what you have chosen. What is it that God is telling you that caused you to identify the discipline that you chose? That’s what goes on that line. Sign it and date it. Then, put the exact same information in the bottom box that you put in the top box, except that in the bottom box you won’t include your name or the date. Cut or tear the paper in half. Keep the top half and put it someplace where you will see it on a daily basis. Put the bottom half in the offering plate. What we’re going to do is collect all the bottom halves that are turned in, and publish them or display them someplace in the church so that you can see what the other members of this community of faith are working on, and offer prayers of loving support for one another as together we make this Lenten journey. This will be completely anonymous – the only ones who know what you are putting down on your sheets are you and God – so make sure you don’t put your name on the bottom half! Those of you who are living at some distance away from the church, either permanently or temporarily (some of you are missing some great snow!), are welcome to mail the bottom half of your sheet back to the church and they will be added to the collection.

Please give this some thoughtful prayer. The only person who really has the ability to make an impact on your life is you. The only person who really has the ability to help you grow deeper in Christ is you. The only person who really has the ability to determine if your life will be more joyful and faith-filled in the future than it was in the past is you. Lift up some prayers to God asking for guidance and direction, and make sure you’re listening carefully to what God might be telling you. God might want you to stretch and grow! God might want you to try something new! God might want you to confront that issue you’ve been avoiding for years! God might want you to see some things about your life that you might not necessarily want to see! God might want you to change something about the way you go about the living of this life! We all know that change is not easy . . .

. . . which is why we’re going to be praying for one another. We’ll find a way to let you know what your fellow sisters and brothers in Christ are working on. Your job is not to evaluate or critique anything your sisters and brothers have said. (That would not be faithful, nor in keeping with the spirit of this Lenten exercise.) Your job will be to encourage one another and to lift up one another in prayer. We’re all in this together. We’re each on our own spiritual journeys, seeking to become more faithful in Christ each passing day, but we do so in community with others because we know that having others around us is helpful and beneficial as we seek to be faithful to Christ’s call. We are one body in Christ. We’re going to make this Lenten journey together. At the end of it all, we’ll celebrate what God has been doing on our lives, as we gather for worship on Easter Sunday.

Peace and blessings,
Bill