Lenten Theme Focuses Upon Forgiveness
Lenten Theme Focuses Upon Forgiveness
The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17 and lasts six
weeks as a preparation for the Easter celebration, which will take place this year on April 4. This season of repentance and self-examination lasts forty days, not counting Sundays. The Lord’s Day is in itself a mini Easter celebration where we rejoice in Christ’s victory over sin and death. Lent is a season for soul searching. It is a season for reflection and taking stock of our lives. It originated in the earliest days of the church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. This was a time when Lent was a season of redemptive pilgrimage for all Christians. It was a time when disciples of Christ earnestly sought forgiveness for their transgressions. In this somber, reflective season, followers of Jesus were encouraged to examine their way of living as well as to examine their relationship with God and to amend their behavior through acts of contrition and restitution.
In the early years of Methodism, all participants in the Wesleyan revival
gathered in weekly sessions of small groups. These were called the Societies. Our Book of Discipline still contains the responsibilities of the Society leaders, in which they were required to ask at the weekly meetings, “How is it with your soul?” As the spiritual leader of Living Hope’s small church society, I ask you, “How is it with your soul? How are you growing in the full love of God and the full love of neighbor? How are you availing yourself to the means of grace? What obstacles are hindering your relationship with God and others?”
It seems like just yesterday, we were celebrating the birth of Jesus. If you
recall, during the Advent season, as we prepared for the coming Messiah – our Emmanuel, God-with-us, I stated a number of times that the purpose of
Christmas is Easter. Jesus was born to die, and he died so that we may live! God’s free gift of grace is given to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In him, forgiveness is available. Joyful obedience is possible. Freedom is offered. Abundant and eternal life is at hand. God’s true love reigns supreme!
Therefore, as we continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the living
God, may we fix our eyes on Jesus during this Lenten season and offer
ourselves to him. May this time of reflection and self-examination be filled with his grace and love. Let us attend to the spiritual disciplines that help us to stay in love with God, but let us not get bogged down in legalistic attitudes of self-righteousness. Instead let us be transformed by the renewing of our hearts and minds as we rise with Jesus with healing in our wings. Let us soar to new heights in the splendor of God’s unending love and his amazing grace. Let us then, in turn, become agents of transformation in the world around us.
– Shalom, Pastor Dave
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