Lent: Giving Up and Taking Up
"Repentance is literally to 'change your mind.' In the famous words of Dallas Willard, 'To reconsider your strategy for living based on the news of God’s Kingdom that is available in Jesus.' And that is what Lent is for, to reconsider your strategy for living. To begin a new process of deep consideration and reflection about your life. To reconsider what it means to follow Jesus, to plumb the mystery of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. To reconsider what your strategy for living should be, based on this good news" (Tod Bolsinger, Pastor at San Clemente Presbyterian Church)
I like this approach to Lent. To me, merely giving up a habit or a food or a pleasure does not seem distinctly Christian. People give up things all the time in the name of self-help, or worse, vanity and vengeance. The point of Lent, in my view, is to reorient life God-ward. This reorientation has to do with desert and wilderness.
A “wilderness experience” in our language usually means one has been gone for a while and now returns with new insight or perspective, “a new lease on life.” I think of people who have been overseas, especially in the third-world. They often speak of how different their viewpoint is now – how sickened they are by materialism and excess, how heavy their hearts are for the injustices of our world, and how lonely they are in a world of people who don’t see.
I also think of people who have been on multi-day hikes in the mountains. Something about the still mountain air jolts your footing in life. In either case, what happens is that people are stripped of their usual comforts, removed from the safety of familiarity, and are forced to see the world from a different vantage point (our lives are so small, which is nearly impossible to see from where we stand).
Something like a wilderness experience is my aim during this Lenten season. I want to shake up my life significantly enough that when I reach for my usual comforts, and grasp a fistful of air, that I am forced to cling to Christ – His body, His blood. I want to see just how upside down my world really is as my “important things” prove to be perishable goods, as the light shines on my “righteousness” and exposes the layers of “self” beneath the surface, and as my “busy” life is shown to simply lack organization and priorities, or worse, wisdom.
I want a new lease on life, a view into the vast world of God, a deep breath and long look above the tree line of self-absorption. So in Lent we focus on getting away from the life of flesh and into the life of the Spirit, denying our ways and embracing God’s. One writer sums it up this way:
I intend to give up certain foods and activities, not in a way that just makes me think more about those things (of how I miss them), but rather in a way that awakens me to how much I miss God and desire his life-giving Spirit. So whatever we give up, it should be significant, something that we are in serious danger of being enslaved by. Begin with whatever habits or things lie at the heart of your consumer lifestyle. Forsake them for the sake of being consumed by the God-life.
This means, of course, that Lent is not only about giving up things. It is also about adding things, God-things.
• Having given up junk food for a healthy diet, what will you do with the energy you gain?
• Having given up reading magazines, what will you read now?
• Having given up e-mail, to whom will you devote meaningful conversation?
• Having given up lunch, how will you rely on God for the strength of “food from heaven”?
• Having given up TV as a default activity, how will you cultivate quality family time?
• Having given up isolation, how will you immerse yourself in community?
• Having given up shopping, will you see those who need clothing in our city?
When you deny yourself – in the myriad forms of self that inhabit sin – how will you pick up your cross and follow Jesus?
Lent is upon us (tomorrow). You need to set aside some time to pray and think about what measures you will take to reorient your life this season. What will you give up? What will you add? Start with something. You can always subtract and add more as the season progresses. If you are coming to our Ash Wednesday prayer service tomorrow night, make it your aim to have a plan in mind by then, and to dedicate yourself to it as we gather together and enter this season as a community of Christ-followers.
I like this approach to Lent. To me, merely giving up a habit or a food or a pleasure does not seem distinctly Christian. People give up things all the time in the name of self-help, or worse, vanity and vengeance. The point of Lent, in my view, is to reorient life God-ward. This reorientation has to do with desert and wilderness.
A “wilderness experience” in our language usually means one has been gone for a while and now returns with new insight or perspective, “a new lease on life.” I think of people who have been overseas, especially in the third-world. They often speak of how different their viewpoint is now – how sickened they are by materialism and excess, how heavy their hearts are for the injustices of our world, and how lonely they are in a world of people who don’t see.
I also think of people who have been on multi-day hikes in the mountains. Something about the still mountain air jolts your footing in life. In either case, what happens is that people are stripped of their usual comforts, removed from the safety of familiarity, and are forced to see the world from a different vantage point (our lives are so small, which is nearly impossible to see from where we stand).
Something like a wilderness experience is my aim during this Lenten season. I want to shake up my life significantly enough that when I reach for my usual comforts, and grasp a fistful of air, that I am forced to cling to Christ – His body, His blood. I want to see just how upside down my world really is as my “important things” prove to be perishable goods, as the light shines on my “righteousness” and exposes the layers of “self” beneath the surface, and as my “busy” life is shown to simply lack organization and priorities, or worse, wisdom.
I want a new lease on life, a view into the vast world of God, a deep breath and long look above the tree line of self-absorption. So in Lent we focus on getting away from the life of flesh and into the life of the Spirit, denying our ways and embracing God’s. One writer sums it up this way:
For centuries, Christians have observed the season of Lent by fasting from food and observing other self-denying acts. These acts help us become more aware of our true needs. When we deny ourselves the comforts we are used to, we are more mindful of our great need for God. Also, when we deny our sinful desires, we become more acutely aware of them, for when they are not fed, they tend to surface in more noticeable ways. Most importantly, these practices make us mindful of our need for salvation by Jesus' death on the cross.
I intend to give up certain foods and activities, not in a way that just makes me think more about those things (of how I miss them), but rather in a way that awakens me to how much I miss God and desire his life-giving Spirit. So whatever we give up, it should be significant, something that we are in serious danger of being enslaved by. Begin with whatever habits or things lie at the heart of your consumer lifestyle. Forsake them for the sake of being consumed by the God-life.
This means, of course, that Lent is not only about giving up things. It is also about adding things, God-things.
• Having given up junk food for a healthy diet, what will you do with the energy you gain?
• Having given up reading magazines, what will you read now?
• Having given up e-mail, to whom will you devote meaningful conversation?
• Having given up lunch, how will you rely on God for the strength of “food from heaven”?
• Having given up TV as a default activity, how will you cultivate quality family time?
• Having given up isolation, how will you immerse yourself in community?
• Having given up shopping, will you see those who need clothing in our city?
When you deny yourself – in the myriad forms of self that inhabit sin – how will you pick up your cross and follow Jesus?
Lent is upon us (tomorrow). You need to set aside some time to pray and think about what measures you will take to reorient your life this season. What will you give up? What will you add? Start with something. You can always subtract and add more as the season progresses. If you are coming to our Ash Wednesday prayer service tomorrow night, make it your aim to have a plan in mind by then, and to dedicate yourself to it as we gather together and enter this season as a community of Christ-followers.
posted by Will | 10:21 AM
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