We enter into the Lenten season in a few days. Are you ready? Have you made plans for these 40 days already? Or on Ash Wednesday does the imposition of ashes remind you to embark on this journey with setting some intentions? However you prepare and plan for Lent, this season offers you the opportunity for deepening your spiritual life in Christ.
I’ve heard about Lenten practices of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting every year since I was a child, yet I never tire of this season. It has never become more of a burden than it is a blessing for me. I know the same is true for many of you as well. I wonder why this is so? Why do I continue to love this season of preparation for the resurrection of Jesus on Easter, even though I live in his resurrection every day of every year?
Part of it is that I learn so much about myself and my relationship with God as I implement these practices each year. Taking time for extra prayer with a Lenten devotion, such as this year’s Grace Unbounded from Augsburg Fortress, adding alms each week to my regular financial giving, such as ideas given in our synod’s Global Mission E-newsletter, reminds me to care for the poor and stirs up gratitude for the abundance in my own life.
And then there’s fasting! As a child this was always about giving something up such as candy. Waiting for Easter when my siblings and I could overindulge in the sugary addiction was agonizing. At some point I began fasting from some personal habit or way of being for self-improvement and then dedicate the effort to God. Now I am back to fasting from things I’m addicted to so that I may become more aware of the effect it has on my life and my relationships, including my relationship with God. What I discover about my reactions during a time of fasting helps me continue to make fasting choices. For example, lately I’ve been experimenting with intermittent fasting, which starts with short periods (12, 16, 18 hours) of consuming only water and gradually increases to longer periods, such as three days (I’m not there yet!). Intermittent fasting is more for my physical health, which also can be a way to honor God for the gift of my life. However, when I fast as a Lenten observance, I choose it as a way of remembrance for who God is more so than for my personal gain.
My intentions for adding prayer, almsgiving and fasting are best carried out when made in advance with ways to make them concrete, such as writing them down in a journal or keeping track day by day in a calendar. You might begin with reading Matthew Chapter 6 where you will find further instructions for carrying out these observances. Any of the practices that I choose each year help me move through the days of Lent with a sense of purpose and spiritual connection to God as I prepare for the joy of Easter to come.
Lenten blessings to you,
Mary Morrow, Director for Evangelical Mission