What are you giving up for Lent?

This Sunday is the first in the season of Lent. We'll began Lent with the Ash Wednesday service of confession and receive ashes in the sign of a cross on our foreheads. They are the mark of a sinner for whom Christ has died on the cross and remind us of the dust from which God made us.

During Lent, we're invited to acknowledge that we dust-beings have sinned and request forgiveness from God through Christ. The season is a time of purging ourselves of worldly desires that are temptations to sin and also purging ourselves of the self-deceit that we have no errors or actions to confess. Christian theology is founded on the concept that human nature fundamentally inclines toward sinfulness so to deny our sinfulness is to deny our very existence. In Lent, we claim our sinful human nature and thank Christ for grace that we do not deserve.

Lenten scriptures for this week are intricate demonstrations of the themes of sin and death, forgiveness and life. For many people, these verses may be too intricate. The theological reasoning of Paul, for instance, may seem too complex. Many people want to feel a particular feeling in Lent that comes from a private act of devotion like giving up something they enjoy. The alternative that aligns more closely with the prophets and the gospels is to take on something that shares the feeling of grace that we seek for ourselves.

You are the light of the world. When you shine your light, you reflect the light of Christ and His grace on others. So this Lent, shine on.

Ash Wednesday services will be in the chapel at 6 p.m. Our February prayer breakfast will be this coming Saturday morning at 8 a.m. in Fellowship Hall.

See you Wednesday.

Allen