“A Journey Through Lent”

February 22, 2023

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are now in the season of Lent that leads to Easter Sunday.  Lent is a 40-day journey (not including Sunday’s) that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday.  The forty days of Lent represents the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness enduring
temptation and preparing to begin his ministry.

Often times in Lent, Christians give something up.  Examples could be social media, coffee, chocolate, being on your phone, etc.  When you give something up, many people take time to replace it with something.  For example, if I spend 30 minutes a day scrolling through Facebook, I would replace those 30 minutes with scripture reading and prayer.  Not only do some people
give something up, but people also choose to take something on.  This Lent, let’s find something that we can take on that will help us to grow in our faith; further, this could help us to follow the great commandment of loving God and neighbor even more!  For example, a church member was sharing this week an idea that they had heard someone do last year.  In one of my previous churches, I remember a lady who, for forty days, challenged themselves for Lent.  They would write a personal note to someone each day and told them how much they mean to them.  How cool is that?  That is a creative way of adding something into your life for Lent.  You may want to add more prayer time, more scripture reading, or you may want to show an intentional random act of kindness each day to someone.

Regardless of what you give up or take on for these 40 days, may you draw closer to Jesus Christ in this time.  Lent is a time for repentance, fasting, self-examination, and reflection.  May you take time this Lent to focus on your relationship with God that is made available through Jesus Christ.

May you grow in your faith and be reminded to repent and believe the gospel.

Amen.

Jake