Lenten Discipline

My earliest memory of a Lenten discipline involved forgoing meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. I didn’t really understand why our household wasn’t eating meat, and, for a long time, I didn’t know that is was meant to be a sacrifice. If anything, it seemed like a treat because we usually ate fish or shrimp instead, and these were rarities at our table. Later, more at the prompting of my Catholic friends than my Lutheran mother, I went through the process of attempting to give up chocolate or ice cream, but these efforts, again, didn’t involve much spiritual forethought; I was just succumbing to the lunch table norms.

Purpose of sacrifice

It wasn’t until well into my adulthood that I began to ponder the reasoning behind this tradition and concluded that my “sacrifice” was meant to mimic, in some small and superficial way, the sacrifice of Jesus at the end of the Lenten journey. Later I consulted the Rev. Thomas L. Weitzel, in his Handbook for the Discipline of Lent. There he asserts that in a Lenten discipline “we focus our lives on Christ's self-sacrificing passion, death and resurrection, which has brought us acceptance, forgiveness and redemption by God. Through that same discipline, we make a loving response to God.” These days I prefer to think of a Lenten discipline, the commitment to take on or give up a specific activity, as a means of bringing me closer to God in some small (or large?) way.

Taking Lenten Discipline Seriously

But where to begin? If I’m truly going to take my Lenten discipline seriously, I feel it needs to be much more intentional than those junior high days of ice cream deprivation. If I give something up, I want it to be something that I’ll miss frequently and significantly enough to give me pause, and, ideally, in that pause I’ll focus on praising God and refocusing my day in Him. If I add an activity to my life, I want it to be meaningful and ultimately lead to more joy and peace, not just become another checkable item on my perpetual to-do list. And so I brainstormed and researched, assembling a list of potential disciplines. Maybe there’s one that will call to you, as well:

· attend more (all?) of the Lenten activities at church – Wednesday night Lenten study, the Sunday School class on the prophets, the couples’ retreat, Holy Week services . . .

· increase church attendance

· pray for a specific person or cause

· devote prayer time to listening for God

· serve in a new way—at church or in the community

· better care for my body/His vessel in some way—exercise, meditation, time outdoors

· try prayer journaling

· visit someone who needs company—a shut-in, the elderly, that neighbor or relative I’ve “been meaning to call”

· work for reconciliation in a relationship

· start (or increase the amount of time) reading the Bible

· choose a specific book of the Bible to read over the course of Lent

· read and pray my way through the Psalms

· replace tv or Facebook or video games with more time for family or service

· go out of my way to do something nice for a friend or stranger on a daily or weekly basis

· give a special monetary gift to the Haitian Relief Fund or some other worthy organization

· organize a clothing drive in my workplace to benefit Red Door Clothes

· read a book that focuses on my spiritual growth, Max Lucado’s He Chose the Nails or He Still Moves Stones

· give up some form of food that doesn’t benefit me (top contender: candy or soda)

· spend intentional time enjoying and appreciating His creation in nature on a regular basis

· consciously slow down the pace of my life

· attempt to turn anxiety/worry into prayer

Loving Response to God

With Ash Wednesday looming in front of me, I still have not yet finalized my decision, and by the time you’re reading this, Lent will be well underway. If you have not taken on a Lenten discipline this year and still feel called to it, don’t fret about “being behind”. Remember that the original purpose of this practice is to make a “loving response to God” and intentionally find a way to bring yourself closer to God. And that goal, I’m happy to say, doesn’t have a deadline. Lent gives us “an excuse” to try something new in our perpetual, life-long journey of deepening our relationship with our Savior, but one of the amazing things about having an omnipresent God is that He’s always there, tending to us, waiting for us, and celebrating our desire to know Him better. May that knowledge bring you joy and peace and propel you forward into a holy Lent.

Susan Wilson