Written by The Lord God gave many of the finite things of life a seasonal cycle, such as global weather, human life, and world history. World history, like all life’s cycles, has entered a season of winter. The year 2024 begins with much uncertainty, a season of winter. We face rampant inflation, an exploding national debt, government over-reach, and global conflict. These stresses can weigh heavily on one’s life. And our reaction to these problems is futile because we have, in most cases, little or no control over them. This situation can lead to anger, depression, and apathy.
However, we can also react positively. We must think small in this sense. We must think biblically. I do not know if I have heard this somewhere before, but I will take credit for it: good civics does not make righteousness, righteousness makes good civics. The reversal of our cultural decay is through Jesus Christ, through the Gospel, one person at a time – at home, at work, in your neighborhood, one moment at a time, one heart at a time.
In order to change hearts, we must be like Christ. We must imitate Him. He gave us the handbook, with His actions and instructions. We must tell others about the water He offers:
“Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
To motivate and move us forward, it is wise to prepare. Lent is such a time for preparation, a time of discipline, prayer and fasting. Yes, we look forward to the Easter holiday, with all the celebration, colors, and the Easter feast. It is good to do so. And a Lenten discipline makes us appreciate them all the more, but we must place the focus on what is truly important. Lent is for preparing our hearts for Easter, not preparing our stomachs for the feast. Likewise, we cannot prepare for Easter over a weekend. It is a pilgrimage in Christ’s footsteps, to follow His ministry and His Passion.
Lent is a time for Christians to worship and prepare ourselves for the celebration of Easter.
Lent takes place during the 40 days before Easter. It is a time for Christians of a “Catholic origin” to worship and prepare themselves for the celebration of Easter. Lent became more regular after the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire through the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313. Later, the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 in its disciplinary canons noted that two provincial synods should be held each year, “one before the 40 days of Lent.”
The number “40” is exceptional in Biblical context. The Lord God sent rain on the earth forty days and forty nights (see Genesis 7:4). Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights when receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:18). Elijah walked on Mount Horeb for forty days and forty nights (1Kings 19:8). And Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights before he started his ministry (Matthew 4:2).
We enter into the desert to get to the Promised Land. And we journey out to see the glorious light of the Resurrection. The word Lent derives from the old Saxon word for “spring.” Spring, a period where the signs of life emerge from the dormancy of winter. What better time to share the gift of redemption than after our walk with Christ!
Now, for some, Lent is viewed as some kind of “New Year’s resolution.” This would be a mistake on several levels. First, a New Year’s resolution typically benefits only you. Second, almost always, your resolution is not successful. And third, most resolutions are low risk, so failure does not cause a severe letdown, if any at all. So, you might say, “The Lenten commitment also almost always ends in failure.” It does. I know, for I have failed miserably many times, both with resolutions and Lenten commitments. The big difference here is to know and understand our Lenten commitment is a commitment to Christ. We must also know that as “broken vessels” we will fail. As the great hymn says,
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.” (Come Thou Fount)
When we fail, we must pick ourselves up and try again. To be “transformed by the renewal of our minds” requires more than one Lent or one year (Romans 12:2). The Lord shapes us for his purposes over a lifetime (Philippians 1:6).
Success in any type of endeavor always takes “discipline.” Discipline comes from the Latin word “discipulus,” which denotes a pupil, student, or follower. Discipline also implies punishment for the sake of correction. The word “disciple,” from which “discipline” is derived, means, “one who follows another for the purpose of learning.” From this, it is easy to see that in order to be a disciple of Christ, discipline is needed. The Lenten journey is, in essence, a self-imposed punishment for the “sake of correction.”
Consider what Jesus says when he rebukes the Pharisees concerning his eating with tax collectors and sinners and his disciples not fasting.
And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:19-22)
His analogy is obvious. We must be made new. We cannot be conformed to the world and be competent to bring forth the message of redemption through Christ’s Death and Resurrection.
Ultimately, Lent is a walk with Christ. It is a time to build a personal relationship with Him. It is a time to seek or ask what His plan is for you. To do this, the “clutter” of secular life must be removed. For forty days, we must surrender ourselves completely to Christ, to be the fresh wineskin carrying the new wine.
I will conclude to pray that for those whom this letter may inspire, may your Lenten journey bring you closer to Christ, and may your journey be fruitful.
Peace of the Lord to you all,
Deacon Doug Stomberg