Stepping Into Lent

Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return. Repent, believe, and walk in the way of Christ.

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Today is Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the 40 days in the Christian community known as Lent. 

Many throughout the world will set aside time today to attend church services and have ashes placed upon their foreheads in the sign of the cross by priests, pastors, ministers or religious laypeople; most will fast from all but one meal, and give up something they enjoy or of value for the next 40 days as a sign of self-denial and sacrifice. Fish, veggie dishes, fruit platters and other meatless fare will be the order of the day today and for the next 7 Fridays.

However, some Christian denominations don’t recognize Lent at all, so for them, this won’t be considered a day of any special significance.  

And, interestingly enough, there is no mention of Lent in the Bible. The closest thing to it that I can see, in my opinion anyway, is Jesus’ being led away into the wilderness for 40 days by the Holy Spirit, in preparation for His ministry. He had nothing to eat or drink. It was a time of cleansing, of purifying – physically, as well as spiritually.

Save for the moments Satan appeared before a hungry and humbled Jesus to tempt Him, and when angels came to minister to Jesus after Satan took off in a huff, He seemed to be all alone.

Yet nowhere do I read or get the sense that God abandoned His Son in that wilderness.  Perhaps Jesus was brought to this barren and solitary place, where all distractions were removed from Him, not only to be tested, but also in order for Him to be able to spend uninterrupted time with the Father in conversation and reflection, in preparation for what was to come. The joys and the sorrows.

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Lent to me, then, is to be a season of sincere reflection and preparation for those of us who call Christ our Lord and our Savior. A season where we make it a point to rest and spend time conversing with Jesus, free of distractions.  A season where we walk along life’s path, content to be closely yoked with Him in service as He teaches us His unforced rhythms of grace.  A season of temptation and testing.  

A season where we reflect on and acknowledge our rebellious and sinful nature and desire to repent of it.  A season of longing for our inner transformation, hungering and thirsting to be like this humble and obedient Servant King.  A season of preparing ourselves for whatever plans the Father has for us in the near or distant future. The joys and the sorrows.

Therefore, in my honest and humble opinion, the partaking of Lent should not be entered into lightly and frivolously, but intentionally and seriously. There’s no room for showboating or bandwagon mentality here. It shouldn’t be performance driven nor be done out of guilt, shame or family tradition.

And heaven forbid it should be seen as or turned into a kickstart for a new diet program or part of a health plan designed to get your body swimsuit ready, as I heard being discussed at great length on a local TV news show this morning.

Jesus was very clear about His loathing of acts being done for appearances sake, for the approval and praise of man, or done out of routine obligation or tradition. His strongest warnings were always towards the religious elite (Pharisees and teachers of the Law), whose motives didn’t line up with their actions (check out Matthew 23:13-36 for some examples of this and Jesus' words to these folks).  

A woman with whom I attend a Bible study on the book of Matthew said recently that Jesus was all about "living out the ‘heart of the Law,’ whereas the Pharisees had made it all about living out ‘the letter of the Law'."

Wise and truth-filled words indeed.

Now, PLEASE hear me and believe me when I say that I AM NOT criticizing anyone who has ever made the decision to give up something – coffee, chocolate, junk food, social media, television, meats, dairy products, etc. – during the Lenten season (been there, done that many a time). 

Neither am I pooh-poohing  someone’s involvement  in a Lenten challenge, like reading through the New Testament in 40 days (and believe it or get outta here, I'm actually taking this one on this year).

What I AM saying is we need to be so very mindful of our motives for doing so.  We should always ask ourselves:

"Why am I doing what I'm doing?"

"Who am I seeking to please?"

And if you’re not sure why – ask God:

  

“Is this what You want me to do, Lord?"

"Is this sacrificial offering pleasing to You?  Or are You looking for something else from me?"

"What do YOU want me to do or to refrain from doing?”

Can I tell you how hard I struggled this year to step in and find my place among those taking this always challenging Lenten journey, asking myself AND God these very same questions?

And, not surprisingly, His answers were revealed to me within the pages of Scripture, God's very Word to us:

What can we bring to the Lord?

What kind of offerings should we give him?

Should we bow before God

with offerings of yearling calves?

Should we offer him thousands of rams

and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?

                 Should we sacrifice our firstborn children

 to pay for our sins?

No, O people, the Lord has told you

what is good, and this is what

he requires of you:

to do what is right, to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with your God. ~ Micha 6:6-8, NLT

And, when you have some time, check out Isaiah 58 in its entirety, for you may just find the answers to your questions there. 

The grace and peace of God be with you this day and always, my friends. 

Merry Happy Christmas Greetings

If you're counting down the days, it is only 2 more days left until Christmas. As Eloise, (from one of my favorite Christmas movies, 'Eloise At Christmastime') likes to declare: "It's Christmas Eve Eve!"

People are hustling and bustling to get that last minute shopping done. Running in and out of doors, rushing in and out of stores, wishing one and all a....a what? 

A "Merry Christmas!!!??" A "Happy Holiday!!!??" Or perhaps you're a "Seasons Greetings!!" kind of a person. 

Which one makes you smile with joy....or grit your teeth in irritation? Does one offend you more deeply than the other? Or is being politically correct not even a blip on your holiday radar screen?

For years, I was on the 'Merry Christmas' side of the Christmas Greetings Crusade. Or 'The War on Christmas' to which it's often referred. If someone, be it on social media, at the mall, at work, at a toll booth, etc., dared to wish me 'Seasons Greetings' or 'Happy Holidays,' I would return their salutation with my own MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! faster and with more force than Serena Williams returning a tennis opponent's serve at the US Open. 

But these days, I find myself sad, weary and somewhat irritated over all the arguments and the wars and the ugly back-and-forth, mean-spirited comments I have seen lately on social media regarding these greetings of the season. 

This season that is SUPPOSED to be about celebrating a love so deep, so incredible, so amazing, so breathtaking; a love that would cause our Creator God to send His One and Only, kingly Son, Jesus Christ, into this world -- not wrapped in royal robes, but in fragile skin like ours -- to serve and save us. 

But which seems more about celebrating consumerism, commercialism and our crowing about being among the Christian illuminati of society.

Now, I'm certainly not saying we who follow Christ and call ourselves Christians should ever be ashamed or afraid of wishing someone -- anyone -- a Merry Christmas. Neither am I suggesting that we refrain from doing so. 

But what I AM saying is that there's no need for us to get our noses out of joint when someone fails to say it to us, nor should we respond to someone's wish for us to "Have a happy holiday!" with a pompous and indignant 

"WE SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!"

We need to be mindful of how we come across to others.

And it would serve us well to remember that Jesus reserved His harshest criticism of and toughest lessons for those who considered themselves to be the elite and religious 'know-it-alls': those self-righteous Pharisees, who always seemed to spend way too much of their time in the New Testament stalking Jesus; eavesdropping on all of His conversations and teachings; nitpicking about them, and trying to trip Him up on everything He said.

During one such time, the following particular conversation transpired between Jesus and another man:

"...when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees with His reply, they met together to question Him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” ~ Matthew 22:34-40 (NLT)

In light of this, and in my honest opinion, I seriously DOUBT that Jesus gives a flying fig if we say 'Merry Christmas,' or if we say 'Seasons Greetings.'

Just as long as whatever we say, we say joyfully, with His love flowing from our heart, our soul, our mind...and our lips.

And They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love

"A new command I give you.: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another" ~ John 13:35

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Yesterday in my post, The Snarkiness of Christianity,  I ended by wondering what Jesus might be thinking about all the arrogant, self-righteous and mean-spirited attitudes and comments from His followers that have been flying around on the Internet recently concerning the announcement of the new pontiff, Pope Francis I, and about the Catholic Church in general.

I cannot be so arrogant and self-righteous myself to state that I KNOW  exactly what Jesus is or could possibly be thinking.  But I do know from Scripture that Jesus reserved His harshest criticism for those who were considered the religious elite of His day -- the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  These holy men followed Jesus, too. But not because they believed He was the Messiah, but to judge and criticize and condemn every word He spoke and every move He made.

In the Bible, Matthew 23:1-36 is subtitled in one translation as ‘Seven Woes To The Scribes and Pharisees,’ and ‘A Warning Against Hypocrisy’ in another. Jesus admonishes their actions, telling His disciples and the crowd of people following Him not to do what they, the religious leaders, do, because they do not practice what they preach.

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“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!”  Jesus says to them over and over, calling them blind guides, blind fools, whitewashed tombs, snakes and a brood of vipers.  These men gave the appearance of righteousness and holiness on the outside, but inside they were unclean and dead. Hypocrites.

Might these same accusations aimed at the Pharisees and teachers of the law by Jesus so long ago strike a chord with many of His people today who are speaking maliciously of other folks who love and serve the Lord? Might these same warnings resonate within them, making them uncomfortable in their sin?

I must say, I am all too aware that while we may be followers of Christ, we are also an imperfect bunch of people.  We make mistakes. We give in to temptations. We fall down. We say hurtful, inappropriate things.  We set bad examples. Most times unintentionally, but sometimes not.  

And to be painfully honest, there was a time when I was what some call a ‘baby Christian’ (someone immature in their faith in Christ) and I would often sarcastically and self-righteously refer to myself as a ‘recovering Catholic,’ as I toggled between looking down my nose at and feeling sorry for anyone who still found themselves ‘trapped by the tradition of guilt and shame’ (my words) within the Catholic Church.

Can you say ‘World’s Biggest Jerk?’ Yes, that was me to a T, my dears. I THANK GOD for His grace and mercy with me over the years. I am thankful for His persistence in pointing out my arrogant stupidity and Pharisaecal attitude, for His help in removing this ugly attitude in me. And I’m grateful that today, God still sends loving, yet stern reminders and lessons whenever I seem about to veer over onto that path again.

May I ask for something here? Could we all just be willing to lay down our verbal swords? Could we all  just be willing to put aside our differences and disagreements on theology and doctrine? Could we – as a people who profess to love Jesus Christ – learn to see one another as beloved children of our Father God and precious brothers and sisters in Christ, united by and with and through the Holy Spirit?

As a matter of fact, in John 17:20-23, this unity is what Jesus prayed for in the upper room after the Passover meal, the night He was betrayed:


“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.  I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and You in Me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.

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Could we -- dare we -- as Christians, humble ourselves and pray this way, too, for our Catholic friends, family members, neighbors, classmates and coworkers and for their pope? Could we -- dare we -- pray for those whose religious denominations and traditions aren't mirror images of ours?

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating – we need to be ever so careful about what we post, how we speak and act. The way we live and love.  Others – non-believers, new believers and people of different faith denominations -- are watching us. And they’ll know we are Christians…not by our Christian T-shirts, key chains and car magnets displaying clever slogans; not with our Jesus jewelry and our Bible verse Pinterest boards…but they’ll KNOW, without a doubt, we are Christians by our love.