Ash Wednesday

Our wonderful church is not liturgical, and there is no acknowledgement of the season of Lent in our worship. I miss that because I grew up with the liturgy of the Episcopal Church. In high school, I did opt to attend a different church, and it was there that I learned about a personal and saving relationship with Christ. Coming back to the liturgy as a believer in Christ, though, has been so rich. I find great encouragement in the services at my mom's church, and in the pages of the Book of Common Prayer. I read the morning and evening prayers and suggested scriptures, and the routine is providing me with an excellent focus for my faith. I look forward to attending Ash Wednesday services with my mom tonight; the time of prayer, the corporate confession of sin, the ashes on the forehead... all of these are very important reminders and the perfect beginning for the season of Lent.

My Lenten readings include:

Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter with readings by C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Philip Yancey, Frederick Buechner, Madeleine L'Engle, Henri Nouwen, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Amy Carmichael, Peter Kreeft, Mother Teresa, Saint Augustine and more.

"Lent (literally "springtime"” ) is a time of preparation, a time to return to the desert where Jesus spent forty trying days readying for His ministry. He allowed himself to be tested, and if we are serious about following Him, we will do the same.

First popularized in the fourth century, Lent is traditionally associated with penitence, fasting, alms giving, and prayer. It is a time for "giving things up"” balanced by "giving to"” those in need. Yet whatever else it may be, Lent should never be morose - an annual ordeal during which we begrudgingly forgo a handful of pleasures. Instead, we ought to approach Lent as an opportunity, not a requirement. After all, it is meant to be the church's springtime, a time when, out of the darkness of sin's winter, a repentant, empowered people emerges. No wonder one liturgy refers to it as "“this joyful season."

Put another way, Lent is the season in which we ought to be surprised by joy. Our self-sacrifices serve no purpose unless, by laying aside this or that desire, we are able to focus on our heart's deepest longing: unity with Christ. In Him - in His suffering and death, His resurrection and triumph - we find our truest joy."

Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings by Henri Nouwen

Faithful God, trusting in you,
we begin
the forty days of conversion and penance.
Give us the strength for Christian discipline,
that we may renounce evil
and be decisive in doing good.
We ask this through Jesus Christ.

The Book of Common Prayer, Ash Wednesday service:

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.