Preparation
For those of us who aren't clued in by all the talk of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, here's an announcement -- Lent begins on Wednesday. From this Wednesday (March 1st), until Easter Sunday (April 16th) Christians around the world will be participating in a symbolic cleansing to commemorate the forty days Christ spent in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13). [And for those of you who don't know, Sundays are exempted from Lent because Sundays are our celebration of the resurrection and our Sabbath, and our focus should be on God those days, not on ourselves].
Most of us give something up for Lent -- I've given up caffeine, chocolate; other people I know give up alcohol or soda. Other people take things on -- a friend I have volunteers in homeless shelters through Lent, another friend takes on a specific time each day to read the Bible. The point is that we have forty days to prepare ourselves as Christ prepared himself for ministry. We honor the sacrifice God and Christ made by fulfilling their call for us to live in service to one another. And now, on the calendar, we have forty days marked off where Christians across the world are all doing this together. I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty powerful thing.
I was reading from 1 John this morning, and I wanted to share the passage with you. The author (who people think is probably not John the disciple, but one of his followers) entreats the recipient of his letter:
Jesus healed and taught as part of his ministry, but really, he served the Israelites (and us today) through his death and resurrection. That is his gift to us. We can't do the whole raising from the dead thing, but we can live our lives in service in service to our brothers and sisters. We can heal those who suffer, we can teach about the overwhelming power of Love, we can hold the powerful to account for their treatment of the weak.
And we have forty days to get ready. Verse 18 states, "let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." What can we do for the next seven weeks to prepare our hearts to love in truth and action? What do we need to learn? What must we re-prioritize? How does our schedule need to change? How does our thinking about others need to change? Who can we turn to to build ourselves up for this?
God calls us to service. It's time to get ready.
Love,
Becky
Most of us give something up for Lent -- I've given up caffeine, chocolate; other people I know give up alcohol or soda. Other people take things on -- a friend I have volunteers in homeless shelters through Lent, another friend takes on a specific time each day to read the Bible. The point is that we have forty days to prepare ourselves as Christ prepared himself for ministry. We honor the sacrifice God and Christ made by fulfilling their call for us to live in service to one another. And now, on the calendar, we have forty days marked off where Christians across the world are all doing this together. I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty powerful thing.
I was reading from 1 John this morning, and I wanted to share the passage with you. The author (who people think is probably not John the disciple, but one of his followers) entreats the recipient of his letter:
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. -- 1 John 3:16-20
Jesus healed and taught as part of his ministry, but really, he served the Israelites (and us today) through his death and resurrection. That is his gift to us. We can't do the whole raising from the dead thing, but we can live our lives in service in service to our brothers and sisters. We can heal those who suffer, we can teach about the overwhelming power of Love, we can hold the powerful to account for their treatment of the weak.
And we have forty days to get ready. Verse 18 states, "let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." What can we do for the next seven weeks to prepare our hearts to love in truth and action? What do we need to learn? What must we re-prioritize? How does our schedule need to change? How does our thinking about others need to change? Who can we turn to to build ourselves up for this?
God calls us to service. It's time to get ready.
Love,
Becky
posted by Becky at 2/27/2006 08:22:00 AM
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