Easter and The Birth of the Christian Church
Lent and the lead up to the Easter Celebrations
This article is taken from one of our old Church magazines to help us all understand the meaning of Lent within our christian calendar.
With this month we have again entered into the season of Lent in the church calendar. The Lenten cross now stands in church. Some of us have given up chocolate biscuits/buns/whatever for the next six weeks as a spiritual discipline (and perhaps a few inches off the waistline). But is that it? Beyond these gestures, what does it mean to keep Lent as Christians? Certainly, it is not mentioned in the Bible, so why bother with marking it as a season in the church's life at all?
The word Lent comes from the Old English, lencten = the spring. It came to be used as the term which described the forty day period before Easter in the church's calendar. Over this time, worship focused on Christ's sufferings from his 40-day fast in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry to his betrayal, arrest, torture and crucifixion at the end of it. Believers were encouraged to deny themselves life's pleasures in order to face the challenge of putting Christ first. It was particularly a time for those who wanted to be baptized or confirmed to prepare for this commitment on Easter day. And even if the practice of Lent is not in the New Testament, the principles behind it certainly are.
For us, Lent has a different meaning. It refers to a loan. I might lend you a book, some money, the car. But it remains mine and that's the point. I can take it back whenever I wish. To be honest, I think many of us would be more honest if we admitted that this is all we have done with our lives and Jesus Christ. We have lent our lives to Jesus - for a Sunday morning, while the going's good, until it costs. We have lent our support to the church until a better option comes along, until we find improved entertainment elsewhere or the going gets tough. For some of us, our commitment is conditional. We might sing "All to Jesus, I surrender" but in reality we want the Lord, the minister and other Christians to know that there are terms to our loan.
If we get let down, if we feel poorly treated, if we think things should have been done differently, then we take back the gift we have given and either go elsewhere or nowhere at all. Can we be honest once more and acknowledge that this kind of thinking, though common, is not what God wants?
What does God's word say? Matthew 10:8:Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 22:21 Give to God, what is God's. Luke 6:30 Give to everyone who asks and don't ask people to return what they have taken from you. Romans 12:1 offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. 1 Cor 15:58 always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.
Giving is so different to lending. When we give something to someone we hand over all claims to ownership with the gift. We cannot give someone a coat and then grumble that they're not keeping it clean! Or give them some flowers and then tell them how they should be arranged. When we give something, you hand it over completely. The message of Lent is "give yourselves" to God and to the work of his kingdom. Make Jesus Christ a priority in your life. Don't just lend God your time, your commitment, your energy. Give it to him.
And if this seems too risky or costly for you, remember this: we give only because God first gave to us. Go back to that Lenten cross. It's not a focus for worship. I don't want it to become an idol. But let it serve as a reminder. A reminder that "God so loved the world he GAVE his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Time and again in the story of Jesus' betrayal, arrest and crucifixion, the Gospel writers tell us he was "handed over'. By whom? By God! God gave himself into our hands in the person of his Son. He let us do whatever we would to him because Jesus was his gift of life to us. After we had abused Jesus, humiliated Jesus, killed Jesus, buried Jesus, after we had done our worst to the Son of God, God did not take him backI No, instead God raised from the dead as our Saviour. Jesus is still ours, he is still for us". It's our sins he atoned for. Our death he overcame. Our eternity he secures.
If that is how freely and extravagantly God has given himself to us, why do we, in real terms, still only lend our lives to him? If the Creator of the universe has given himself to me in this way, can anything he asks of me be too much to give?
Perhaps this Lent we could think more seriously about truly giving ourselves to the Lord and his service and not taking ourselves back when things become costly. Spring in the garden is a time to look at what's hindering growth, to do some weeding. That's not bad advice for keeping this season of Lent in a holy and wholesome way too. Maybe we need to weed out some of our attitudes and motives. What has God asked you to give to him, or to another? What do you withhold from him and why? Some things - like forgiveness - do cost. But remember that with God, beyond the cost of the cross is the promise of Resurrection.
Love and peace, Geoff.