At some point, Christmas overtook Easter as the biggest celebration for the church. We all now spend far more money and energy celebrating the birth of Jesus than we do the resurrection, but this wasn’t always the case. In fact, it took several centuries for the celebration of Jesus’ birth even to become normal and widespread in the church. But from the beginning of Christianity, the church has celebrated the resurrection of Jesus as its principal feast of the year.
Lent, the 40-day period of preparation for Easter that begins on Ash Wednesday, grew out of Biblical examples. Noah, Moses, the Israelites, and Elijah all waited in periods of fasting or preparation (for 40 days or 40 years) before encountering God and receiving blessings and ministries. More importantly for the church, Jesus’ 40-day fast before beginning his ministry demonstrates this pattern. Great encounters with God, great blessings from God, and great ministries in the name of God are all appropriately preceded by a period of fasting and preparation. It isn’t that God needs our preparation before he can show up—he can do what he wants, whenever he wants! But we need the preparation, so that we are ready for him! Moses needed 40 years as a shepherd in the wilderness before he was prepared to encounter God in the burning bush, and the Israelites needed 40 years of wandering in the wilderness before they were prepared to enter the promised land. The fact that Jesus submitted to this pattern—40 days of fasting before beginning his ministry—should demonstrate to us that we would be wise to follow it as well.
This doesn’t fit a modern culture saturated with instant gratification, but our souls need preparation before celebrating the resurrection. They need yearly seasons like Lent to call us back to the things that matter. They need periods of fasting and contrition, where recurring sin is dealt with, distractions are set aside, and our energy is devoted to works of mercy, so that we are ready to meet God again. Some of these seasons need to be painfully long—40 days long!—so that the preparation sinks deep enough into the hard places of our hearts, softening the soil before God arrives.
As we move toward Easter, I encourage you to take seriously the idea that we are preparing for an encounter with the risen Lord. This is what the celebration of Easter is about, after all! Prepare through fasting, prayer, repentance, and works of mercy. These are the spiritual disciplines appropriate to seasons of preparation. Pray expectantly that God would reveal himself to you anew this year, calling you deeper into his love for and mission to the world, and spend the next six weeks preparing as if he will answer this prayer!
Steven+
Shrove Tuesday
Like many other special days in the church calendar, there are different practices associated with Shrove Tuesday in the various cultures that celebrate it. Some of these practices and ideas even seem to be self-contradictory! In some cultures, it is a day of debauchery that has lost its Christian origins, and in others, it is a day of self-examination and confession prior to the beginning of Lent. Clearly those two things don’t fit together well!
There are several Christian practices that have occurred on Shrove Tuesday for hundreds of years. First, it is traditional to spend time in prayer, self-examination, and confession on this day. This practice is at least 1000 years old, and the name “Shrove” comes from the archaic verb for confession. In this practice, the spiritual disciplines of Lent flow from a time of focused confession. Second, it is a day of modest feasting before the beginning of Lent’s fast. Eating pancakes for dinner comes from the practice of ridding the cupboards of dairy and eggs before Ash Wednesday, so that they won’t tempt us or go bad during the weeks of fasting. Third, it is the traditional day for burning palm branches from the last Palm Sunday, which is where the church gets the ashes for Ash Wednesday.
Given that we will not be holding a church-wide feast, I encourage you to hold your own mini-celebration. Either as a family or with someone else from the church, have a special dinner to remember God’s kindness. Throughout the Bible (read Psalm 104 to see an example of this), we hear that food and wine are two of the primary ways God shows us his goodness, and it is important to set aside particular meals to remember this. Eat a good meal, and thank the Lord for it as you do!
I also encourage you to spend time asking God what sins need to be confessed and changes made in your life this year. If you want to speak to me in that process, either for confession or advice, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
I am thankful for you all, and pray that the upcoming season of Lent will be a time of growth in the Lord.
Steven+
Reflections on Psalm 111
Unfortunately, we did not get to sing Psalm 111 on Sunday. Instead, due to the mighty works of God, we remained safe in our homes with the splendor of snow covering the outside world! The refrain we would have sung for the psalm was, “Praise the Lord, he is gracious and merciful. All his hands do is just.” This psalm reflects on the works of God as our creator, provider and redeemer, and also on our fear of the Lord, which leads us to delight, thankfulness, and trust.
God’s great works as creator are all around us. They drive us to awe and wonder as we see the majestic beauty of his creation—from the great mountains, waterfalls, lakes, and forests to the songs of birds, chirps of insects, the sound of rain, and the great beauty of a white world covered in snow. As we delight in them, we see the hand of the creator. We see what he has made and what he has called good. The more we understand the world and the intricacies and detail put into each and every aspect, the more we delight in the marvelous works and in our creator himself.
God’s great works as provider are seen in our family meal, where he provides the bread that gives life. It is in this life-giving meal that we renew the covenant and remember God’s promises. We eat this meal, the Eucharist, in thankfulness. God provides our daily bread because he remembers his covenant forever, and we are grateful. There is great power in this meal as the family continues to grow to include all people, all nations, all tribes, and all languages. This is our beautiful inheritance. Also, as provider, his works provide justice and show his faithfulness. He instructs us in the way of truth, and these commandments provide us with the path of faithfulness and uprightness. He is trustworthy, so we can follow him in obedience and be thankful that he is gracious and merciful.
God’s great works as redeemer are seen in the work of Christ on the cross and through his death and resurrection. The psalmist says, “he sent redemption to his people.” Christ came down to redeem the children of God and to make a new covenant. In this redemption he has kept his covenant and proved again his trustworthiness, so in him we can and should place our trust. What a great work that we wretched and lowly creatures have been redeemed by the blood of the perfect and holy Lamb! The Lord is gracious and merciful. All His hands do is just!
-Erich