Helping You Grow Your Faith

Readings for Sunday, March 1, 2020

Zechariah 9:9-10

Matthew 21:1-11

The Season of Lent:

This past Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we began the Season of Lent. Originating in the fourth century of the church, Lent was, in its earliest form, a time of preparation for those preparing for Baptism at the great overnight Easter Vigil worship event. These people would, as part of their final preparation, leave behind all of the things of this world which got in the way of their relationship with God. They spent time fasting, in prayer, serving the poor, and other disciplines of the Christian life which Christians did year-round, not just during Lent. They went through final instruction in what being a Christian was all about, and they prepared for lives of loving service in the world. Over time, the entire living community of faith was called to a time of preparation for the reception of these new members, as well as for receiving those who had been separated from the church.

Lent is the time in our church that takes us through Jesus’ journey to the cross, culminating in our celebrations of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. As we journey through Lent, we confront our own mortality and confess our sins before God within the community of faith. We are invited into a holy journey of self-examination and penitence – by prayer and fasting, works of love, reading and meditating on the Word of God.

During the journey to the cross of Christ, we are invited to observe a Lenten discipline as a means for self-examination of who we are as followers of Christ. What discipline we undertake is a matter of what it is in our life that is getting in the way of fulling living in Christ. Whether we fast from some particular food or activity, or undertake an activity that witness to our call to love our neighbors, or begin and/or increase our daily devotions – we shed the things of the world and make room for God to fill us. Our journey through the days of Lent and our undertaking of a Lenten discipline is meant to bring us into a mindful reflection of who we are as the people of God in Christ – those whom God has chosen to redeem in Jesus Christ, that we too might make disciples of all nations.