The season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, February 17, and continues for 40 days (not counting Sundays). For many people, Lent can be a time to practice acts of piety, those Christian disciplines that help us reflect on our relationship with God and our priorities in life. Lent has often been seen as a time in which people give up or sacrifice something.

As we begin this Lenten journey, I challenge each of us to sacrifice something that gets in the way of our relationship with God and others. But I also challenge each of us to add something during Lent that will help strengthen our relationship with God and others You may very well discover that what you give up and what you add are very closely connected. What do I mean? Here are some things you could do:

  1. Pray together as a family each day. 
  2. Designate a consistent time for a family night each week.
  3. Collect coins during Lent to donate to a food ministry.
  4. Rediscover the art of writing letters and notes.
  5. Serve at a community meal.
  6. Begin planting fruits and vegetables indoors.
  7. Make a phone call each week to someone who is homebound or in the hospital.
  8. Read something together as a family.
  9. Make time to share the arts with your family
  10. Keep a family Lenten journal.

Note that with each of these Lenten practices you have to give up something in order to add something. In order to have the time to read together, you may have to give up some time watching TV. In order to have the time to write notes or letters, you may have to give up some other activity.

Here what I choose for this Lent:

I will do #3 on the list, setting aside $2.50 every day. Over the 40 days that will total $100, which I will contribute to a food ministry. So, notice that in a small way this is giving up something (money I might have spent on myself) in order to add something (helping feed hungry people). I also pledge to do #4 on the list, writing five notes each week during Lent, for a total of 30. I hope the notes will bring joy and strengthen relationships with those to whom I am writing, while they remind me to give thanks to God for the gift of those people in my life. Once again, notice that in a small way this is giving up something (time I would use in some other way) in order to add something (notes that I hope will bring joy).

As we begin this Lenten journey, I challenge each of us to sacrifice something that that separates us from God and others, and to take on something that will help to strengthen our relationship and will help us grow closer.

Peace!
Pastor Steve