Lent

I can’t believe that we are already at the start of March, and we are entering into the Holy Season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is March 2nd, and it will go until Maundy Thursday - April 14th. This is a season that can be scary for some people and bewildering for others.

Lent is the season of the church year that Christians Penitential prepare for the greatest event that ever took place- Jesus’s death and resurrection. It is forty days (Sundays excluded) before Easter to allow us to prepare our hearts, minds, and lives. It is also the amount of time that Jesus spent in the desert preparing for his public ministry. If Jesus spent time preparing,
so must we.

Lent is a time to focus our attention on prayer, fasting and alms giving. These are important practices in the Christian life and lent is a time when we focus our energies on realigning our life with the life of Christ. How can I grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ and become more like HIM:

• Prayer – Spending time in conversation with God throughout lent. Try to add 10 – 15 minutes in prayer during lent.
• Fasting - to give up something that we enjoy, but to do it with the focus being that we think of Jesus and all that he gave up for us during his 40 days in the desert and throughout his life.
• Alms giving - We are called to give to others the gifts that God has given to us. To share with those who are less fortunate than we are. To build the body of Christ here on earth.

This is the time we set aside each year, to really focus on ways that we can grow in our faith relationship with Jesus Christ. To remember the love of God that is poured out through Christ Jesus on the cross, in his death, and his defeat of death. This makes the things that we can do for him -pale in comparison. Jesus loves us so much and he is asking that we make this
season special and to try to grow in our devotion to him and one another. May this Lenten season bring each one of us closer to Christ and one another.

In Christ’s love,
Rev. Steve