God has brought me to a wonderful church home where the teaching is biblical, the people are real, and spiritual growth is happening. As a covenant member of the Village Church, I try to take to heart things that our church elders and pastors believe to be important...
However, a couple Sundays ago, they announced that we could pick up guides to Lent in the back and I was a little confused... Isn't Lent something that only Catholics do? Isn't that only for people who are taking religion to a moralistic legalistic extreme? The Bible doesn't tell us to abstain from something for forty days, anyways... Why are we encouraging this? (So, if I admit it, I was quite skeptical and very confused).
I picked up the Lent guide today, and though I had reservations, I am completely on board. The Village Church has been celebrating particular seasons in the life of the church. We journeyed through the anxious anticipation of Advent together, with Advent being "a season of ever-increasing light awaiting the incarnation." We prayed through the month of January together, coming together every Wednesday for campus-wide prayer meetings. And now, we are symbolically following Christ into the wilderness (the forty days He fasted and withstood temptation, found in Matthew 4:1-11, as well as in Mark and Luke) during the season of Lent.
The season of Lent is a time to approach the cross. If we skip right to Easter, we just experience the glorious resurrection---but how thoroughly can we understand the joy of the resurrection if we haven't realized the pain and suffering and angst of the cross, first?
The season is about denying myself, not for the sake of denial or for a legalistic doctrine, but to bring a greater focus to the gospel that sustains. It is emptying myself of something lesser to be greater filled with something more--Christ.
Broken down into seven weeks of biblical reflection, the guide invites me to fast from seven different areas (one to correspond with every week).
Week 1: Food
Week 2: Television and Movies
Week 3: Social Networking and Internet
Week 4: Caffeine and Sweets
Week 5: Radio and Music
Week 6: Shopping for Non-Essentials
Week 7: Sleep
I may blog about it as I go through, or I may not... we'll see! But I wanted to put this out there for anyone to join me. This week is food, and because of my Hypoglycemia I am not partaking in a full-scale food fast. Instead I'll be partaking in a liquid fast, with one meal a day. Again, my emphasis here is that fasting, from anything, is not supposed to be about missing that substance or about bringing glory to myself, but is instead to draw nearer to the Lord!!
As far as the Sleep fast goes---they are not encouraging a week-long sleep fast, but rather to stay up an hour or two longer, or awake an hour or two earlier, in order to spend that time in prayer. They are also encouraging the devotion of one entire night or morning to prayer.
Here are some resources for you to check out if you'd like to join me! I would love to know who else is journeying through the season of Lent. :)
Q&A Video with Matt Chandler over Lent
You can download the Guide to Lent from this page!
If you read this---tell me you were here! I would love your feedback--no matter what your opinion is.
I'm thinking about it . . I may not do it exactly as TVC has prescribed, particularly since I've already missed half of the first week. I'll be contemplating it today and let you know what I think tomorrow :)
ReplyDeleteOkay! I can't wait to hear what you decide to do, whatever it may be! I missed half of the first week as well, since I didn't open the guide until today, so I will probably make some adaptations of my own too. : )
ReplyDeleteHello there, I am Raymond :D
ReplyDeleteI am one of Courtney's friends, and through her, I saw the link to this blog on facebook. While I am not Christian, and do not really believe in a fair bit of the bible, I am still very much interested in reading how much your faith impacts your life. I look forward to your future entries :)
As for my opinions on this particular entry...I am not quite sure how to put it. The idea of lent I find pretty cool, as it is an exercise in resisting your wants and desires, which can be both distracting and destructive. but to do it to suffer and get a glimpse of what Christ went through? that starts getting a bit fuzzy to me.
I asked myself, "Why would he put himself through something like that?" and "What does it mean?"
MY interpretation, which you are more than welcome to argue with, is that...Life is not always smooth ride. There WILL be times when things do not turn out the way we want them to, and there WILL be times when we will be deprived of even our basic necessities. These are situations where we may not have a choice in the matter and have an unspecified expiration date. These are the truly hard and testing times in our lives, as it messes up with our reasoning and may drive us to reckless desperation. The real challenge is to maintain your beliefs and composure even during this; to keep sight of what is really important.
Lent is a choice; an exercise. Suffering for the sake of suffering is meaningless. In your case suffering for the sake of getting closer to the lord is a worthy cause. But it gets really tricky here. One does not become closer to the lord just through suffering. THIS I feel is missing the real point. The point, I believe, is to achieve the strength and will Jesus displayed DURING those moments of suffering. It is a sort of strength that does not come about simply by suffering a lot, but from what you discover during that period. There is so much a book, even the bible, can tell you. It something you have to experience firsthand, which is what you are already doing by partaking in lent.
Raymond!
DeleteI am so glad that you commented and are following along! Please feel free to voice thoughts and questions, I love them, and that's the point of this whole thing, right?
I'm not at all comparing fasting from food or from facebook for a week to what Christ went through in His death on the cross, because none of those things compare to the gruesome manner in which people (including Jesus) were crucified.
You hit it dead-on, though, that lent is a choice and is meaningless unless I discover something! So many people just "fast" from something for lent because of tradition or their church "makes" them. Not coming from a Catholic background, this is actually a new experience for me. My aim and goal is to use the time and energy I might have spent elsewhere (whatever I am abstaining from) in prayer, reflection and Bible study. When I feel hungry, I can draw nearer to the Lord and be reminded that He is all I need. When I end up sitting around feeling aimless because I can't check facebook or a new blog I just started, I'll delve a little deeper into God's Word and spend a little longer in prayer and meditation.