What is Lent?

Lent is a season that you may or may not have observed throughout your life. Maybe you have given up chocolate or social media for the 40 days of lent, or at the very least know others who have done something similar. But what is Lent, actually?

Henry Nouwen described Lent as the season in which Winter and Spring struggle with each other for dominance. 

It is an actual earthly and real time. You can see it all around us. The Oklahoma weather forecast is a prime example of the struggle. The battle of winter and spring...the battle of the COLD WIND and the WARM SUNSHINE... the battle of what IS and what COULD BE... OLD and NEW... DESPAIR and HOPE... DEATH and LIFE.

Lent is a time of fasting and mourning, repentance and renewal, a time of identifying with Jesus in His suffering and death in order that we might identify with Him more fully in His resurrection and LIFE.

We tend to worship a lot of things outside of the perfect Father/creator God. We tend to create a god from our wants and desires that we hope leads us through life as we see fit. The list of gods and things that we put our trust in, our hope in, and pour our life into runs deep.

Lent is a season to reorient our heart, and to look on Jesus, who makes all things new. As Charlie Hall says, Jesus "tramples on rebel lusts and lays our handmade gods to dust." 

Lent is a season in the Church that is set apart to assist our hearts in preparing and posturing to remember the passion and grace of Jesus on the cross. It is an attempt to expose and identify our idols or the things we set higher in our life than God, and find our hope and righteousness in Christ and his finished work on the cross.

Lent is a 40 day journey, much like Jesus' 40 day fast / walk in the wilderness, leading up to his crucifixion.

It is a season of letting go of sin... in order to take hold of Jesus
It is a season of dying to ourselves and our kingdoms... in order for Jesus to make us new, to give us new life through the Holy Spirit.

Lent is an intentional season of prayer. So whether you choose to give something up during this season in order to spend more time praying or not... each week during this season leading up to the Resurrection celebration we will have an intentional time of prayer to reorient our heart, letting the author of our faith perfect our faith. Letting go in order to take hold.

Prayer:
Jesus, come and help fix our eyes on you! Tear down these idols, gods and strongholds in our lives and set Yourself high above everything as the most beautiful thing we could ever behold. Thank you for what you have done on the cross, its present power in our lives today, and its perfect impact on our future.