First Sunday of Lent

Readings for the First Sunday of Lent:

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13

A Prayer for the Day:

O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you, that the week to come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 4: What You Might Need Most

Throughout this first week of Lent, I have tried to help us set the context for practices that can help us return to God with all our hearts in the coming weeks. In this final reflection for the week, I want to propose a type of practice which may seem unusual, but of which I believe many of us are in desperate need. What if, this Lent, you set a spiritual goal of getting enough rest? Many of us have become accustomed to being so tired that we've forgotten what it feels like to be fully rested. This is often tied to a misconception, thinking that our bodies are disconnected from our spiritual lives. That idea is very prevalent among Christians, but–wherever it comes from–it doesn't come from the Bible.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God continually emphasized the importance of rest in the lives of his people. Rest is a concrete way that we learn to trust God and to express our dependence upon him. This has primarily been practiced through the centuries as God's people have observed a sabbath day each week to rest from our work, worship God for his steadfast love toward us, and engage in activities that delight and refresh us. As one of my favorite authors, James Bryan Smith, says, we can't do anything worthwhile spiritually if we're exhausted.

So, here is a brief list of things you might consider if setting a goal of getting enough rest seems inviting to you this Lent:

• If you tend to stay up too late, set three bedtimes for yourself: an ideal bedtime, an okay bedtime, and an "anything later than this is unacceptable" bedtime. Then, as you go to rest each night, think of it as a spiritual practice, helping you to express your trust in God that he can take care of the things that were not accomplished in the day.
• Determine that, for this Lent, you won't stay late at work.
• Set aside a 24-hour period each week this Lent during which your goal is not to be distracted, but to pay attention to those who are with you. You might start this 24 hours in the evening, as you share a slow meal with family or friends. You'll probably find it very helpful (though difficult) turn off your cell phone. Take a break from e-mail and internet, even all media if possible. Go to bed at a good time that evening, being free of the usual distractions. Either verbally or through writing, affirm to someone else their importance in your life.
• Another way we can rest is to intentionally take a break from thinking about things we don't have and, instead, give thanks to God for all of the ways that he has provided for us so faithfully. This might mean cutting back on shopping and increasing your generosity. Or perhaps you would simply want to choose to live with the mindset this Lent: "I have enough." As we do so over time, we find that our gratitude and our ability to trust God with our needs increases.
• If you're interested in reading more of my thoughts about ways we can enjoy a practice of making a sabbath, see these two articles: "Something I Really Want but Haven't Learned Yet" and "Sabbath's Good, Slow Work in Us".

A Prayer for the Day:

Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 3: A Bad Idea for Lent and a Really Good One

Several years ago, I had a friend who gave up breath mints for Lent. The guy had a good heart, but please–if you love God and those around you–don't consider following his example this year. Of all the possible things God might desire for you during the coming weeks... I'm quite sure that there is no good connection between holiness and halitosis. Hopefully it isn't breath mints, but is there something else you've thought about giving up as a way of observing Lent? Or perhaps you've decided to take something on? Maybe you've had experiences of others giving things up along the lines of my friend and his unfortunate 40 day abstinence from fresh breath, so you've decided that giving things up isn't for you.

Giving things up or taking things on during these weeks can be helpful, but any decision to do so needs to be set in the right context in order for it to be beneficial to us and others rather than harmful. Sometimes, we tend to think that if there's anything we enjoy, we would be really spiritual if we decided to abstain from it during Lent. So, we end up saying no to things like chocolate (or breath mints) in order to really feel like we're making a sacrifice for God.

Being intentional about our practices during these weeks of Lent is an excellent idea, but we should be careful not to confuse the means (our spiritual practices) with the end (opening our lives to God) as we think about the things we're giving up or the things we're taking on. Ruth Haley Barton states the point of our Lenten practices succinctly by framing them with the question:

How will I find ways to return to God with all my heart?

I hope that you can let that question simmer in your mind through the remainder of this week. As each of us does so, we can trust that God will lead us.

A Prayer for the Day:

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 2: Lent's Invitation

As I discussed yesterday, for years I had no idea what Lent really was. Even after I learned that Lent has been an important part of our habits in the church for centuries, I still had very little understanding of why we do things the way we do. As has often been the case for me, I was pleasantly surprised to find something very helpful right within this Methodist tradition of which I've been a part my entire life. The following "Invitation to the observance of Lenten Discipline" [perhaps could use a more exciting title, but] is part of our liturgy for Ash Wednesday and gives a helpful explanation of what Lent is and an invitation to participate:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

the early Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration there should be a forty-day season of spiritual preparation.

During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins and had separated themselves from the community of faith were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to participation in the life of the Church. In this way the whole congregation was reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need we all have to renew our faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to observe a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating upon God's Holy Word... (From The United Methodist Book of Worship)

I hope that, if you sense any kind of invitation for the kind of Lent described above to characterize your days between now and Easter, that you can take a moment now in prayer and dedicate these weeks of your life to God and his work of grace in you.

A Prayer for the Day:

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.*

A Prayer for the Week:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.*

Click here for this week's Scripture readings.

*From The Book of Common Prayer

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

Day 1: It's Lent, Not Lint

I remember a time as a teenager when my youth pastor liked to joke about things he had given up for Lent. For example, if someone suggested that he wash his car or mow his lawn, his response would be, "I can't. I gave it up for Lent." I laughed every time I heard him make one of those jokes, even though it turned out that I really didn't get his punch line. Since I had no idea what the church season of Lent was, I thought that he was saying he had given up things for "lint." Like many things kids that age find humorous, I now realize that wouldn't have made any sense, but still my middle-school brain thought it was funny. I imagined my youth pastor sitting at home with his precious collection of lint rolled into a large ball, with his dirty car and tall weeds in the yard.

Thankfully, the church's season of Lent is something much more meaningful than that. Lent is about finding ways to return to God with our whole hearts. The things we do today, Ash Wednesday, are designed to give us concrete ways of beginning again our return to God. We pray; we read Scripture, including David's prayer of repentance from Psalm 51; we allow our pastors to place ashes in the sign of a cross on our foreheads to remind us that our lives in this age are fleeting, to mark us as the people of the crucified Messiah, and to remember that we are utterly dependent on the life that God gives us as a gift both today and forever. We invite God to search us and help us to see our sin, while trusting that he is full of compassion and mercy, and then we consider the ways that we can best arrange these lives he has given us around the invitation to come and adore him.

A Prayer for the Day:

O God, maker of every thing and judge of all that you have made, from the dust of the earth you have formed us and from the dust of death you would raise us up. By the redemptive power of the cross, create in us clean hearts and put within us a new spirit, that we may repent of our sins and lead lives worthy of your calling; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (From The United Methodist Hymnal)

Click here for today's scripture readings.

[This is part of 40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent]

40 Days of Prayer: Daily Emails for Lent

Click here to see later posts in this series.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to write daily emails for Lent this year for my church. The emails will begin on Ash Wednesday, February 13, and conclude on Easter Sunday, March 29. Each day's message will include a short reflection from me, a scripture reading, and a prayer for the day.

If you already subscribe to this blog by email, you will also receive these automatically (since I didn't want to put this much work into writing things and not also have them count as blog posts!). If you don't normally receive new posts by email, but would like to just for Lent this year, you can sign up for the 40 Days of Prayer email list here. Update: This email series was sent during Lent of 2013, and then published as Follow: 40 Days of Preparing the Soul for Easter. The posts from 2013 are all still available at the link above, or in published form in print and Kindle editions.