Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4
If you’re new to the church liturgical calendar, the season of Lent can seem downright odd. Black smudges on the head, fasting, washing feet, prayers of sorrow. What does all of it mean?
It is a time in which we anticipate the victory of the light and life of Christ over the darkness of sin and death. It is, to borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis, a season of “happiness and wonder that makes you serious.”
The season of Lent is profoundly biblical because its rooted in our need to constantly remind ourselves to come back to God – the biblical word is repentance. As one of our prayers so aptly says, “We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.”
Lent is a deeply meaningful time as individuals and as a community of believers. In this Lenten season of ancient practices, may God use it to reorder our lives to make our hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ death and resurrection.
