Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is a time where we lament the sin and brokenness in our lives and focus on remembering Jesus's death to bring about our wholeness.
It might feel strange for us to begin journeying through this somber season now when we've already spent so much time in the Passion narrative of John's gospel. And it might be even stranger that in the coming weeks, we will shift our focus away from Jesus' death as we read the accounts of the risen Jesus appearing to his disciples. But I think both of these things are actually quite fitting.
It is good for us to begin this season of Lent with the picture of Jesus's death front and centre. Because while we might be tempted to make this season about us and our own individual struggles, the whole point of Lent is for us to see Jesus and his sacrifice more clearly. And it is good for us to see glimpses of the risen Jesus before Easter, as we will in these coming weeks, because this puts the whole story in perspective. It reminds us that even as we do lament the sin and brokenness we experience now, we do so as those who have been made alive in Christ.
This new life in Christ is something we so often forget we possess. And perhaps this is the key thing we need to focus on during this season of Lent. Lent is traditionally known as a season of repentance. And perhaps what many of us need to repent from is living without the hope of the resurrection, and to do that by learning to hunger for Jesus' resurrection life to become more real for us.
This is the kind of hunger we want to cultivate together as a church family throughout Lent. The way we'll do this is, in our worship gatherings, we will take time to hear a lament psalm read aloud which will lead us into a time of reflection and seeking God in prayer. These times are meant to offer space for you to honestly pour out your heart before God in prayer – to grieve the sin and brokenness in your life and receive the gift of forgiveness and new life he offers you.
Additionally, similar to Advent, throughout Lent we are going to be releasing a special Lent blog each Monday following the Sunday service. Each blog post will include the psalm we read on Sunday with some reflection questions, and a video with encouragement on further steps to help you meaningfully engage in Lent. These videos are from a fantastic series by Eric Ferris, titled The Lent Experience. In each video, we'll learn a little bit more about what Lent is and receive a challenge for practicing it in our everyday lives. You can watch the first video on Ash Wednesday (click the button below) and download the accompanying Participant’s Guide which includes all of the content you'll need to engage in the weekly practices.
Our hope is that all of this will help us as a church to see Jesus more clearly, and that beholding our crucified and risen saviour will cause us to hunger more for him and the life that he gives.
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