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Where is Lent in the Bible?

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:20 +0000

Lent isn’t in the bible…but you can find its rhythm there. Seasons of forty days are found in the Old as well as the New Testament. Early followers of Jesus developed spiritual habits (disciplines, practices) to invigorate their personal and corporate spirituality. Lent traces its roots to this earliest tradition of Christ followers. Wanting to emphasize the power of the Cross and significance of the resurrection, they set aside this season to reflect on life, sin, love, God’s intervention, sacrifice and victory for humankind.

Today, Lent is sacred for some, ignored by others, and there are some for whom it may have become an empty and lifeless practice. Like anything good, it is only as good as it is meaningful to the practitioner. There is a great richness here if we will linger in the experience. If you will make the iLent practice a spiritual habit for this season, we expect you to experience increased joy, awareness and participation in your journey with God and others. Let’s walk this road, aware that we are not alone. We walk with many others today and know that Christ’s followers have walked this road for generations before.

How come this feels new for my church life?

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:00:33 +0000

In the 16^th century, people in the church that we tend to call “Reformers” felt strongly that there was something wrong with the way the church (largely the Roman Catholic Church) was following Jesus. These reform movements, typified by groups like the “Anabaptists” and the “Calvinists,” believed Christian holy days were part of the invention of an errant Roman Church, so they abandoned such observations. It turns out they were wrong about the holy days. In many cases, Rome was the last to sanction their observation.

By the 19th century, documents nearer to the first century, like the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve) and later documents from the third century, showed Christian calendars and days set aside for sacred meaning. Still, years of “day disparagement” would not be altered.

As the Gospel spread in America, it was with groups of Anabaptist or Calvinist origins. As the gospel expanded with camp meetings, revivals, and circuit riding, there were few opportunities to accommodate formal services oriented around holy days.

As a result, most church groups that trace their beginnings to 19^th century America simply had no real awareness of or provision for spiritual practices like Lent. I am a Southern Baptist pastor. Today, even in our Baptist tradition, Lent is making a meaningful comeback in church life as people seriously consider new rhythms for remaining alive and intentional with their faith.

Art Barrett, Pastor New Life Christian Fellowship

The Invitation and Challenge of Unity

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:00:56 +0000

IN” asks questions about those with whom you live your life, questions about reality and intimacy. The people who share your load, share your dreams, support your vision, hear your mistakes, know your faults. The people whom you love. Consider the places you are called to community. With whom do you most share your life? To whom do you give permission to encourage, challenge and rebuke you? Where do you spend time with others who are following God? Who knows everything about you? When do you regularly meet with other believers? How do you connect with other believers? With whom do you regularly eat? The answers to all these are our community, where we share time with people traveling in the same direction. Who is your community? What does your community look like? How do you do community? Where is your community?

Remember, Imagine, John Lennon’s 1971 idea of peace and harmony? Lennon’s lyrics are inviting but only a faint echo of something more from eternity. Jesus, too, has a dream of harmony. It’s that one day His disciples would live as one: “My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one…and the world will believe you sent me” John 17:21 (NLT). Instead of pairing off by mini distinctions and styles, by the kind of “Christian shoes” we wear, Jesus prays we would live more effectively for His purpose. John and Yoko sang for world peace. Jesus prays that we live as one so the world will believe He is for real! Jesus prays we kick off our separatist shoes so the world sees we are really His feet.

Look at what Jesus says: “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one. . . John 17:22.” He says He has given us (disciples) “glory” so that we (disciples) may be one in the way He and the Father are one. They have the same purpose, they work together in mission and message to the world. That is the model for the church, working together in mission and message. Instead, we have argued, separated, majored on minors, and acted on our own.

Jesus goes on to pray, “May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me.” (v23) Jesus believes our unity is a revelation to the world of His nature and mission. Yet this isn’t what we’ve shown the world for the most part. We have put enormous effort toward fulfilling the Great Commission but have made a great omission by not seriously considering Jesus’ vision and heartbeat for His church and world evangelism. Imagine His church, multiple congregations kicking off pride, not competing but living with a sense of unity.

Jesus’ prayer suggests the only way to fulfill His commission is to go together as His Church, as one church of many congregations. Imagine what it would look like if the church in its many congregations around the world began to share Jesus’ heartbeat. Imagine if we prayed the prayer of Jesus and dreamed His dream. Imagine that!

What is Lent?

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:00:54 +0000

// UP ASKS ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Where do you seek meaning?
What do you give worth to?
Where do you listen?
Where are you are called to?
What do you embrace,
appreciate, praise?
How do you prioritize your life?
This is worship. Consider your relationship with God.
Who do you worship?
What do you worship?
How do you worship?
Where do you worship?

Lent is a reflective season roughly corresponding to Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness where He endured the temptations of the devil as He prepared Himself for the following years of ministry, the cross and the resurrection.

Lent’s 40 days are a season of self knowing that begin by counting the days backward (excluding Sundays) from the day marking Jesus’ resurrection. Lent is a time marked by contemplation during which we consider life and allow ourselves to become aware of the load we carry, the depth of God’s love and the relief of the Savior.

Lent is an ancient rhythm of intentional spiritual focus. Unlike many other days and seasons in the church calendar, Lent finds its origin and some form of practice in the earliest days of the life of the church. We call these early days the “apostolic age,” when even then the church was listening to the Spirit and asking, “How do we best live knowing Jesus and loving like Him?”

By the fourth century, there were widespread commonalities in Lenten experiences. Still, there is no question that the practice and the length of days observed for Lent has morphed over time. As the church continued to find its own diverse expression, spreading across geography and history, time and tradition set in. The discussion of meaningful Lenten practice and observation continues today, here and now, with the iLent project.

Many people today are seeking deeper and more personal meaning in their spiritual journeys and desire to know Jesus better. Many are finding an enlivened adventure of the Spirit along the Lenten path.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday before Easter, and ends as the good news of the resurrection ushers in the assurance of a new future secured for humanity. That is more than 40 days.

Why? The 40 days don’t count the Sundays. In the early church, every Sunday was a sacred celebration for remembering the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. It didn’t seem appropriate to have the shadow of Lent’s somber spirit hanging over the Resurrection Sunday celebration. The solution was to simply eliminate the Sundays, so they weren’t counted among the 40 days!

In the iLent rhythm we have continued the Lenten reflections right through and including each Sunday. In this way, we have honored the tension that it is Lent and it is also the Lord’s Day. Therefore, we have a devotion for each day, even Sundays.

The Invitation and Challenge of God

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:00:06 +0000

3D focus, the triangle of relationships

The invitation and challenge of God is found throughout the Bible. On page after page, we see God’s inviting people to be with Him and challenging them to do something for Him. Think of this invitation in terms of relationship, our identity formed by God’s covenant with us. This defines who we are—our ‘being.’ Think of the challenge in terms of responsibility, our calling in God’s kingdom. This defines what we do—our ‘doing.’ Being and doing. Identity and calling. Covenant and kingdom. Invitation and challenge. We will follow this double helix throughout this year’s iLent devotional, asking God to help us hear His invitation and act on His challenge.

Also on this journey, we will use the spiritual habits we developed last year to help us grow in the invitation and challenge of practicing the 3D life of Jesus—

UP, our relationship with God
IN, our relationship with our community
OUT, our relationship with our world.

We pray that you experience and enjoy God’s invitation and challenge in your life during this season of Lent!