The Christian calendar seems to be a bit out of favour these days – Many of us tend to think of the Christian seasons such as Lent or Advent to be a bit old-fashioned, or just tied up in the Catholic or Orthodox churches. But, just as the natural seasons bring reflection and different experiences, and as the holiday seasons, new years, birthdays and anniversaries give us opportunity to pause and reflect, so too do these Christian rituals bring us a chance to pray and talk to God about what’s happening in our lives and how we can grow.
Lent has us on a journey to the death and resurrection of Christ. A profound journey, which we traditionally use to focus ourselves through prayer, self-denial and various opportunities for reflection and confession, to prepare us for the event of Easter – And in doing so make that event more meaningful to us.
It’s good, before Lent begins, to consider how we might best prepare ourselves for Lent. Rather than just running with the traditions of our church, or simply denying ourselves a foodstuff (often chocolate!), we can pause and consider what will create the most meaningful lent for us.
First, let’s consider what Lent’s about and how we can best respond:
1.Creating opportunities to remember.
It’s easy to forget the important things in life when you’re busy, as we all so often are. Lent and its various rituals, especially those around self-denial, give us a chance to say to ourselves “Yes, that’s right, we’re on a journey with Christ to Easter…” By choosing to give up something that we usually enjoyed regularly, or by fixing times to pray and reflect, we create space to think about and talk to God, and remember Jesus’ life and sacrifice.
2.Simplifying our lives
By removing something from our lives gives us a chance to reflect on our priorities, and think about how we could live more simple lives. How we could give more to others and working out what we really do need, rather than what we think we do. And by creating simple rituals of prayer and reflection allow for simple rhythms to our days, and slow us down to create more space for God to work.
So what are some ways to help us discover our own Lent in a way which is meaningful and manageable? Here’s a few questions to get started with:
- What’s something in your daily routine that you could do without? Sure, you might enjoy it, but you know you don’t ‘need’ it.
- Will you be worse off without it for just over a month? It’s not that long…
- Is this a good chance to see if your life is any ‘worse’ without it? So many of our needs are in many ways just ‘what we’re used to’.
- Will it inconvenience heavily on other people… If it’s going to mean my partner has to cook two meals, or is going to impact heavily on other people, perhaps another approach might be better.
- Am I robbing myself of a really important joy here? Does what I’m giving up mean less family time or fun with others? That might not always be the best for a ‘personal’ lent journey.
- How could my life be ’simpler’?
And of course, Lent is more than just about sacrifice:
- How can I build space for prayer, reading and reflection into my usual day?
- Consider one of those alarms that gives a small beep every hour. Use it to say a small prayer or reflection, or simply to remind yourself of God and Jesus’ journey to the cross.
- Gather a small group of people to travel a Lenten journey together. Create times together to pray too, whether you’re together or not.
- Can I actively aim to do something over this period too? Could I raise money for a particular cause (perhaps through what I’m sacrificing?) or dedicate some time each week for a project or program. Perhaps Lent could be about starting some good rituals as much as stripping yourself of unnecessary or unhelpful ones.
May your Lent be a personal, meaningful, rich experience… and perhaps the start of something to last even longer. May God use these days to speak to us and our lives….
So, what will you be doing this Lent? Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments!
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