Lent
Preparing to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior
Easter is a big deal. Every year, billions of people set aside this day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. For many, including myself, the season of Lent leads up to this celebration and begins six weeks before on Ash Wednesday.
Back in November, I wrote about the season of Advent. That season covers the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and seeks to prepare our minds and hearts for celebrating the birth of our Savior.
In December, I wrote about Epiphany. Epiphany takes place after the 12 days of Christmas (yes, the 12 days take place after December 25, not before) and focuses on Christ's manifestation to the world, and especially to the Gentiles.
These are precious times of celebration of the arrival of our Savior. Advent and Epiphany are events that can help keep us focused on Christ’s life and ministry.
The season of Lent can play a similar role. The tradition of Lent was established fairly early on in the life of the church. During the second century, it was a fast that lasted three days in anticipation of Easter. By the fourth century, it was established as a forty-day fast in honor of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness.
Over the centuries, the fasting aspect has become more relaxed (although some still fast during this time). Instead, many set aside certain things in order to dedicate more time and energy to spiritual exercises and devotion. This may involve certain types of food, coffee, video games, and/or television.
Personally, I will be setting aside solo video gaming during this time. In recent years, I have really come to enjoy certain video games (lately I have been hooked on Elite Dangerous and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle). While I enjoy it and it helps me relax, gaming can certainly take up too much time in my life. So, during Lent, I’ve stored all my gaming devices away and deleted gaming apps from my phone. Instead of spending time on video games, I will seek to dedicate this season to increased spiritual reflection and devotion.
During Advent and Epiphany, I had set reading plans, but that won’t be the case this year for Lent. Instead, I will add more time to my Bible reading and dedicate a set time for prayer. My prayer is that this increased reflection and meditation will prepare my heart to celebrate Easter and the resurrection of our Savior.
For those of you who will be celebrating Lent but want a more specific guide for this season, I recommend Journey to the Cross: A 40-Day Lenten Devotional. My wife and I used this book by Paul David Tripp last year during the Lenten season and found it to be quite helpful. Another good resource to check out is O Sacred Head, Now Wounded: A Liturgy for Daily Worship from Pascha to Pentecost. I actually have a review copy of this book on the way from Crossway, so subscribe to receive my upcoming review.
Whether or not you celebrate Lent, I hope that you will take time leading up to Easter to reflect and meditate deeply on the gracious work of our Savior.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Caleb Friske
Love this. Helped remind me to dig further into Lent and encouraged me to also spend more time in the word everyday by sacrificing something I enjoy yet have the tendency to over indulge in. I will definitely be checking out that first book reference you mentioned. Thank you.