In Private Practice.

At the beginning of this past Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Sam noted that the season of Lent (forty days, not counting the Sundays) is one in which we engage particular practices as a means of deepening our devotion to God. Today, let’s be reminded of a few Lenten practices:

Fasting and prayer. During Lent we choose to remove from our everyday lives something that we consider to be natural, normal, and necessary. For some people, the fast is from particular types of foods. For others, the fast may involve ceasing certain activities (such as watching television). And, as Pastor Sam has said in previous sermons, the fasting opens up space and time for more prayer. For example, if we don’t take an hour to have a meal, we then can spend that hour in prayer to God.

Scripture reading. There are many options available for those of us who use Lent as a time to be intentional in our reading plans. Lent is an optimal time to re-familiarize ourselves with the life and ministry of Jesus as shared in the Gospels, or to consider the significance of “forty” in Scripture beyond the Lenten season.

Disciplines. While most Christians give verbal assent to the importance of spiritual disciplines, the modern life has made some disciplines appear archaic or even impossible to engage in this twenty-first century. Lent is a season in which we can choose to add to our lives disciplines beyond the more common exercises of prayer and fasting. We can engage solitude, silence, watching/tarrying, journaling, or other disciplines that modern-day churchgoers tend not to do on a regular basis.

Though we are already seven days into Lent, it is not too late to begin engagement of these practices that are designed to draw Christians closer to the Lord. We engage these practices as part of our response to the love God has shown towards us. We don’t do these things in order to get something; we do these things because we are grateful.

Let your love grow by drawing nearer to the One who loves you.