Lent 2012

One of the things I love about homeschooling is being able to incorporate faith. Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the season of Lent in the liturgical calendar. Timothy was off at PEP so Annie and I met Michael for Ash Wednesday service at noon. I did a little research and found out that the season of Lent is not just a "Catholic thing." In fact in one friend's blog, he says that "Lent is catholic, not Catholic." But rather most of the mainline liturgical churches celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lent. (One website says: Many Western Protestant churches also observe Ash Wednesday, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and United Methodists.)


The service begins with the following words:


Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This is season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.


And then it continues with scripture readings and the imposition of the ashes which are marked with the following words: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.


I love being part of a liturgical church which follows seasons, much like the Jewish faith or the natural world. (According to wikipedia Liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions and the liturgical year consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast day, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read either in an annual cycle or in a cycle of several years. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in connection with different seasons of the liturgical year.)


This period is set apart as a time of self-examination, something that is often hard to do. It's much easier to examine others and find faults in them than to look deep down in our inner selves and find that which is moldy, rotting and downright putrid and work to eradicate it. 


I had been thinking about what God would have me do for this Lenten season that would draw me closer to Him and make more into his image. I felt that I had parts of it but not all. It was during the service and particularly during Rick's sermon that I was struck with what the final component of my Lenten exercise would be: Service. So here it is for this year's Lent, the things I will focus on and endeavor to do or not do as the case may be: 


Prayer and Thanksgiving - use prayer cards and pray for specific people; keep a thanksgiving journal
Fasting - Fast from breakfast and lunch on Wednesdays, pray when I feel hunger pangs; give up alcohol
Scripture reading and Silence - Continue to read through the New Testament; sit quietly and listen to God and reflect on the reading
Service - Cook a meal for a family


My children are at the age where they have decided on their own what they will do. Something we will do as a family will be to read Amon's Adventure by Arnold Ytreeide. 


What about you? Do you celebrate Lent? Why or why not? If so, what do you do to observe a holy Lent? I'd love to hear!