Lent begins tomorrow, as it does every year on Ash Wednesday, and continues for 40 days (46 if you include Sundays), until we reach Easter Sunday.
This year at Redeemer we are encouraging you to join us in observing lent in some way. But before we get on to how you can do that… What is lent, and why are we talking about it?
What is lent?
Lent has been a fixture in the traditional church calendar for many hundreds, if not thousands of years! People with much more knowledge than me are still unsure when exactly the tradition began, but it has certainly been around for a lot longer than Redeemer Church London, or any of our family members!
Traditionally, lent is a 40 day period leading up to Easter Sunday, which prepares believers for Easter through prayer, repentance and self-denial. Many Christians have used this time to commit to fasting, and give up luxuries, to reflect the 40 days which Jesus spent in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13).
Some choose not to fast on the Sundays during Lent, marking these Sundays as a day of celebration, meeting with God and sharing fellowship with other believers.
Why give something up this year?
Reason No. 1 - Unity
By choosing to observe lent, however you choose to do so, you are joining with other Christians who are doing the same. Not only those at Redeemer, but believers all over the world! Even though we are all going through different stages in our lives, facing different challenges, and fasting from different things, we are united in this season, as we seek to fix our eyes on the same God.
The past year has been tough for many reasons, not least because we’ve been unable to join regularly with other believers to worship, take heart from knowing you are joining with a great number of your brothers and sisters in Christ this lent, even if you are physically separate.
Reason No. 2 - Discipline
As Christians we are called not just to live in freedom today, but to look to the promise of an eternal relationship with God. There are joys which we will experience in the new heavens and new earth that give us strength as we endure the challenges of life right now. This lent we are choosing to sacrifice something which brings us temporary satisfaction, in order to fix our eyes on a God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. By doing this we are cultivating the discipline of maintaining an eternal perspective whatever our current earthly situation.
During the pandemic it has been so easy to focus entirely on what is happening right now, but we need to lift our eyes to a God who is greater, a God who is ultimately satisfying, a God who is eternal.
Reason No. 3 - Choosing to Trust God
We live in a city and a culture which teaches us to take responsibility for fulfilling our own deep spiritual needs, to put ourselves in charge of our financial stability, our happiness, our identity, our career path. Scripture says otherwise.
God is the source of all that we need, not us. All that is good in our lives is a gift from God! (James 1:17) But we can forget this, we can try and fill the gaps in our lives with other things, be that social media, television, relationships, money, the list goes on. We can aim to make ourselves feel better by complaining, by drinking too much, by hiding ourselves away from the world. Ultimately NONE of these things will satisfy.
By choosing to fast from something this lent we transfer our faith and our trust off ourselves and back over to God, he is the one who will never let us down, who will never fall short, who will never fail to bring fulfilment and satisfaction.
Why not put your trust in God this lent.
How can I be part of lent at Redeemer?
You can join us as we fast from food for 40 days as a church! By clicking the link below you can add yourself to the list of those at Redeemer who are committing to fast for one or more days during lent. We hope to have someone at Redeemer fasting every day, from now up until Easter Sunday!
Choose to give something up! Check out our social media over the next few days to hear from some members of the Redeemer family about what they will be giving up this lent! You can do the same! I would encourage you to think first about how you would like to grow deeper in your relationship with God this term, and then think about what you might give up to make that happen!
