Observe a Holy Lent

Friday, February 20, 2015

Third Day of Lent

 Read: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=291445570

 I heard and saw several negative comments from folks this week about Ash Wednesday. They were questioning our Ash Wednesday ritual of the imposition of ashes on foreheads.  In light of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6 their question was, “Are we not practicing our religion to draw attention to ourselves when we have ashes imposed on our foreheads?”

Without a doubt anything we do as people of faith can be done for the wrong reasons. Do we do good things so that others can see how good we are or because we feel called to do them? Are our rituals showcasing for others or do they help open our hearts and lives to God’s presence and love? Rituals can become hollow and acts of mercy can become a means of placating guilt if they are not done with intentionality for the right reasons.

Lent is a season that invites us to look at who we are and whose we are and what we do in life because of that claimed identity. Our Ash Wednesday ashes are a nonverbal experiential way of being reminded both of our mortality and our need for repentance. We are part of God’s magnificent work of Creation and our lives and our being only fully make sense in light and recognition of that reality.

 We are invited to “observe a holy Lent: by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word.” I invite you to observe and know a holy Lent—for all the right reasons.

Lenten Blessings.

 

Rich Greenway

 

Below are some suggestions from the Upper Room for ways that we might Observe Lent!