Lent is variously observed as a time of penance, reflection, introspection and preparation, several weeks before Easter. It is commonly associated with self denial - “giving something up” for Lent. Frankly in my background there was scant observance, both growing up nominally Presbyterian and after I received Christ as an adult. My appreciation for the possibilities of this observance came only recently, as HBF joined First Baptist and Park Methodist in Ash Wednesday services. This year I participated with Mark Shiner in an ecumenical service with all the Christian communities on campus. I placed ashes on foreheads of dozens of students, saying to each: “From dust you have come, and to dust you will return.”
We know as biblical Christians that this is not the end of it. Our hope is the certainty of the resurrection - that we will be raised from the dead, as Jesus was the first among many. To dust (the “stuff” of the earth, of which we are fashioned) we will return in death. But the resurrection is about “life, after life after death,” as N.T. Wright puts it in his book Surprised by Hope. Our eternity is bodily: complete and perfect, no longer subject to the ravages of disease, age, sin and the curse - in a new heavens and new earth.
As we reflect during Lent, this is a good focus! We are sinners; yet God has graciously provided for our eternity in Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross, and in his resurrection from the dead. This is what this season is about. Yet in the original context of Isaiah 30, God’s own people weren’t listening. They had forgotten their God, running after and trusting everything else. God was calling them to stop - to reflect, to remember the source of their salvation and the real foundation of their security. He was always ready to graciously and compassionately receive them back. And so, he remains.
How are we doing this Lenten season? We don’t need to limit it to this, but it is a good time every year to be reminded. What I like best about HBF’s worship on Sundays is the reflective component. We are called to remember, to reflect, and to express God’s provision of deliverance and security through his compassion and grace. In the busyness and programmed nature of our lives, we don’t take enough time to reflect. Let’s do it!