Lenten Preparation from M

I thought I’d posted this before but couldn’t find it—here’s a bit from one of M’s sermons that I think captures the proper perspective on Lent:

The season of
Lent is often associated with deprivation or giving something up. Our Prayer
Book reminds us that Lent in the Early Church was about fasting and penitence
and invites us today into a period of prayer, fasting, repentance, and
self-denial. But Lent can also be a time to add things to our lives, especially
holy habits. The Prayer Book also invites us into a period of self-examination,
reading and meditating on God’s Word. If you’re like me, though, the idea of
adding just one more thing to your life is almost unbearable. I mean—life is
hard enough as it is with juggling children, jobs, and relationships. How can
you hope to fit in more spiritual things?

The word Lent
comes from an old word meaning springtime. One way to think about Lent without
stressing yourself out is to think about it like an early springtime garden. In
the early spring last year’s beautiful garden can look like quite a mess. Heaps
of leaves from the fall lay around, dead plants from the previous year poke up,
and maybe some industrious weeds have already gotten a head start on you. If
you want a beautiful garden again this year, then it’s time to begin again. You
have to start by getting rid of the stuff that’s there—maybe even stuff that
once was living, vibrant, and beautiful but isn’t anymore. So you start
raking…what activities in your life seem to just exist to fill space—and don’t
really add anything to your life? And you start pulling up last year’s dead plants…what
are those intentions that you always wanted to do but never got around to and
now feel guilty about? Or those things that you use to do because they gave you
joy and peace, but now don’t? Finally you go after those little weeds…what new
little things are poking up in your life that you’re not terribly proud of?

Once all of the
clutter has been cleared away, it’s time to put in some new plants. Now some
people may just put in fully-grown plants right away but most start with new
plants, with young plants that require care and nurturing or else they will die
right a way. They have to be tended for a while until they can live on their
own without constant watering and care. This is the helpful way to think about
adding things to your life—not piling yet another thing onto an already full
schedule. If you’re going to give something up, give away something that sucks
up your time and energy, and plant something beautiful and life-giving in its
place. Like taking a few minutes to read the Bible with your morning cup of
coffee or reading one or more of the daily devotions in the Prayer Book with
your kids, spouse, or a friend.

So instead of
thinking just about giving things up or piling things on, think of Lent as your
early springtime garden that needs cleaning up the old overgrowth and putting
in some new things. These are the holy habits. Holy habits are the things that
we are called to nurture and, like young plants, habits really do have to be
nurtured before they become natural. These are the holy habits that
discipleship demands and that today’s Gospel tells us to take up during
Lent.  

Discipleship,
taking up our cross, is a life-long process, not just something we do during
Lent. It is a daily task that requires discipline, strength, prayer, and
assistance from God. We as Christians are called to be disciples each day
whether things in our lives are going well or not. Discipleship is not
something to be taken lightly, done only when we feel like it, when it’s
popular, or when it’s convenient. It is living out holy habits, something we do
each day of our lives until we die. The hymn we just sang illustrates this well
when it says in verse 5: “Take up your cross, then follow Christ, nor think
till death to lay it down; for only those who bear the cross may hope to wear
the glorious crown.”

Lent can be a
great time to begin this process, to begin growing the holy habits that will
last a lifetime—and beyond. Jesus calls us to discipleship. Jesus calls us to
take up our cross. Not to be popular or to follow an easy road but follow him
wherever he leads.