Lent: What’s it all about?
Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday….better known as “pancake day.” It’s the last day before “Lent” – but what is that all about?
Lent is the 40 days (not including Sundays) before Easter Sunday. During the earliest years of the church, many people would be baptised at Easter. So Lent was a time of preparing for that. It was a special time to do something intentional to get rid of distractions and grow closer to God….then be ready for a HUGE CELEBRATION at Easter! (Find out more with this short video).
Why is it called “Lent”?
It actually comes from the old English word “lencten,” which simply means “Spring.” That was the time of year these things were happening. It’s the time of year when new life begins to spring up…and that’s a powerful image for what Lent is all about.
You can see the actions we take during Lent as seeds being sown in our lives or the lives of those around us. Or perhaps Lent as a time when we tend to seeds sown earlier in the year.
How do you make the most out of Lent?
Typically this is a time for three things: FASTING; PRAYER; and GIVING.
Fasting we have talked about before. It’s a habit that helps break bad habits in our lives. We can give up food / drink, or something else like social media. You might want to give up one thing for the whole of Lent, or choose particular days / times to fast. Some of us in our church family will be fasting on Tuesdays through Lent.
Prayer is taking time to be with God. You can talk to God anytime, anywhere, about anything. During Lent you may want to try one or two things.
- Make space to simply be with God. If you’re prayer is primarily talking to God or giving a “shopping list” of things you’d like Him to do…then you may want to change that up in Lent. One thing to try is simply having a short time of silence every day – sitting or walking – maybe start with just 5 min. Pay attention to what comes to mind and give space simply to be and listen. Listen to Anna sharing about Silence and Solitude to go deeper here.
- Persistent prayer. By this I mean taking Lent as a period to pray in a practical and intentional way for something or someone in particular. This could be the people on our “hands” or you might want to use a Prayer Calendar. For a lent prayer calendar simply….
- write the numbers “1” to “40” on a piece of paper. Then put a name of someone to pray for next to each name.
- On day 1 of lent – call or text the person by “1” and say “Hi, I have a prayer calendar for lent, and you’re on it for today…so I’ll be praying for you. Is there anything in paricular I can pray for you?” Then, if they share something to pray for – PRAY FOR THEM – right there and then, either on the phone or text.
- It can be really helpful to “buddy up” – find one other person who will try the same thing and encourage each other through Lent. You could even pick a time of the day to message a prayer to each other every day.
Giving is a way for our celebration of Lent to make a difference to other people. You may want to give to charity or to support your church family if you don’t do that already. You may find a creative way to give or share with others. One suggestion for our church family is Hospitality. During Lent, why not try to “host” one person a week? This could be inviting people over to your home, or it could be asking someone to go for lunch or a coffee during work. It’s about giving the gift of time and connecting with someone in a deeper way.
You’ll be able to find ideas and tools to help engage with Lent on our Easter 2024 page, which will be up and running very soon. Or follow the links to other resources I’ve added in this blog.
A last piece of advice? Take a moment to ask Jesus what He would like you to do. Then do that :-) Remember the heart isn’t to achieve something big for God, but to take steps to grow closer to Him.
