LENT

Nathaniel Froese, Interim Westhills Site Pastor

I didn't grow up practicing Lent. Most of my church context is here at RockPointe, which hasn't until more recently practiced Lent. This means that like many of you, Lent feels pretty new to me. Even with it being new to me, Lent has been one of the most spiritually edifying practices I have ever engaged in, so I'd like to take a few moments here to invite you into this ancient Christian practice.

I think that when I first started Lent, I felt that it was kind of like making a New Year's resolution. After only a few days of inconvenience I had given up and moved on only to forget about the practice until the following year where I would try again. Unlike a New Year's resolution which is bent on promoting a new behaviour for lasting effects in your life, Lent is about temporarily fasting so that your life is restructured around prayer and scripture reading. Having restructured your life in this way, the goal is that you would have a healthier relationship with, for example, food, when the fast is done. Jesus tells us that “man shall not live on bread alone”, Lent insists that the thing you are giving up isn't bad, after all, food is quite necessary, but we don't live on bread alone, we need God and his life so that we can live fully. Fasts like Lent help us to understand this.

This is so important, Jesus often seems to assume certain behaviours from his disciples. He tells them in Matthew 6:16 that, “whenever you fast…” which tells me that he assumes his disciples are fasting. He expects our lives to be regularly restructured as we follow him, so that we can learn to rely on him.

I didn’t grow up practicing Lent, but I also didn't grow up fasting. For me, Lent has been the season where I have chosen to introduce this assumed practice of fasting into my life as a disciple of Jesus. The fact that it is in preparation for Easter Sunday just makes the practice all the more beautiful. I am fasting alongside others who may be preparing to get baptized on Easter Sunday, as has been the practice for much of the church's history. I am also doing so as I prepare to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, in precisely the same way that Jesus prepared for his own ministry, through fasting for 40 days. Fasting through Lent also marks a unique opportunity to assess your spiritual life and ask what God might have for you next. Much like how the Lord had Israel wandering through the wilderness for 40 years so that they could enter the promised land, so too, the church's practice has been to invite Christians to enter a fast for 40 days so that they too, may enter whatever God has next for them.

So, as you enter Lent, either for the first time, or as a recurring rhythm in your life, I'd like to invite you to pray about what the Lord might have you give up this Lenten season, so that as you fast, your life is restructured around prayer and scripture reading.

As you do, we also believe there is importance in the practice of doing this as a community, so we as RockPointe church want to invite you into a fast with us together. Each Wednesday, we would like to invite you to fast by simply skipping lunch. To help you in making sure this is a spiritually edifying experience, we will also be providing a short and live devotional from one of our pastoral staff on our social media to accompany that fast each Wednesday at noon.

You can jump into these short 15 min devotionals starting this coming Wednesday, March 12, noon sharp with Ryan Brammer & Ron Gray. Join us here: Instagram Live.

Regardless of how it is that you choose to practice Lent, my prayer is that the Lord Jesus grants you grace to hear his voice, to become more like him, and to walk in his footsteps as we approach this coming Easter celebration. May we do so in community, and in humility.