GIVING UP | TAKING UP
LENT: The word itself connects us to a season of life. The word ‘Lent’ comes from a Germanic word meaning ‘long’, descriptive of the season when dark nights grow shorter, days grow brighter and longer, and indications of new life become increasingly apparent.
Followers of Jesus have annually set aside Lent as a season of preparation for Easter marked by confession, repentance, and restoration. Beginning in the 4th Century the Church has engaged the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday as a time of both sober reflection and heightened awareness of God’s presence revealed in the person and story of Jesus. Historically Lent is marked by the practices of: Scripture reading (one of the Gospels), prayer, silence, solitude and fasting to focus on following the way of Jesus.
The Sacred Grace participates in Lent through giving up and taking up: giving up what can distract us to create space for us to hear and respond to God; taking up practices that ground us, realign us, and increase our attention to God’s voice. Our prayer is that together as a community, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, we will confess our brokenness, respond in repentance, and—as the days grow brighter—experience the abundance and reality of restoration through God’s lavish grace.
INTRODUCTION TO LENT | Nathan Hoag | 03.03.2019
JESUS REDEFINES BLESSING | Kevin Penfold | 03.10.2019
WOES | Nathan Hoag | 3.17.2019