Link #231 - Ash Wednesday Edition
Greetings in the name of Jesus.
A special edition of the Link as we just wanted to remind everyone it is Ash Wednesday. In many protestant Churches there is little attention given to the traditional Christian calendar, but that does not mean it is without value. We normally recognize Christmas, Easter, Good Friday but after that we get a little vague. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of what is referred to as the season of lent. It is a time of reflection and repentance leading up to Easter Sunday. Basically, lent is a season that we prepare ourselves to celebrate the wonder of Easter. We don’t want to be casual about the love and victory that God makes available to us - so we take time during lent to prepare ourselves spiritually.
You have probably associated fasting with this time of year. The most common form of fasting is to do without food for a period of time. Some people will take a day a week during lent to not eat, or perhaps skip a meal each day, or even spend each day fasting and then eating simply a supper meal. Less common, but equally as relevant is to recognize some area of your life you can surrender to God. Some people fast from coffee during lent, or fast from social media. One year at Bloor Central we had a sports fan who fasted from watching hockey games during lent (yes, and it was during playoffs as well).
What you fast from is in fact not the essential issue. The most important issue is that whatever you fast from will make more room in your life for your relationship with God. For example, as you fast from food take the time that would have been spend preparing, eating and cleaning up to read your bible or pray. Our friend who fasted from hockey took that time he would normally watch a game to read and pray. I also had a friend in Uganda who fasted from samosas (his favorite treat). In those days samosas cost 100 shillings each. For forty days every time he would have normally bought a samosa he added 100 shillings to his offering. On Easter Sunday he took several thousand shillings and offered it to God during the offering that was taken up Easter Sunday.
In fact the season of lent is for each of us to consider what we should do. I would like to invite you to join with Christians around the world who over the next 40 days will seek ways to make more room in their lives for God. Pray for guidance, allow your imagination to open opportunities for you. Today, we start our road to Easter.