An Invitation to Lent

I have always been fascinated by what "new" practices a congregation finds acceptable or objectionable. When the use of ashes was reintroduced in the past generation, I thought that it might just not catch on. In my own unscientific observation, I believe it is a small minority of our congregations that will not have ashes available in their worship today.

In the Ash Wednesday liturgy we engage in an extended confession of sin. We do not hear the words of absolution. I find receiving the ashes on my forehead to be a powerful moment. Those ashes represent my mortality and penitence. The pastor admonishes me "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return." That is a hard reminder. I'm feeling a bit dustier each year.

Today in worship we will be invited into the discipline of Lent. Personally, I will be setting aside some of my normal devotional practices to take up Book of Faith Lenten Journey: 40 Days with the Lord's Prayer (Augsburg Fortress, 2009). One component of this book is journaling. This might surprise you, but I am not very good at journaling. I was happy to learn a couple of years ago that not all personality types are effective journalers. I think I must be one of those types. Too many extraneous thoughts tend to flit through my mind. I stop to think and forget to write! But I am going to give it another try.

What will your Lenten discipline include? My hope is that you will be faithful in Sunday and mid-week worship. Increase your devotional time and Bible reading. Take seriously your pastor's invitation when he or she says, "I invite you, therefore, to the discipline of Lent--self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love--strengthened by the gifts of word and sacrament."

I am journeying (and journaling) with you. --JC