Each year, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. This day officially begins the season of acknowledgement and recommitment. At Oak Hills Church we are calling this season of Lent "Preparing to Leave" and will highlight some of the most important lessons of Jesus’ life and ministry as he is preparing to go to the cross, be resurrected and leave this earth. Each Sunday we will build toward Holy Week when we will have a unique Good Friday experience and a celebration together on Easter Sunday.
Lent is a time to give up something so we can anticipate something greater, namely the love of Christ displayed in the story of his death and resurrection. We sacrifice certain things that we find comforting to our flesh. We fast from what is the norm so we can pay attention and listen in a way that is not drowned out by our desires.
In order for you to make the most of your Lenten experience, I wanted to suggest a few ways to begin preparing for this season. Here are four ways that I find helpful:
1. BEGIN ASKING YOURSELF A FEW QUESTIONS EVERYDAY.
Lent is a season to look at how you’ve been living and to commit to being a healthier, more loving person. Maybe these questions are a good place to start:
What unhealthy patterns do I see in my life during the past year?
What relationships need reconciliation or my new or renewed investment?
How can I improve my relationship with God?
In what ways can I join God in healing and restoring the world?
If it is helpful, try processing these questions by journaling or having conversations with someone close to you.
2. COMMIT TO READING THE BIBLE EVERYDAY.
A daily reading schedule is common during Lent, and we will be providing one (available for pick up at the resource table or online at oakhillschurch.net). This schedule can help you develop the habit of stopping everyday to read the Scriptures. The schedule recommends small passages from the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament and Epistles.
3. CONSIDER SOME KIND OF FAST DURING LENT.
It’s been helpful for many throughout history to remove a practice or food from their life during Lent. This has been one way of identifying with Jesus on a deeper level and hopefully helping a person focus on God more intently.
The fast doesn’t necessarily need to be from food, though that can be helpful for many. Instead, you might want to identify something that takes a lot of time or money and fast from that. Maybe it’s television, the computer or video games. Maybe it’s purchasing books, music or clothes. Or maybe it’s eating out or ordering in. Whatever would be most helpful for you, a main reason for fasting is to help raise our awareness of God.
Whenever you feel an impulse for the thing you’re fasting from, take some time to acknowledge God and ask for His strength and grace.
4. GET INVOLVED WITH THE EL SALVADOR WATER PROJECT
This year Oak Hills Church will be partnering with a missions organization called ENLACE in El Salvador. This is an incredible organization that links the local church with its surrounding community in an effort to share the gospel and eliminate poverty.
We are hoping to raise $30,000 to help ENLACE build a water tank in a small rural community in El Salvador with no access to clean water. As you are considering some type of fast maybe you can also put some money aside to help with this project.
The Bible teaches us that spiritual and material poverty are the product of fragmented relationships between God and humankind. God commissioned the church as an agent of transformation in the world that should help to restore people to a right relationship with God and to a right relationship with one another. As people come into peace with God through Jesus Christ, true community is created where people serve sacrificially, broken relationships are restored, and physical poverty is addressed.
It’s my prayer that your personal experience of Lent is meaningful and transformative and that as we participate in Lent together as a community we can help to share God’s love with the world. May God meet you in deeply authentic and undeniable ways as you draw near to Him.
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