
Lent has always included the following elements to help people commit or recommit to a life of discipleship:
1. A call to repentance: we recognize our need for God and our need to be forgiven for the things that we have done or failed to do. The words “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” spoken as ashes are imparted in the beginning of Lent, remind us of our limited nature and our inability to save ourselves. Since Hebrew Bible times ashes communicate the realization of the believer that life is transient and that only by appealing to the Eternal One can he or she have any real hope.
2. A re-commitment to living out the faith daily: sometimes our healthy patterns of practicing the faith can drift away due to the demands of living in a sinful world. The repentance spoken of above is characterized by the Bible in one of two ways. Changing one’s mind or changing one’s direction. So, Lent can be a time recommit to a practice that has been left behind in the chaos of our living in broken world. Restarting Bible reading or a prayer practice, or attending worship more often are some common examples.
3. The exploration of new ways to live out the faith: changing one’s mind about one’s faith and starting a new direction in the faith can mean picking up a new practice or new way of living the faith that you might lead you to a closer relationship with God. If you haven’t had a regular devotional life before, Lent is a perfect time to start.
4. The denial of those things that obscure our faith: perhaps the idea of “giving something up for Lent” is the most common way people think about Lent. People fast so they can remember what it is like to be hungry for something. This opens the heart of the believer for God. Lent is perfect time to drop a behavior that is leading your life astray. It is a perfect time to do away with those things which make us unhealthy and weigh on us. An essential part of a life of discipleship is to care for the life we have been given because that is what those who love us would like us to do, and nobody loves more that God who sent Christ to save us.

Just as we set time apart for God Sunday of each week, we also set six weeks out of the year to focus on the essentials of our faith. Lent is a gift to help us not to take the essential elements of our faith for granted. It enables us to remain grounded in the faith that gives life. It is this faith that kindles in us hope for each day and that
hope helps us persevere through all the challenges that we face in life.
Be blessed
Pastor Knecht
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