I can remember as a grade school student the beginning of Lent was a big deal. The big question as Ash Wednesday approached was, "What are you giving up for Lent?" The usual answers among my friends included things like chocolate or candy or gum or some such thing. I remember one year, when I was in high school, I gave up coffee for the forty days of Lent. That was not easy.

At the time I understood this "giving up" as a sacrifice. I was giving up something important in my life. (And believe me, by the time I was in high school coffee was very important to me.) And the underlying reason I was making such a sacrifice was because I was a sinner, and the sacrifice served as a sort of punishment. I was punishing myself for not being the kind of person I should be, the kind of person that God wanted me to be. Giving up coffee was my way of punishing myself for being a sinner.

But I have come to believe that there is more to be learned from giving something up during Lent. Perhaps our "giving up" of something during Lent might not be so much a sacrifice as an act of repentance. Properly understood, to repent means to turn around. One who is repentant is a person who recognizes that they are not living the way God wants them to and literally turns around to live the right way.

And so, maybe our Lenten sacrifice would better be understood as a Lenten discipline. Maybe what we ought to give up during Lent are the things that complicate our lives and distract us from our relationship with God. Perhaps Lent ought to be a time when we simplify our lives and focus on those things that are most important - our God and our relationships with each other.

That is, in part, the reasoning behind the meager soup suppers we hold on Wednesday evenings during Lent. What is offered is a simple meal that provides nourishment while minimizing the stress of finding people to prepare the meal and cleaning up afterwards. With the simple meal we are able to eat, enjoy fellowship with one another, and move on to worship without leaving anyone behind.

As Lent begins I encourage everyone to find a way to "repent" during this season of the year. If you intend to sacrifice something, let it be something that gets in the way of what should be most important in your life - God and your family and friends. Perhaps your Lenten sacrifice could be an evening at home without TV, or praying with your family, or coming for worship. Whatever your Lenten discipline may be, let it be something that helps you refocus your life on God and God’s ways.

In Christ,

Pastor Knowles