As a United Methodist I was never told that I had to give something up- in fact I can't remember ever having a Pastor mention anything about it. But it was kind of cool to do so a few times I gave up soda, which I really wasn't allowed to have so that wasn't too hard and one time I tried to give up sugar but that lasted like a day and then I felt like I had betrayed God and that didn't feel right.
Giving up "things" at lent still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I understand the need and purpose of fasting in order to experience a more spiritual connection to God, I can understand not eating meat one day a week in order to celebrate the lenten season and build community with others during your weekly fish fry. All of that I can get. But giving something up.
I am not sure that God really wants us to be lacking of things we enjoy.
As my faith has grown and my understanding of lent has matured- I have realized that giving something up is not the purpose of lent. The purpose of lent is to surrender. To surrender to God. To allow God to take over our anxieties, our worries and our fears. To allow the holy spirit to work in our lives so that when we feel all the weight of the world on us we know that we are not alone. We can trust in the power of the Divine to hold us and make us safe because that is the very covenant God made with us from the beginning of time.
As Jesus is preparing for his arrest, death and resurrection he foretells of this many times. His disciples, particularly Peter, don't want to hear it. They don't want to believe that their teacher, their friend, their Rabbi will be arrested and killed. I mean who would want to believe that about the beloved son of God?
In Mark 14 we read about the arrest of Jesus. As Jesus is being arrested, he looks upon the people arresting him and says "have you com out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scripture be fulfilled"
But let the scripture be fulfilled.
It has been prophesied over and over again that the son of God will come to the earth and will be arrested, crucified and resurrected. Jesus has finally surrendered to his fate. He knows that this is what must happen in order to save the people of God, in order to show to his people his whole heart, his pure love and what it ultimately means to surrender to the will of God. To allow God to take on your hardships, to let God be with you even in the toughest of times and to allow the very spirit of God to be upon you every day no matter how much you fight it or don't want to believe it to be possible.
I encourage you all to surrender this lent. To allow God into your lives in a way maybe you never have. To give your worry and anxiety to God and when it seems to overwhelm you and consume you go to God in prayer and trust that no matter how hard it is God is with you through all of it because that is the very promise God made to us from the very beginning of time and the promise God continues to make with us every single day.
Blessings to all of you
No comments:
Post a Comment