Today is catch-up day for the Faithrants.com blog. If you follow regularly, you know I had been blogging through a shared Lenten activity of fasting every Friday. My last post was on Good Friday (a full month ago!) and I had promised my Facebook friends & Twitter followers that I’d put something up here to reflect on the experience. Unfortunately, a wave of work & seminary assignments washed over me and knocked “Update Blog” way down on my to-do list.

I have to admit, when I entered into the weekly Lenten fast and asked other people to join me, I was hoping I’d experience (and hear stories from others about) some kind of great epiphany, some dramatic revelation of truth that I’d been missing or just wasn’t ready for. I’ve been struggling to discern what it is specifically God is calling me to do, where he’s calling me to go, how he’s calling me to serve. That didn’t happen, at least not in the way I was expecting.

But on reflection, I guess, in a way, it did. It didn’t come with flashing lights or claps of thunder, but as an idea that slowly crept in to my consciousness over the course of those seven weeks and by the time Easter rolled around it had firmly rooted itself in my psyche. And the idea was, just to be present. To exist fully in each moment, with each breath, and especially in each conversation that connected me, if only for an instant, with another one of God’s children. To not waste time thinking ahead or planning my next move or response, but to really listen and really hear what people were saying.

In hindsight, that’s no small revelation. In a world defined by busy-ness, packed schedules and a hectic pace, it is utterly counterintuitive to not spend each moment preparing for the next one. I think it is significant that it was through the ancient and meditative practice of fasting that I was able to repent of that habit and allow God to show me what it looks like to slow down and be present. It may not have been the revelation I was looking for, but I know now that it is one that its critical to whatever kind of ministry God has in store for me.

If you participated in our Lenten fast, or any other spiritual practice of reflection and repentance, I’d love to hear your story and share it here on the blog. You can use the comment section here, post a message on my Facebook page, or, if you prefer anonymity, shoot me an email. I think God calls us to these practices so that, through shared experiences, we can better sense his presence and understand the many ways in which he speaks to us. I firmly believe he is moving today to unite his church to fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20, and I believe he is calling people together in various communities–both physical and virtual–to accomplish his Kingdom promises.

So, what’s your story? How did God use this Lenten season to reveal himself to you?

And……GO!

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  …  And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split…..When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” – Matthew 27:45-46; 50-51, 54 (NIV)

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. – John 19:28-30 (ESV)

The final moments. Forsaken, not abandoned. A curtain torn. An earth shattered. It is finished.

We have come to our final destination. At the cross on Golgotha, Jesus’ work is done. In his birth, our hope. In his life, our salvation. In his death, our redemption.

For those of you who have been either participating in or following our Lenten fast these past seven weeks, may our final day of fasting together be like our first – a day of repentance, to change the course of our lives, to accept again the glory of the cross, to appreciate the cost of the gift we are freely given.

We have undertaken this journey to find ourselves. My prayer is that this has been a season not just of reflection, but of renewal. Stand firm on the promises delivered that day on that little hilltop outside of Jerusalem. Live in the confidence that his work guarantees our life. Hear his call. Obey and live abundantly.

“In a little hilltop village, they gambled for my clothes. I bargained for salvation and they gave me a lethal dose. I offered up my innocence, I got repaid with scorn. ‘Come in,’ she said, ‘I’ll give you shelter from the storm.’” – Bob Dylan, Shelter From the Storm

“My children, I will be with you for a little while longer. Then you will look for me, but you won’t find me. I tell you just as I told the people, ‘You cannot go where I am going.’ But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” – John 13:33-35 (CEV)

A new command: Love each other. New, and yet as ancient as the very breath of God that brought all things into being. The summation of all the law. The vision of the prophets. The Imago Dei…the very image of God in which we are created: Love.

If you are participating in our weekly Lenten fast, or even if you’re just following along, I hope you’ll let Jesus’ words in his final hours soak into you as we enter Holy Week and the final stage of our sojourn. Will we as the church be known by our sanctimonious proclamations, our political ravings, our pettiness? Or will we be seen as true disciples?

Our journey to the cross nears its end. An end in which we find our very beginnings. And through it all the words of Jesus echo in our minds and hearts: “Love each other, just as I have loved you.”

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’  But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

Sometimes we get so concerned with being “right” in our views about God and faith and church that we put ourselves on a religious pedestal of sorts, not recognizing that such self-interest is itself the heart of our sin. When we remember that Jesus’ work on the cross was as much for the lowly as the great, as much for the unorthodox as for the orthodox, and as much for our enemies as for ourselves, we cannot help but fall to our knees like the tax  collector and simply beg for God’s mercy.

As we participate in our 5th day of fasting together this Lent, the cross grows ever nearer. God’s infinite mercy is in plain view. We approach humbly so that we may have the faith to see the empty grave on the other side and the risen Christ in our midst.

Let our fast not be something we do to gain attention for ourselves or something we conduct as a religious ritual, but as a stark reminder of the unfailing mercy and love of Jesus.

“Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Let this prayer be on our breath every moment in the weeks to come.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matt. 6:31-34 ESV)

Seek first the kingdom. The reality of the world says we must work and strive to meet our needs. The reality of the kingdom says, “God will handle it.”

If you are joining us in our weekly Lenten fast, we enter our 4th day of fasting with the cross already visible on the horizon. God has proven time and time again that he can and will meet our needs, including our greatest need: his kingdom reality.

Let go. Let God.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:5-8 NIV84)

Remain in Jesus. Bear good fruit. Not for our own glory, but for the glory of God.

As we prepare to enter our 3rd Friday of fasting together this Lent, let us be reminded that all we do is for God’s glory. We bring him honor as we submit to his will. He is glorified when we create conversations around our weekly fast. We bear fruit for the kingdom when his love is displayed through our lives.

As we near the halfway point of our Lenten journey, God has been reminding me to stay centered in him…to abide in the vine and to be fully present in each moment.

“Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of abundant water.” Ezekiel 19:10

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” — Matt. 7:7-8 (ESV)

Ask, seek, knock. This is not a prescription for getting what we want from God, but for getting what He wants FOR us.

For those of you participating in our weekly Lenten fast, may these words from Jesus’ “Kingdom Manifesto” be of encouragement as we enter our second day of fasting. Ask for God’s guidance. Seek His will. Knock on the door of the Kingdom of the Heavens, and find it open wide.

Even as the specter of the cross looms nearer, there is joy and life abundant on the other side of the empy grave!

Be expectant!

“…And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.” Gen. 1:5

For those of you participating in or following our weekly Lenten fast, take encouragement as you begin this voyage in the rhythm of God’s creation. “And there was evening, and there was morning…” For six days, the refrain repeats. God creates.

For the next six weeks we will fast together. The seventh week will bring us to the cross. Breath deep, trust God, and ask him to create us anew as we journey as one body with Christ, through death and to the resurrection.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51)

What is the significance of ashes?

My prayer is that this Lent be a special season of repentance and renewal for the church.