Before Easter there is … Lent.
In many Christian Churches a period of time is set aside to prepare for the great celebration of Easter. Easter is the great celebration of the Christian Church! It’s the time to remember and celebrate that Jesus lives and as Jesus lives so too will those who believe in Him.
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;” (John 11:25)
We’re told in the bible, without this resurrection celebration our faith is nothing and we’re fools to call ourselves Christian.
“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.” (1 Corinthians 15:17-18)
Yes, Easter is one season to celebrate with gusto! It is the proof of our faith. As Jesus said,
“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:17-18)
But it can be too easy to focus only on the high point of Easter without walking with Jesus through the journey which took Him to the cross. It was at the cross Jesus suffered and died so our sin might be forgiven. The purpose of Lent is to set aside a 40 day period of time where we take a sort of spiritual pilgrimage to the cross where we remember again what our Savior did for us. God tells us,
“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
In this passage, God calls us to prayer. In particular, He calls His people, to repent. Why? So to find our forgiveness and healing in our land. Notice how this passage calls on believers as the ones who need to repent and seek the face of God. In a nutshell, that is also what the season of Lent is intended to do. Lent is a time for prayer, especially confessing and repenting of our sins before God. Lent is a time to confess our total inadequacy before God and come before God in dust and ashes. This brings us to the first day of Lent called, “Ash Wednesday”. Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshipers foreheads as a sign of humility before God. The ashes were a symbol of mourning and also the symbol of death reminding us what our sin brought to the world. In addition, ashes point to the death of Jesus and also shows us the consequences of sin. By taking a 40 day journey through, sin death, sorrow, repentance and humility, the glorious celebration of Easter comes to greater life.
Our church will be observing the 7 week season of Lent. We will meet at the church on Wednesday nights beginning February 10th at 6:30pm for a 45 minute service of music , prayer, confession and message. My message theme of this Lenten season will be “I Need A Savior”.
I invite you to come early at 5:30pm and share in a dinner meal before the service (starting February 17th). The youth will be serving this meal as a fund raiser – taking a free will offering. We all have to eat and it’s a great way to feed both the body and soul with our Ebenezer family. I hope you will make an effort to come each Wednesday as part of your preparation and celebration of Easter.
Pastor Mark
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