Historically, the church has understood Lent to be a time for spiritual reflection, confession, repentance, and preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. Various faith traditions have embraced practices of self-denial, fasting, and honest confession during this period of time as a way of drawing closer to Christ’s experience of traveling through the wilderness and facing the things the worldly aspects of life that pull us away from relationship with God and Christ. N.T. Wright reminds us that engaging in these practices is so that we know the “joy of being cleaned out, ready for all the good things” God has in store for us. These practices lead Christians toward living daily lives full of love and gratitude for the blessings and gifts of God all around them.
For this reason, Lent is also a season for gratitude and thanksgiving. We ponder the fact that God became flesh. We meditate upon Jesus who walked, deliberately and literally, from Galilee to Jerusalem in order that he might suffer and die for living a life fully unified with the will of God for the world—not solely for himself. When we think on this, how can we not be grateful? How can we not overflow with thanksgiving?
Gratitude, is the fundamental disposition of a believer and what better time than Lent for the believer to gush gratitude about all things good! All things good? Yes. Every day of life, every meal we eat, every moment of laughter, the movement of our limbs, the groceries in our kitchen, and ten thousand other good things are—each one of them—gifts from God! As the apostle Paul wrote, What do you have that you did not receive? (1 Corinthians 4:7). James tells us that every good gift is from our heavenly Creator (James 1:17). John tells us that Christ said to his disciples “I have spoken these things that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made more full. (15:11). As St. Augustine put it, the Christian is an alleluia from head to foot.
It is not that easy, though…I think every one of us knows this. It is almost impossible to rest in a mind and heart filled with gratitude without work, without practice.
As a daily practice this Lent, join with others in this congregation in raising up moments of gratitude and thanksgiving. Give yourself time to pause at the end of the day and in conversation with God reflect back on your day and where/when you experience the brilliance of God emerging. It will take longer at times than others, but I trust that even in the hardest experiences there is something, someone that helped carry you through. This is more than trusting God’s plan. It is looking closely for the actors and actions of God in your life. Bring these with you to worship on Sundays and consider sharing them aloud during our Messages for All Ages or by placing them on the banner at the front of the Sanctuary (please do not use identifying information for the individuals to whom you refer).