The Christian season of Lent is meant to be a time of preparation before Easter, in a similar way that Advent is a season of preparation before Christmas. I don’t know if it is just where I have been for the last several years, serving as a pastor in North Alabama, but I have witnessed, even in the Church, a sense that we should just rush forward and “get to it,” with each of these major Christian holy days. Last year, the Christmas rush began on November 1, when stores took down their Halloween paraphernalia and replaced it with Christmas junk. Soon the questions started coming, “When are we going to sing Christmas songs?” and I answered, “We’ll sing them when Christmas gets here.” Sadly, once we got to Christmas, everyone was done with it. When we gathered for a service of Lessons and Carols on the Sunday after Christmas everyone seemed exhausted and uninterested in celebrating.
In Lent we’re meant to focus on the things that are keeping each of us from developing a closer relationship with God, and work to remove them. We are meant to ask the question, “What is standing between me and God? What have I allowed to become a priority that really isn’t meant to be a priority? And, how can God help me fix this?”
For me this is simple… I am a pleaser! I like to be liked, and I don’t like to hurt other peoples’ feelings even if what I have said to them is appropriate. Having integrity requires a willingness to say what people do not necessarily want to hear, with compassion. And that is the challenge I have for this Lent, to say what needs to be said, not roughly or to hurt, but to say what needs to be said whether it is popular or not. I hope God gives me wisdom and courage for this task! I am deliberately spending more time in prayer this Lent to seek God's guidance here.
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