Category: Liturgical Calendar

Lent 2020 | Ash Wednesday: “Led”

As we begin our journey into the season of Lent this year, I would like to begin by posing a question. What does it mean to be led? What does it mean to follow someone else? What does it mean to submit to the leadership of someone whom we consider to be an influence, a mentor? Someone who provides for us an example that we can truly follow.

One of the most interesting realities of the Christian faith is that being a follower is a key aspect, a key identity to being a disciple of Christ. To being a Christian in the fullest sense of the word. We are called to submit. We are called to obedience. We are called to allowing ourselves to be influenced by someone, namely Jesus, who will provide for us the example that we need in order to become the people that we ought to be.

As we begin this season of Lent, I want to encourage you, I want to encourage myself, to remember that one of the most important tasks we have been called do is to be led.

To be led to repentance.

To be led to grace.

To be led to the cross.

We have been called, and we are admonished over and over again in the scriptures that we are followers. That doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with us. That doesn’t mean that there’s something missing in us. What it means is that we have recognized that in order for us to achieve our greatest aims, we must follow the one who is leading us to the place where we longed to be, whether we realize it or not.

We all have a longing to fulfill our purpose. But we don’t know how to discover it. We all have a desire, to have a purpose, to have meaning, to be fulfilled in everything that we do. And so we must follow Christ, who is the ultimate example of goodness, the best model for how we should conduct our lives in this world. And the more we follow, the better we are at seeing and being who Christ wants us to be.

We discover that our truest and deepest identity is in Christ. That our desires should be those of Christ. And what we have longed to be should be given to us by God in Christ.

And so in this season of Lent, as we begin this journey, I encourage you to ask yourself, are you being led? Are you allowing yourself to submit to the leadership of Christ as he strives to lead you to where you should ultimately long to go?

Lent 2020: Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday.

If you don’t know what Shrove Tuesday is, it is the day before Ash Wednesday. If you don’t know what Ash Wednesday is, that is the first day in the season of Lent. And if you don’t know what Lent is, then you probably are not familiar with the liturgical calendar of the Christian church. But that’s ok, I wasn’t either.

That being what it is, the season of Lent is the season that comes right before we celebrate Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday, as some prefer to call it.

Why is this day important? Shrove Tuesday helps to prepare the Christian church and all believers who are obedient to the gospel and Jesus Christ, to prepare the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

Shrove Tuesday is also known by other names. Probably the most famous is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, because it marked the last celebration before the season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday. It is typical to observe the season of Lent with fasting and prayer. It is a time to reflect on what it means for us to be saved, to be redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And so as we prepare for the celebration of Easter with the season of Lent. During the next 40 days of reflections, I look forward to exploring more what it means to anticipate and to celebrate the reality that God came in the form of a man in the person of Jesus Christ so that we might have eternal life.

I became exposed to the liturgical calendar during my time in the Methodist Church, and they have put together a daily reflection guided based on a daily word. I liked the idea so much they will serve as the focal point of the devotions that I will be writing over the next few weeks.

I hope that you would join me as we prepare and anticipate the miracle and wonder of the death and resurrection of Jesus this year.

Holy Week 2019 | Maundy Thursday: Celebration

The Thursday of Holy week represents the day Jesus and his disciples celebrated the first communion of the Church. During the meal, Jesus took the Passover and infused it with a new meaning pointing to the new covenant he was establishing.

The bread pointed to the body of Christ. Beaten and bruised, but not broken. The bread was shared among all those present reminded them that they are one with Christ in life and in death.

The wine would be a reminder that the forgiveness of sins required the shedding of blood. But, Glory to God, the last drop of blood shed for sin was that of the Son of God. No believer will have to die for sins. We may die for the spreading of the Gospel, but this would be an act of obedience and not a sacrifice for salvation.

The beauty of celebrating the Lord’s Supper is that we have a continual reminder that the Gospel is true and that Jesus is who promised us he is.

Holy Week 2019 | Wednesday: Confrontation

A group from our church gathered to watch the movie Risen. It tells a fictional story, that honors a very likely scenario. However, there is are some compelling moments in the movie. One that stands out the conversation between the protagonist, the tribune Clavius, and one of the tomb guards. I made a note regarding this scene: How would I have made sense of this confrontation between my experience and my worldview?

 

Holy Week 2019 | Tuesday: Anticipation

The time is drawing closer. The crucifixion is steadily approaching. The disciples may have had some inkling that this week in Jerusalem would be different. But, the Gospels tell us they were not at all prepared. They were not truly ready to confront the weight of what it meant to be the leaders of the Church. Only time would prove it. And now, history has shown that they were up to the task.

It is only Tuesday. The seriousness of what will take place has not yet taken hold. The normal ebb and flow of life continues.

Holy Week 2019 | Monday: Preparation

We don’t know much of what Jesus and the disciples were doing in that final week. What I would guess, is that this was a time of preparation. Jesus understood that his time and ministry on earth were drawing to a close. I am not sure the disciples did at all.

What makes the first few days of Holy Week so difficult is that we don’t know much at all. And so we wait. Preparing for what is to come. Looking back across the centuries we know what happened. But, that does not eliminate the suspense. It does not diminish the anticipation.

Resurrection Sunday is a few days away. But for now, we wait. We prepare for what is to come.

Lent 2019 | Day 33: Service

I want to follow up on my thought from yesterday on the power of having a steady obedience. The concept I wanted to pick up on is the idea of service. As Christians, service should not be a foreign concept to us. It should be something we engage in as often as possible.

Let me begin by saying, we may not always want to serve. I don’t want to pretend that service is something that comes naturally to everyone one. It doesn’t. This reality of human nature does not change that we all should find ways of serving. Our service can be in or through the church; it can be through some community involvement; or even through some creative project. The point is we should find a way to pour ourselves into serving others according to our gifts and abilities.

How we serve will be as varied as the individual. The challenge is to not ourselves to get into some sort of comparison game. That can be very distracting, and if done in an unhealthy way can become destructive. We must all learn to be satisfied with doing our best. Not in trying to live up to someone else’s best.

Lent 2019 | Day 32: Steady

On Friday, I rode with my father to visit one of his friends. A pastor he has known for over thirty years. What I did not know was that I was going to meet a giant in the kingdom.

Pastor Tracy Hipps serves as the Executive Director of Christian Service Mission. CSM is an amazing ministry that strives to help the church reach the community in which it lives. It is a para-church ministry that is working to help the Church do the work. It really blew my mind. But, the one aspect of the man who heads this organization that stood out as we ate lunch was his commitment to a steady obedience.

In every story he shared, he spoke of waiting on God and watching God fulfill every need. When he took over, the ministry was $900,000 dollars in debt. In seven years the debt was paid off, and they now have an operational budget over seven figures. All through donations and all a result of a steady obedience. They don’t even do fundraisers. Oh, he also doesn’t take a salary. He raises his own support, missionary style.

If you are in or near Birmingham, AL, I encourage you to go over and see what God is doing through Christian Service Mission. Ask Tracy to tell you a story. You won’t regret it. I didn’t.

 

Lent 2019 | Day 31: Satisfied

The only perfection God expects he has found in his Son.

There are two ways that I think about this word in the Christian context. First, the penalty for sin has been satisfied by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Second, as believers, we can be satisfied with the new life we have in Christ.

On the first point. The fullness of sin has been dealt with by the abundance of Jesus’s righteousness. And God, through his grace, has applied that righteousness to our account. We are no longer under condemnation because the holy wrath of God has been propitiated by the blood. This is what it means for God to be satisfied by Jesus’s sacrifice for my sin.

On the second point. Now that I have been born again through repentance and faith, adopted into the family of God, and the righteousness of Christ covers my sin, I can live a satisfied life. This is not a complacent life. It is not a careless life. It is not a hesitant life. I don’t have to live in fear, but I do have to live for God. It is an intentional approach to life. My satisfaction is not in trying to do what Jesus has already done. My satisfaction comes when I live my life in accordance with God’s character. The only perfection God expects he has found in his Son. What he wants from me, from you, is a commitment to faithfully obey his commands.

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