Lent is Coming

I will try to give you the short version of Lent.

It originated in the Fourth century of the church. The season of Lent spans 40 weekdays beginning Ash Wednesday (Feb 21 this year) and climaxes during Holy Week with Thursday. Originally, Lent was the time of preparation for those who were to be baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter Vigil, on Easter Sunday. The cool thing was that they entire community was called to this preparation. (Could you imagine if the church would have that type of Unity to fast together for 40 day!?) Even though we do not do baptisms like that today it is a very rich tradition that will reap great benefits for the Kingdom!


Today Lent is marked as a time of prayer, fasting and preparation to celebrate Easter! Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays that occur during lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of Lent. The number 40 is connected with the many biblical events, but especially with the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for his ministry. This season of the year is equal to the season of Advent and will help the individual focus on the Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost (that is when the H.S. came!).

It is really a preparation to celebrate God’s marvelous redemption at Easter, and the resurrected lives that we as Christians should be living!

So the main question is . . . What are you going to fast?

Well there are many things that a person could give up during this time to focus more on God and less on themselves and the surroundings. It could be as simple as not watching TV (remember that this is 40 days, actually more than 40 days so be reasonable and don't set your standard too high) or not eating chocolate, however it is something that you want to give up so you can push closer to God. If you want to spend the time focusing on Jesus and the Easter Season that is wonderful. But if we do this collectively we could also have group focuses as well (for example we could pray about who we should send to Hawaii . . . and I think that I could be a great candidate for that one). We can be in contact with our missionaries and partner with them in prayer for a specific thing over the next 40 days. Maybe something you are praying for is more personal and you do not want the whole house church to know about it, then get a prayer partner that will stand with you on those issues or circumstances and agree with you in prayer. The ideas are countless! You just have to be creative. Also take the time to ask God what he thinks you should fast. He always has some great ideas too!

Please let me know what you think and if you are going to join me. The more the merrier, or should I say the hungrier! :)