Keeping a Holy Lent

The season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday which we celebrate on February 22, 2012. In the early church, there was an intense period of instruction in the life lived in baptism for those who felt called to discipleship in Christ. Those called and completing this period of instruction were then baptized at Easter Vigil. The period of instruction eventually applied to all those in the Christian faith. The season of Lent (from the Anglo-Saxon word “lencthen” meaning “spring”) became a part of the liturgical calendar and is still a period in which we consider our lives living in baptismal promise.

                One of the things about living in our baptism is that being in Christ calls for us to take on the life, perspectives, characteristics and qualities of Jesus. And within this understanding, my Lenten journey is always a reminder as to how I lack in taking on some of those qualities and characteristics of Jesus. The one I am in constant struggle with is humility and humbleness. I am a person with a very proud heart. I am proud of accomplishments and growth in my life. I am proud of having a unique perspective. I am proud of what I have attained, not materialistically, but in regard to knowledge, insight, wisdom and faith. Though all four of these are lacking in full maturity, I am proud that I continue to grow in knowledge, insight, wisdom and faith. Don’t get me wrong, I do thank the Lord for the growth and insights, but in all honesty, I must admit that humility and humbleness of heart do not come naturally in my life. I do have to work very hard at keeping the well-being and interests of others in the forefront of living in baptism.

                This Lenten season I encourage us all to consider the power of rebirth and renewal that is the core of living in baptismal promise in Christ. The cornerstone for my Lenten experience this year will center on John 12:20-26 which reads,

                “20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greek.²¹They came to Phillip, who was the Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.²³Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”

                These verses hold so much for our understanding of baptism and living in baptism. We hear the promise of rebirth and renewal as we journey in Christ. We hear the necessity of being buried and dying. We are being called to lose the pride of self and ate on the humility and humbleness of Christ.

                This Lenten season, will you join me in considering what we are being called to die to and lose in order that our lives may truly reflect living the life of baptism in Christ?