February 22, 2012 Lent

February 22, 2012

In all honesty, I've never really given Ash Wednesday or Lent much thought.  This year it seemed as though I was being a bit bombarded with information about Lent, and so I thought perhaps the Spirit was wanting to reveal more of my Father to me through this time of year.  I am still searching and praying about how to incorporate Lent into our family in a manner that lessens the attention on us as we focus more on Him.  My children are now at an age where they understand the basic concepts of sin, forgiveness and salvation and I want to be obedient to faithfully teach the principles to them while under my care.  I know that we always prepare our hearts for His birth at Christmas time, so it would seem appropriate for us to prepare out hearts for His death and resurrection which is celebrated during Easter.  I feel that too often in the busyness of the spring season, Easter sneaks up on me and we hurriedly cram the ideas of depravity, salvation, crucifixtion and resurrection within a few days time period.  Throw in a few new dress clothes, some candy bunnies and chicks, and some hard-boiled eggs for dying and there you have it.  The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, has a guide for families to walk through the Lent season with the focus on preparing our hearts for the death and resurrection of Christ, "Lent is about the gospel. It is a time to narrow the focus of the Church to the work of Christ, in particular His life and death, a season to turn from sin and trust in His atoning work. It is easy to get lost in the cultural caricature of Easter and miss the meaning. Lent is a reminder that the resurrection only occurred after the crucifixion. Rather than skipping over the ministry and crucifixion of Christ, Lent is a season to prepare ourselves for the joy of Resurrection Sunday as we symbolically enter the sorrow and pain which preceded it."  They break the fast part of Lent into 7 weeks with a focus each week on an area that often competes with our attention towards Christ and Christ alone.  The Lent season begins with today, Ash Wednesday.  The kids and I actually had a very nice discussion about the temptation of Christ and our depravity and absolute need for the holy sacrifice of Christ our Savior at breakfast this morning.  I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit and took an idea from Ann Voskamp to set up a place in our home where we can physically show the process of asking our Holy God for forgiveness and restoration.  The kids have taken to calling it the "forgiveness flour" but I prefer to refer to it as our Lent remembrance of our depravity and need for a Savior.  The basic idea is that the flour in the pan is an extension of the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday.  It is supposed to make us think of ashes or dust, the grief of our sin and the knowledge that we are all dust without a sacrificial atonement.  The scripture is open to Colossians 3:12-14 and we are supposed to kneel and acknowledge our sin in asking God for forgiveness.  We then write a word or picture of our sin in the flour, place a cross over it and then gently wipe it away as a visual reminder of our perfect forgiveness under the blood of Christ.  We can also write something that will show our forgiveness towards others.  You can read a full explanation at aholyexperience.com.  I am thankful that the Lord is continuing to show me ways to pursue His Holiness and I look forward to how He will touch the members of our family as we purposefully strive to learn more about our need for an amazing Savior this season.