Depending on your religious background, you may already have a preconceived notion about “lent”.

For those of who grew up in protestant circles (like me), you may have only heard of lent and Ash Wednesday being practiced by those in more traditional churches.
Or, for those who grew up in those traditional churches and find yourself now in a protestant church like ours, you may even have an adverse reaction to the word “lent” because of the rote religiosity you tend to associate with it.
For others, you simply have no clue what lent even is!

So let me give a brief history of Lent:

Lent can be traced back to 325 AD, after the Council of Nicea, when the early Christian churches settled upon a date in which they’d celebrate Easter: on the Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring equinox.
At that time, the council also determined a 40 day period of fasting known as “Lent”, to prepare the church for celebrating Easter, stemming from several instances in the Bible where 40 days marked periods of repentance (For example: In Genesis 7, Noah’s family were in the ark for 40 days and 40 nights. God instructed Jonah to give Nineveh 40 days to repent. However, the most important instance was the 40 days Jesus fasted and prayed during his own temptation in the wilderness before he began his ministry, which would culminate in the cross.)
After some time, Ash Wednesday eventually became the day that marked the beginning of Lent, and is still observed in traditional churches with the imposition of Ashes, which is also a prominent biblical symbol of repentance, “in dust and ashes.”

However, over the years, as things often do, Lent began to lose some of its spiritual significance and became to many a religious tradition without any real meaning.

I don’t say this to take shots at anyone; I know this is often true in my own life: when I try to standardize spiritual practices, the temptation to just “check the box” and go through the motions becomes real, and can strip spiritual practices of their intended meaning.
Especially regarding the season of Lent, I’ve observed some non-practicing religious friends and family simply skip out on the quarter pounder with cheese and order a filet of fish from McDonalds because their church told them not to eat fish on Fridays. And they think that simply doing this is “keeping lent.”
One all too real modern day example of this is Mardis Gras, in which you indulge on “Fat Tuesday”, the day before Ash Wednesday and when Lent kicks into gear and you have to limit your overindulgence. Which, if you’re “preparing” for lent with excessive indulgence and partying on Mardis Gras, I think you might be missing the point.
Others may simply give up chocolate or alcohol as a way of earning brownie points with God—as if God is like a math teacher and you must rack up as many points as you can so you can earn his favor.

So it’s not hard to see why many in the protestant Christian tradition, that constantly “protests” and pushes back on rote religiosity, also did away with the practice of Lent.

You could read some harsh words from John Calvin and Charles Spurgeon on rejecting the practice of Lent because of the many abuses of it they observed in their own day.
For many who practice Lent, they follow the “letter of the law” but miss the “spirit of the law” entirely–which is something Jesus talked about in nearly every interaction with the religious people of his day!
those who miss the “Spirit of the Law” and simply follow the “Letter of the Law” (think Jesus vs the Pharisees in almost every interaction), maybe this idea should be rejected altogether.
If Lent becomes to you just another a religious work of penance where you’re trying to earn your salvation, then you should give it up.

However, might there be a way to reclaim the spiritual significance of Lent, as a way to prepare our hearts for the good news of Easter?

We shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water, and my fear is that is what some have done with Lent, and a lot of traditional religious practices.
To be clear, “keeping lent” or doing anything else will never earn our way to the Father.
And yet, we would do well to realize that over time, we often drift from being in close relationship with Him—from prioritizing our spiritual lives in the way we should.
That’s why even as Christians, we are to repent daily, and to draw near to Christ again. Christian repentance is turning from sin and from spiritual apathy in order to draw near to our Father again.

That’s what I think the Spirit of Lent is about. It’s asking the question: how can we draw near to God again? How can we lean away from earthly things (that often steal our attention) and lean into spiritual things, and into our relationship with God through what Christ has done for us at Easter?

So here’s the challenge—and it comes to you in three parts, how you can practice lent with The Church at Channelside:

Abstain from One Earthly Thing

This could be abstaining from something totally, or vastly limiting your intake to a certain amount of time or certain days of the week. Examples of things you can abstain from include:

Social Media
Television & Streaming
Certain unhealthy foods that may make you lethargic (sugar, gluten, alcohol)

Practice One Spiritual Discipline

Add something to your spiritual repertoire. Maybe there is a spiritual practice like prayer or Bible reading that you need to re-engage in. Some specific examples could be:

Spending additional time praying through a written prayer like The Lord’s Prayer or the Acts prayer model
Directed giving to your church, a Christian non-profit, or to individuals in need.
Spiritual disciplines like fasting and solitude, that you can practice weekly! (Lent actually began as a 40 day fast, where Christians only ate one meal a day, after sundown!)

Invite One Person to Easter

This could be a neighbor, coworker, or other acquaintance, especially someone who is not a church person! Unchurched people are way more likely to attend church at Easter than at any other time, and you’d be surprised how many people might take you up on the invite…if you just ask!

First, pray for that person, that God would reveal Himself to them!
Try and spend time with that person and build a genuine relationship!
As Easter approaches, make the ask and invite them to join you on Easter Sunday at our church!

Here’s a graphic you can save or print out to remind you of the challenge and the invitation to practice lent with us at The Church at Channelside!