The Journey Within: Finding Renewal in Lent
Dear Church Family,
When I was a child, I remember looking at the smudged cross of ashes on foreheads and wondering why we would begin a spiritual journey by reminding ourselves that we are dust. Now, as we prepare to enter the Lenten season once again, I understand this paradox more deeply—our acknowledgment of human frailty becomes the very doorway to divine strength.
Lent invites us into a 40-day journey that mirrors Jesus' time in the wilderness. As Matthew 4:1-2 tells us: "The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving." This season calls us to our own wilderness—a place of stripping away distractions and confronting what truly lives in our hearts.
The beauty of Lent lies not in what we give up, but in what we make room for. Isaiah 58:6-7 reminds us of the fast that God truly desires: "Isn't this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated, and breaking every yoke? Isn't it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house?"
As we journey through these 40 days, I invite you to consider how your Lenten practices might create space for God's transforming work. Perhaps your journey involves:
- Setting aside 15 minutes each day for prayer and scripture reading
- Fasting from something that consumes too much of your attention
- Adding a practice of generosity or service to your weekly routine
Remember that Lent isn't about perfection—it's about direction. Each time we falter in our commitments, we're reminded of our need for grace, which is precisely the point.
The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21: "So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ's representatives, 'Be reconciled to God!' God caused the one who didn't know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God."
Reconciliation stands at the heart of this season—the mending of what's broken between us and God, between us and others, between us and creation, even between the fragmented parts of ourselves. Each prayer, each act of generosity, each moment of honest self-examination becomes a step on the path back home.
While Lent involves personal reflection, we don't walk this road alone. I encourage you to share your journey with others in our congregation. Join a small group, a Sunday school class, the bell or vocal choir, or engage with a prayer partner; each provides space where we can be honest about our struggles and celebrations. The wilderness feels less daunting when we journey together.
As we move toward Holy Week and Easter, let's remember that the ashes on our foreheads trace the shape of the cross—the very symbol of how God transforms death into life, despair into hope, endings into beginnings.
May this Lenten season be a time when you discover, perhaps to your surprise, that in the very places where you feel most empty, God is already at work, preparing something new.
Grace and peace for the journey,
Rev. Brian Lucas, Pastor | blucas@susumc.org
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