I don’t do Lent, and I forgot to eat pancakes on Tuesday.
The problem with the church year is that, without biblical warrant, it compartmentalises dimensions of new covenant spiritual life that are meant to be lived out simultaneously.
For instance, these two reflections on ‘Ash Wednesday’ are helpful, no matter what time of year it is. They are everyday theology, not just seasonal applications.
First: Jared Wilson with ‘A Gospel Meditation for Ash Wednesday’.
What does God do with dust and ash?
He grows things out of them.
He covers them with purple raiments.
He lifts people out of them.
He unfairly accepts them in exchange for beauty.
He writes mysterious things in them.
He spits in them and uses the mud to give sight.
He washes them off your stinky feet.
He breathes into them and creates new life.
He descends into them, submits to their suffocation, and emerges alive and spotless.
When you return to dust, even if your body should be burnt to ashes and scattered over the four winds, he who is the Lord over the earth will be able to collect you, reconstitute you, and resurrect you into a body fit for eternity.
Second: Scotty Smith (again) with ‘A Prayer About a Gospelicious Lent’.
Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
Mark 2:19-20
Dear Lord Jesus it’s Ash Wednesday—the beginning of the season of Lent—40 days of reflection, self-denial, and preparation, culminating with Easter—the foundation and fountain of irrepressible joy and eternal hope.
Jesus, there was a time when I used to view the season of Lent like late Summer football practice. A lot of blood, sweat and tears mixed in with a lot of striving, uncertainty and fear. “What’s the coach thinking about my performance? Am I doomed to sit on the bench? Will I even make the team this year?” Have mercy! O, but you did, Lord Jesus, you really did have mercy on my performance-based navel-gazing fear-laced soul! Now it’s your performance I trust in, not mine.
That’s why I begin Lent today anticipating my wedding, not my funeral! Jesus, you’re the quintessential Bridegroom that died to make us your beloved bride. The work is already done… the dowry has been pain in full… the wedding dress of your righteousness is already mine… the invitations have been sent out… the date has been secured… you’ll not change your mind! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Jesus, over these next 40 days intensify my hunger, assurance, and longing about the Day of your return… the Day you will consummate your betrothal to me and your entire bride—at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. In light of that banquet, I choose to deny myself (fast) certain pleasures for this brief season. I’m NOT looking to get one thing from you… just to get more of you! I’m not trying to fit into my wedding dress, for it’s already as big as my sin is. I’m just looking to know you better and better and better, Jesus. I am yours, my Beloved, and your desire is for me… and your banner over me is gospel-love!
So please grant me, and my friends, a most gospelicious Lent, Lord Jesus. That’s all we really need. So very Amen, I pray, in your perfect and praise-worthy name.
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