Here Comes Lent



I am a weird evangelical.  I love the liturgical calendar.  I love remembering the holy days.  And I even love Lent.

Yes, yes, it is that time of the year when many Americans loudly give up chocolate or soda or cuss words or even Facebook.  I am not thinking so much about fasting this year, though.  See, I just got done spending an entire day speaking on grace and, well, fasting for Lent isn't really remembering grace.  It is about me.  It is about me pretending to share in the gruesome suffering of Christ.  It is about me doing something that seems holy. 

Grace is that place of recognizing how unworthy we are but also how loved by Him.  Grace is that prayer I whisper before taking the elements of communion, "I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I will be healed."  Grace is quiet and startling.  Grace is unexpected.  Grace is a hide and go seek game with the Almighty.  We hide, and he finds.

Not sure how I would like to commemorate this season yet.  But I know I want it to be about grace.  Any ideas?


(Oh, and before you think what a godless woman I am, relegating fasting to a useless human scheme to grab God's attention, I am not saying that either.  I fast for other reasons and I don't want it to be a showy, seasonal event.)

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