Lent, It's Not Just For Catholics
Posted in Brandon's Posts, God, Lent 0 comments
While growing up I was fairly sheltered.
I remember a time after graduation when I asked my dad to go out one Saturday night. He said I could go and I no longer needed to ask. I just needed to tell him where I would be going. Then I asked when I needed to be back and he looked at me and said, "Brandon, you have graduated now. We have church in the morning, so use good judgement." I'm pretty sure my mouth was wide open and I was screaming in my head, "NO! You tell me when I have to be back!"
This sheltering spilled over into many areas of my life, including my knowledge of what happened at other churches. I grew up in an independent Christian church and just thought that everyone "did church" the way we did.
This is why I was so confused one Wednesday night after church when we went to Wal-Mart and I saw a bunch of people walking around with dirt on their foreheads. I wanted to go wipe it off or let them know. I mean, when my face is messy, I like for people to tell me!
They were of course just coming from an Ash Wednesday service to kick off lent (some people kick off lent on Fat Tuesday with beads, and other things that I just don't feel comfortable putting here).
I always found Lent a point of fun in school. It was interesting to go around and ask my Catholic friends what they gave up for Lent and then watch their expressions as I told them I wasn't observing it.
But the longer I have thought about it the more I like the idea. Lent is a period of 40 days (excluding Sundays) to give up something and spend more time in prayer and devotion to God. That's not a bad idea at all. In fact, too often in our culture we consume too much. A period of fasting (whether from certain foods or something else) would do us good.
Too often Lent isn't taken seriously or it becomes a point of stress. "Oh man, I ate pork again!" or "Blast I watched 31 minutes of TV and I was only going to watch 30 a day!" If ya mess up, then brush it off, and get back on the horse.
So I'm just going to say I like Lent and I think it's great to observe even if you aren't Catholic. How can a large group of people fasting from things to focus more time on God and His work be a bad thing for America. Don't do it because all your friends are doing it. Don't do it because "I'll be a bad Christian if I don't." Do it because you want to genuinely grow closer to God.
Do it because you want to spend the next 46 days (including Sundays) seeking out God's will and carrying it out.
Participate in Lent because you believe God is calling you to something amazing and you want to see what He desires for your life.
In conclusion: No I'm not Catholic. I will not be having a Ash Wednesday service. I will be participating in Lent this year because I think it will be good for my connection with God and I am always a fan of seeing that grow.
I remember a time after graduation when I asked my dad to go out one Saturday night. He said I could go and I no longer needed to ask. I just needed to tell him where I would be going. Then I asked when I needed to be back and he looked at me and said, "Brandon, you have graduated now. We have church in the morning, so use good judgement." I'm pretty sure my mouth was wide open and I was screaming in my head, "NO! You tell me when I have to be back!"
This sheltering spilled over into many areas of my life, including my knowledge of what happened at other churches. I grew up in an independent Christian church and just thought that everyone "did church" the way we did.
This is why I was so confused one Wednesday night after church when we went to Wal-Mart and I saw a bunch of people walking around with dirt on their foreheads. I wanted to go wipe it off or let them know. I mean, when my face is messy, I like for people to tell me!
They were of course just coming from an Ash Wednesday service to kick off lent (some people kick off lent on Fat Tuesday with beads, and other things that I just don't feel comfortable putting here).
I always found Lent a point of fun in school. It was interesting to go around and ask my Catholic friends what they gave up for Lent and then watch their expressions as I told them I wasn't observing it.
But the longer I have thought about it the more I like the idea. Lent is a period of 40 days (excluding Sundays) to give up something and spend more time in prayer and devotion to God. That's not a bad idea at all. In fact, too often in our culture we consume too much. A period of fasting (whether from certain foods or something else) would do us good.
Too often Lent isn't taken seriously or it becomes a point of stress. "Oh man, I ate pork again!" or "Blast I watched 31 minutes of TV and I was only going to watch 30 a day!" If ya mess up, then brush it off, and get back on the horse.
So I'm just going to say I like Lent and I think it's great to observe even if you aren't Catholic. How can a large group of people fasting from things to focus more time on God and His work be a bad thing for America. Don't do it because all your friends are doing it. Don't do it because "I'll be a bad Christian if I don't." Do it because you want to genuinely grow closer to God.
Do it because you want to spend the next 46 days (including Sundays) seeking out God's will and carrying it out.
Participate in Lent because you believe God is calling you to something amazing and you want to see what He desires for your life.
In conclusion: No I'm not Catholic. I will not be having a Ash Wednesday service. I will be participating in Lent this year because I think it will be good for my connection with God and I am always a fan of seeing that grow.
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