March Newsletter - Lenten Disciplines
Romans 8:32, 38-39 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? … 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I don't know if you follow a Lenten discipline, but I have always found it hard. For the past couple of years, I have decided that I would try and give up TV for Lent and it's incredibly hard. I go through withdrawals I think. (ok not really). But it does make me look at how much TV I watch or at least have on. I tend to use the TV as background noise and side entertainment while doing something else. And whenever I get to the point where I need to do something else for a bit, I think, well normally I would watch TV, but I am not doing that now, that gets me to thinking. Why am I doing this again?
I think giving something up for Lent is a good discipline. However, I am thinking that many times people give something up for Lent as a Lenten challenge and not a Lenten Discipline. There is a difference to me. A challenge is an individual thing while a discipline is personal but not individual, you can learn from it and change how you live and share with others what you learned. If I just don't watch TV and instead spend all that time just playing video games or reading comic books, it becomes a challenge, can I make it one more day? but if I take some of that time and think about what it means to be giving something up it becomes a discipline, you can share what you are experiencing with others and they can share with you, more than just wow I didn't watch TV today, I rule!!!.
My Campus Pastor, Fritz Wehrenberg, said in one of his sermons that our relationship with God and Jesus should be a personal one, but not individual and private, that God is indeed important to and with you, but not to the exclusion of others, that God is with all of us at the same time. The same should be for our Lenten Disciplines, we are giving something up not so that later we can one-up each other showing how we are the best, but we give up something to help to focus our minds on what Christ gave up for us on Good Friday.
Your Brother in Christ,
Intern Erik
I don't know if you follow a Lenten discipline, but I have always found it hard. For the past couple of years, I have decided that I would try and give up TV for Lent and it's incredibly hard. I go through withdrawals I think. (ok not really). But it does make me look at how much TV I watch or at least have on. I tend to use the TV as background noise and side entertainment while doing something else. And whenever I get to the point where I need to do something else for a bit, I think, well normally I would watch TV, but I am not doing that now, that gets me to thinking. Why am I doing this again?
I think giving something up for Lent is a good discipline. However, I am thinking that many times people give something up for Lent as a Lenten challenge and not a Lenten Discipline. There is a difference to me. A challenge is an individual thing while a discipline is personal but not individual, you can learn from it and change how you live and share with others what you learned. If I just don't watch TV and instead spend all that time just playing video games or reading comic books, it becomes a challenge, can I make it one more day? but if I take some of that time and think about what it means to be giving something up it becomes a discipline, you can share what you are experiencing with others and they can share with you, more than just wow I didn't watch TV today, I rule!!!.
My Campus Pastor, Fritz Wehrenberg, said in one of his sermons that our relationship with God and Jesus should be a personal one, but not individual and private, that God is indeed important to and with you, but not to the exclusion of others, that God is with all of us at the same time. The same should be for our Lenten Disciplines, we are giving something up not so that later we can one-up each other showing how we are the best, but we give up something to help to focus our minds on what Christ gave up for us on Good Friday.
Your Brother in Christ,
Intern Erik
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