I have been laying low on this site since taking my new job.  Some of that is the craziness of the transition and some of that is that I've been blogging for my church.  Click here if you want to see those posts.  This post below is one I just posted there and thought fit my personal blog as well.  Enjoy!

One of the best parts about spring is the renewal that it produces for all creation.  Flowers bloom, trees return to green, grass begins to grow once again.  Fresh rain covers the land.  People make new choices and do their “spring cleaning”.  Some people I know change careers and move to a new state.  In spring we enjoy the, “new” that is being offered by God.

Every ministry job that I have had before always started at the beginning of something.  The previous two (my full-time positions) began on January 1.  My internships either started at the beginning of a summer or the beginning of a school year.  It was easy to begin, because it was natural.

Knowing that we wanted to come to University Church, I knew that wouldn’t be able to start in January.  I also knew that waiting for the beginning of the summer would be way too long to wait.  So Leah and I decided that we would start April 1.  Let the jokes begin.  Yes it is April Fool’s Day.  However, it is also Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday may not be a beginning of a calendar season, but it is a beginning of Christian calendar season.  Palm Sunday is the beginning of the last week of Lent.  It is the beginning of Jesus’ final week.  It is the beginning that is leading to another new beginning; Easter and the Resurrection.  So I’m pretty excited about my first sermon being on Palm Sunday, April 1.

I appreciate New Year’s resolutions.  I hardly ever make one, but I appreciate a new beginning and that others set out for a new beginning.  Palm Sunday becomes a new beginning’s resolution for Christians.  As we just practiced preparation, sacrifice, and slowness we now can make a focused, prayerful resolution to God of how we will begin anew in Him, His Son, and His Spirit.

Lent is our winter season where we die to ourselves.  Easter is our spring season where we celebrate newness.  Palm Sunday is setting the tone that all things will be made new, even if it means not yet.

I’m looking forward to our New Beginning!

 

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday kicks off the Lenten season.  This season is a 40 day period of reflection and sacrifice to prepare our hearts for the Easter event, where our greatest victory as Christians has occurred, Jesus' resurrection.  Different branches of Christendom celebrate this period in different ways.  I come from a heritage that was born from the American pioneer movement whose closest link to Britain was Presbyterianism and some Puritanism.  However, we chose to leave behind our "high church" ways in order to be free from the legalism that so easily entangles and to be free from governing bodies.  We are autonomous and informal with our worship and we lack substantial liturgies.  Now, before you jump your ship and sail to our perfect-looking waters, you must know that even in our greatest efforts we lost sight of our original goals and went through the same struggles that all denominations, churches, groups of people go through.  However, through some of this free-church upbringing we lost sight of some significant celebrations that the church has held since the first church.

One of those is Lent.  As I celebrate it now with my current church, I celebrate it as a time of sacrifice and renewal.  I sacrifice something that in my "normal" life is consistent with what I do or who I am.  Usually this is a dietary item, but I have also tried the technological realm as well (I gave up facebook, blogging, and email for 40 days one year).  The sacrifice helps remind me that God is bigger than my wants or my needs.  That I should rely on God for all that I am and want to be.  It also reminds me that the world cannot promise me anything, only God's promises are eternal.

Renewal comes in different ways.  Sometimes people choose to not only sacrifice something from their daily routine, but also pick up a new habit that is a spiritual exercise.  Maybe they choose to say Psalm 23 every day or say the Lord's Prayer.  They might also choose to use the money they save from buying a coke every day to put towards mission efforts.  Either way they are renewing their commitment through a physical activity.  Renewal also comes through humility, prayer, and meditation.  We can use the 40 days to really ponder how God wants to use us for His kingdom purposes.

The season of Lent is a journey of sacrifice and renewal that when practiced grows us to be more like Christ and a stronger force for the kingdom.  Giving up things is hard to do.  What will you give up these next 40 days?