“This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

— Jer. 6:16

We just wrapped up our Epiphany series on the Aaronic Blessing in Numbers 6:24-26.  Through that series, we found that many of our presumptions about how blessing works were turned upside down.  We view blessing as transactional — drop your quarter of obedience or good behavior into the vending machine, and God will dispense blessing in your life.  Yet God gives the blessing before the people earn it (in fact, He gives it to them while they are rejecting Him!).  If we want to keep God’s face turned toward us, we have to make sure we don’t mess up and disappoint Him.  But we saw that what God wants from us is for us to rest in Him, to turn our faces toward His face, to listen to what He has to say to us.  It seems that God is much more interested in our “being” rather than our “doing.”

I’ve often thought it somewhat ironic how hard it is for us to “be” in Christ.  It is just so much easier to “do” for Jesus rather than “be” in or with Him.  And yet, we are human beings, not human doings.  Back to blessings for a moment, as an example: God blesses us not because of what we have done, but because of who we are.  We haven’t earned His blessings, rather He has chosen us as His children and turned His face toward us in grace.  We are His children, and so He has chosen to bless us.  In the life of the disciple of Jesus Christ, what we do is meant to flow out of who we are, which presents another irony.  It is quite possible to spend your life doing things for Jesus without ever being in Him, but when we focus on being in Christ, the doing will naturally and almost automatically flow out of it.  Our primary focus as Christians should be, as we said at the end of the ‘Blessed to be a Blessing’ series, on keeping our eyes on Jesus and listening to Him.  Simple, but not easy.

Of all the seasons of the Christian calendar, the season of Lent is most associated with the disciplines of the faith, particularly fasting.  For many of us, we see Lent as a season of deprivation.  Coming at the tail end of winter, when most of us have gotten sick and tired of the dark and cold, the church comes along and says, “Since you’re already miserable, you should give up something that brings you joy (like, say, chocolate) so you can be a little bit more miserable, so you can learn to love God more.”  That’s weird, right?  But that’s not the intent of Lent at all.  Lent comes from an old English word that means “springtime.”  When spring comes around, we get about “spring cleaning” — cleaning up the cruft and detritus that’s built up in our homes and yards over the long cold of winter so the new spring growth can burst forth.  Lent is an opportunity for spring cleaning of the soul.  It’s not about giving up things that bring us joy, but looking for habits that might have taken root that keep us from being with Jesus and getting rid of those things.  In their place we learn new ways, new disciplines, that bring us into the presence of our Savior.

Over the course of the 2,000 or so years since Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Church has struggled with this and so developed a series of disciplines, of tools, to help faithful followers of Christ learn how to do those very things.  Yes, there’s a third irony: being is more important than doing, so here are some thing to do to help you be.  As Richard Foster explains in his classic work, Celebration of Discipline, “God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving His grace.  The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that He can transform us… By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.”  These disciplines provide something of a path toward spiritual growth, of teaching us how to keep our eyes on Jesus so we can listen to Him.

Through the season of Lent, we’ll focus on six particular disciplines: fasting — the pathway to spiritual nourishment; simplicity — the pathway to spiritual riches; fellowship — the pathway to love; worship — the pathway to God’s presence; meditation — the pathway to Scripture; and prayer — the pathway to spiritual intimacy.  In addition to the Sunday messages, we’ll provide a study guide for you to use through the week to learn more and provide opportunity to being practicing that week’s discipline.  It is our hope and prayer that as we intentionally spend time being with Jesus over the season of Lent, we will find ourselves living more of a life that reflects His love and grace into the lives of those around us.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” — John 15:5-8

Blessings,

Rev. David Garrison