Triple C News - February 26, 2021
Hey, everyone!
Well, it looks like we’re getting rained out for this Sunday down at the park…
But if we have to miss “Praise in the Park” for rain, it’s just for this Sunday!
We’re not giving it up for Lent or anything!
Folks DO give up stuff for Lent tho’! (Have you?)
A while ago, someone took a Twitter survey of 300,000 tweets that were tweeted (or is it “that were twit”?) asking everyone out there in Twitterville what they were planning to give up for Lent.
Many of the choices were pretty traditional…
meat (in 10th place)…
chocolate (number 3)…
sex (8th out of the top 100)…
ice cream (33rd)…
But also…
breathing (#40)…(how’s that possible??)
pasto (#81)…(and how’s THAT possible??)
“my virginity” (#52)…
“him!” (#189)…
“eating live mice” (#292)…
swearing" (#5)…(That’s gonna be pretty dang tough!)
But I wonder…
Haven’t we all given up enough stuff this past year for twenty Lents?
Someone could make it easy on themselves and give up…
“Hugging strangers or those outside my bubble”…
“Indoor bars, indoor sporting events, and indoor church…”
or, “Showing my nose and chin and everything in between in public”
I love Lent!
Especially being quiet and refocusing myself in my faith and my walk with Him…
and spending unhurried time reflecting deeply on my Savior’s willingness to buy me at prices that go beyond all I could ever understand let alone endure because He wanted me and wanted to win me and woe me and make me His own.
But there is one path of Lent that I’ve always avoided walking down.
I’ve never liked the thought that you’re preparing your heart for Easter by trying to relive the days and weeks before our Lord’s death for us, with all the sadness and heaviness of heart that accompanied those who lived those days. Churches and crosses within and without are draped in black. Almost as if nature itself is mourning Him.
As one article put it “Christians have ritually reenacted for millennia in the observance of Lent and, especially, of Holy Week. The fasting of Lent makes space for the feasting of Easter; wallowing in the horror of death makes space for glorying in the hope of the Resurrection.”
Then, when it’s finally Easter morning, we are filled with joy with the renewed realization that He is alive!!
Only thing is…
I know this is so meaningful to so many and I don’t mean to disparage holy practices that are precious and helpful to my brothers and sisters…
and I’m only speaking for myself…
but for me, it almost makes me feels like more than reflecting, I’m trying to pretend.
Like “Let’s Pretend” when we were kids.
It feels to me sometimes that at Lent more than reflecting, I’m trying to pretend that my Lord is about to die. I’m trying to pretend that we are in the days leading to His death.
Then, we’ll celebrate that He’s risen and alive on Easter Sunday.
But for now, during Lent I’m pretending He isn’t risen yet.
It’s just that that’s a game of “Let’s pretend” I already play too much.
Sometimes I forget to remember that my Savior is alive!
And of all my moments, those are always my worst
If I could only remember all the time that He is Risen!
Lord of all, and King of kings!
And He rules over everything that happens!
Because Jesus rose from the tomb and reigns on His throne…
because “the Lion of the tribe of Judah has overcome (Revelation 5.5)…
and because from His throne, “He works all things after the counsel of His own will”
(Eph 1.11)…
and because from there, my Risen Lord is “working all things together for good for us” (Romans 8.28)…
and because He lives for us, “alive from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13.20)…
because of these things…
I never have to worry about anything again!
Because He lives!!
And reigns!!
I need to NEVER forget that again!
In fact, just this coming week I bet…
I’m going to need to talk to Him…risen and with me…about disappointments I’ll meet…
I’ll need to ask His advice about conversations that become complicated and delicate…
I’ll need to lean on Him for Someone Who believes in me, when I feel like I’m falling on my face day after day!
And I’m gonna need His help to help me when I wanna do that thing…
be anxious about that thing…
say that thing…
that I know good ’n well I shouldn’t!
In fact, I need my Savior, alive and with me, to live Lent 2021 well!
Because our Lord Jesus is alive and risen for us, and because He lives inside of all of us who love and trust Him, giving us power to be different than we’ve ever been, there are lots of things I’ll be given up for Lent!
Things like…
“negativity” (# 96)…
“complaining” (in 85th place)…
and “being mean” (coming in at 93)…
There are plenty of things I should give up for Lent!
Not because Jesus hasn’t yet risen from the dead.
But because He has!