Peace be with you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Lent is upon us. Lent, like Advent, is a time of preparation. Advent prepares our hearts, minds, and souls for the coming of Christmas. The coming of the birth of Christ. It is a preparation of joy, as we all rejoice in the coming Savior, born to humanity. Lent, on the other hand, prepares our hearts, minds, and souls for a more sorrowful time. For Lent prepares our spirits for the Crucifixion of Christ, Good Friday.
Good Friday is a crucial moment in our faith. For Good Friday teaches us that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was brutally Crucified. He died. And He was buried. The Bible teaches us that this was a sacrifice, and that through the sacrifice of Christ, all people might have Eternal Life.
What is so sobering about all of this is that Christ came to redeem all of us from our rebellion against God. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. His Crucifixion and Death were vital elements to making that Redemption possible. He chose to die in this way to redeem us.
Therefore, Lent has always been marked by a somber time of repentance and re-orientation. As we reflect upon the sacrifice of Christ, we repent of our sin and re-orientate our lives back toward God. Typically, during Lent, we do this through praying, fasting, and giving to the poor. But it is also done in a much more expansive way, where we deepen all the Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian life. Doing so aids us in our repentance and re-orientation as we prepare ourselves for Good Friday.
As such, during the season of Lent, I will be preaching on five key Spiritual Disciplines in which we can engage. These disciplines will help us better prepare for Good Friday. It will get us in the right attitude of repentance and re-orientation. And I hope it will be a practice that each one of you develops a lifelong habit of doing. These will be the Spiritual Disciplines of reading the Bible, Praying, Fasting, Giving to the poor, and Silence.
This upcoming Sunday, Feb. 26, I will be preaching on the Spiritual Discipline of reading the Bible.
So, I welcome you to attend the service!
You can prepare by reading Psalm 1: 1, 2.
As always, if you are unable to attend, you can livestream our service right here at 11am.
You can also livestream it from our brand-new website!
