Bill Dogterom

First Sunday in Lent
Today is the first Sunday in Lent. As of last Wednesday, we are in the season of the church calendar which seeks to focus our attention on the necessary dying that prepares us for full entry into the new life of Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Lent is a time of allowing the Holy Spirit to gently search our hearts and expose the ways in us that are the ways of death – even those things that look like life but which bar the way to new life. It is a season of counting the cost – of both life and death.
We spend time considering the cost of discipleship, and so we should. Jesus is clear. In order to follow Him, we have to give up our lives. What is not so clear is that there is a cost to non-discipleship. It may not appear as great a cost at present, but it is important to consider what happens when you choose not to follow Jesus, not to give up your life. Lent gives time to consider such things.
Lent is journey of pruning, as well. Jesus makes it clear that the Father desires specific fruitfulness from his disciples, and will prune them towards that result. What that means is that He will identify and cut off fruit bearing branches so that other branches can be more fruitful. It is always a painful process to see what is fruitful fall. But we are not in charge of pruning!
For many, fasting is part of the Lenten journey. To fast is to voluntarily abstain from something that is otherwise permissible, and even necessary, as a way to focus our hearts and minds on the Lord. Fasting usually involves food with a twenty-four hour fast being common – choosing not to eat any solid food, restricting intake to water or fruit juices for at least two meal times. There is nothing that shakes up the false security of our comfortable spirituality more quickly than does fasting. For those unable to participate in a full fast, variations may include giving up something that one may have become dependent on or have an inordinate affection for – TV or other forms of media, chocolate, or caffeinated drinks, for example. The point is not about changing behavior as much as it is reminding our selves of what is important – and shaking up our dependencies on things that aren’t.