Lent brings us together
Salt&Light marks Ash Wednesday today (Feb 22), as we turn our hearts towards repentance and prayer during this season of Lent.
Rev James Nagulan // February 22, 2023, 3:56 pm
"The season of Lent would be an opportune time to make that difference through corporate worship, the study of the Word, and service to the community at large," says Rev James Nagulan. Photo via Methodist Message.
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 22 this year.
Lent is that season of the year when the Church prepares for Easter by first observing a period of fasting and prayer in remembrance of our Lord’s sufferings and ultimate sacrifice.
This 40-day period is yet another opportunity for us to encourage one another to intentionally observe a spiritual discipline that helps us in our spiritual growth.
God is looking for a community of people that is broken over its sinfulness and wants to change.
The Prophet Joel in 2:12-17 calls us to seek to repent with determination: “ ‘even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:12-14).
The Bible places many spiritual disciplines, but these two — fasting and prayer — are always associated with seeking the Lord and repentance. The Israelites, as an act of repentance, had a tradition to tear their garments, wear sackcloth and heap ashes on their heads.
However, the Prophet Joel called upon the Israelites to “rend their hearts and not their garments”. God is not looking for mere external displays of expressing our religion; God is seeking for a change of heart through faith in Him.
God is looking for a community of people that is broken over its sinfulness and wants to change. He is looking for a people who will be remorseful over their sins and so repent “with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning” — these are actions of sacrificial repentance.
The Prophet Joel called upon the Israelites to “rend their hearts and not their garments”.
Just as the prophet called on the community leaders to “gather the people for a sacred assembly to declare a holy fast”, we, as the Church, receive this same call.
As a community of believers, gathered on the trusted holy ground for mutual encouragement and accountability, we are in the place to seek repentance; to forgive and be forgiven; to be other-centred, for today’s world is turning to be progressively inward-looking, towards personal needs, privacy and space.
The season of Lent would be an opportune time to make that difference through corporate worship, the study of the Word (be it in cell groups or Bible study groups), and service to the community at large.
The Church calls for such scared gatherings to be consecrated to the Lord for spiritual renewal.
I believe this is why Jesus said: “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)
It is my prayer that this Lent season takes us through a journey of spiritual renewal for the glory of God.
This was first published by Methodist Message and has been republished with permission.
Key days during Lent
- Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. You may notice people with a smudged, black cross on their foreheads. Those are ashes from the Ash Wednesday service which symbolise our grief for the things we’ve done wrong and the resulting division of imperfect people from a perfect God.
- Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday. It commemorates the night before Jesus died, when He shared the Passover meal with His closest friends and followers.
- Good Friday is the day Christians remember Jesus’ death. The “Good” reflects how Jesus’ death was a sacrifice on our behalf so we can receive God’s forgiveness for our wrongs, or sins.
- Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Sunday) is the joyful celebration of Jesus rising from the dead to give us the opportunity of eternal life. While people still die, Jesus made the way for people to have a relationship with God in this life and to spend eternity with Him in heaven.
FOR MORE STORIES:
A Bicentennial look-back at the extraordinary history of the Singapore Church
It is finished: Do tough times challenge the “good” in Good Friday?
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