Over many years of study and leading women’s Bible study groups, I have increasingly emphasized the core importance of the invisible Kingdom of God, the Church of Jesus, His Body.  It is a grand concept in the unseen realm.  It is a gathering of very special people whose hearts are stayed on  the Nazarene, focused on the Cross, a holy priesthood, a chosen generation, God’s own and often peculiar elect. (1 Peter 2:9)

The result was a fresh interdenominational approach to our gatherings where we simply refused to let doctrinal differences divide us.  Reformed, Pentecostal, and other traditions vanished in the peace of one passion and amazement over the Bible and the wisdom it offers.  Slowly but surely, the Lord led me into more traditional churches.  I added my passion for prayer for children at the schools where my children were enrolled, and today I am still friends with wonderful Christians from the Anglican church, the Baptists, and a whole range of other English denominations.

Just when I thought I was open and unbiased, I gained a Catholic daughter-in-law and a neighbor from the Greek Orthodox church.  I had to learn and keep learning.  This is the result of a declaration I have emphasized over and over again: I am open and willing to learn. If I could pray it, it would be the phrase: Lord, grant me a teachable spirit.

Certain religious rituals were strange to me.  I was accustomed to a special emphasis on Easter and the events surrounding the Cross and Resurrection as central and fundamental events in any Christian tradition.  From a very young age, I was used to going to church, a lot of church, over Easter time.  Our camp meetings were a ten-day festival of old friends, socializing, and church. [Pebbles 73]

I must admit, the first time I heard of Lent was in the movie, Chocolat.  After that, I heard how various people around me observed Lent, and these days, as I experience it, it is prominent in many churches.  It is a worthy tradition and something that should lead to a deeper understanding of Jesus’ Crucifixion, greater joy in the Feast of the Resurrection, and furthermore, the fulfillment in the Person of Jesus of three Spring festivals of the Jews.  It takes place in the forty days before Easter – a time of reflection and contemplation, especially with discipline and bodily abstention.

But… is that all?  Most Lenten conversations revolve around elements that people forgo, especially certain foods, indulgences like chocolate or wine, a few talk about TV-time, and there are surely other disciplines of which I am not aware.

Now it’s all over.  After the Easter weekend, most people rush back to school and work, routine responsibilities and life as usual.  Do we hear testimonies of Lent that have deeply changed lives?  Do we talk about deeper insight that transforms and deepens our outlook on the chaos around us?

What do we really want now?  Could it be that we are moving closer to God through everything and with everything?  Let’s hear what Micah asks. (6:6-8)

With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

What offerings can I bring to stand before God? In The Message, it is sharp and clear.

How can I stand up before God and show proper respect to the high God? Should I bring an armload of offerings topped off with yearling calves? Would God be impressed with thousands of rams, with buckets and barrels of olive oil? Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

We can never afford to be distracted by our own offerings when the miraculous offering of the Blood of God Himself in His Son Jesus opens the ONLY path to God for us.  It is HIS way, and no effort on our part can ever change or improve it.

Has your Lenten discipline brought you to tears of transformation on your knees before the Cross, or are you relieved to be able to eat chocolate again?  What is your Lenten testimony?  Again, Micah.

He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, 

And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously. [The Message]

The Cross is the greatest and most important event in the history of mankind – for the past and the future.  There can never be anything that dulls our focus on it.  It is EVERYTHING and it is more than enough.

I know that a Lenten discipline is about the crucifixion of our own flesh. That is also correct, as long as our thoughts and actions are subjected to obedience and worship to the Cross-events.

Whether you have succeeded or failed in whatever you planned for Lent, the Cross has not changed, not even if you have successfully and satisfactorily maintained your Lenten discipline.  Don’t let your fleshly success or failure steal your deeper insight and new wine (the teachings of Jesus).

Kneel again at the Cross and hold onto prayer and humility … until you feel the splinters in your hands.

And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.

Write your Lenten testimony of 2024.