our Lenten sacrifice

Those of us "of a certain age" can remember when, mainly due to the larger influence of the Roman Catholic Church, Lent was a big deal.  It was a somber season, with increased worship services, less frivolity, and some form of "sacrifice" for the season, usually giving up some enjoyment for the sake of Jesus.  "Meatless Fridays" were the norm in some households, substituting the white meat of fish for the redder varieties.  (As an aside, a Boston fish wholesaler told me that when the Vatican no longer mandated fish on Fridays, sales of fish went through the roof, a sure sign that when "the law was brought in, sin increased" - Romans 5:20).  Though perhaps a blessing for some, Lent seemed to be a downer disappointment for many.

So what is it that drove the early church to observe, with great devotion, the 40 days of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness with this annual 40-day season of prayer and fasting to prepare for the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter?  I believe the answer lies in what God invites us to through Paul's letter to the Romans.  He writes, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your true and proper worship (12:1).  This invitation is striking in its physicality.  Of course, we offer ourselves to God daily, moment-by-moment.  But our selves include our bodies, in which God dwells just as He did in His physical body as Jesus of Nazareth.  We are routinely to offer these bodies, and their appetites and temptations, as a living sacrifice to God.  But we forget, and so Lent is a reminder and a rehearsal of this call and calling. It involves way more than a religious offering of a sweet tooth.  It's a sacrificial (re)-giving of ourselves to God, matched by a Sacrificial Giving of God to us.  And, as someone said, the problem with such living sacrifices is that we try to crawl off the altar.

In this season, we look for specific ways in repentance and faith to "draw near to God, as He draws near to us" (James 4:8),  In Romans 12 Paul describes the fruit of our having done so: we don't think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but think of ourselves with sober judgment (23:3); we are devoted to one another in love (12:10); we bless those who persecute us (12:14); as far as it depends on us, we live at peace with everyone (12:18); and we overcome evil with good (12:21).  

The goal of Lent, and all of our Life in Christ, is that we no longer conform to the pattern of this world but are being transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God (12:2).  May this Lent tune you for that purpose.