The Table

Missional Lent

This Lent season, we want to experience Lent in a way that reflects the reality of what happened in the suffering, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

 We want Lent to be not only an inward focused experience but an outward focused event.

The focus of Christ during the events of Easter was on fulfilling the work the Father had given Him.

As followers of Christ, we can best reflect on and remember this work by joining in it!

After all, Jesus did say to his followers in John 20:21: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  (ESV)

Lent and Easter are incredible missional opportunities in our culture and communities.

This year, why don’t you celebrate the realities encompassed in Lent and Easter by joining Jesus as a “sent one”?

Why not explore relational activities around the cultural event of Easter that allow you to live out the spiritual realities of Easter?

This year, let’s make our celebration of Lent and Easter a truly missional experience!

Change That Lasts

Historically, the season of Lent has been a time of sacrifice and self-deprivation in order to engage the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus. 

The idea is simple: as we sacrifice something good in our lives we can relate to the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Today, that means that for the 40 days preceding Easter, we give up chocolate or caffeine or television in order to spend more time in prayer or the Bible reflecting on the suffering of Christ.  However, once Easter is over, our lives often remain unchanged.  We go back to our self-indulgent ways.  Our time is once again filled with watching TV, seeking entertainment and looking for the next toy we “can’t live without”. 

This year, we want to encourage you to consider making changes for Lent that won’t end after 40 days. What are the strongholds in your life that need to change permanently? Have you considered the impact you are having on the world around you?  Is it the impact you want to have?

As we enter the season of Lent, let us ask the Lord to not only reveal the things of this world that are holding our hearts captive, but also reveal to us the lost, the broken and the wounded. 

Here are some suggestions of how you might make specific changes in your life that will allow you to impact the lives of others:

· Replace TV time with time spent praying for the city.  Go on prayer walks in your neighborhood.

· Replace Facebook time with intentional face-to-face time with others. 

· Give up driving your car and take public transportation.  Intentionally engage with the people you encounter.  See the lost and the broken.

· Sacrifice one meal a week and provide a meal for someone else (a neighbor, a homeless person)

· Use the time normally spent reading bedtime stories to train your children on how to share the Easter story with their friends.

· Instead of a spring break vacation, take your family on a local mission trip (serve at a homeless shelter, volunteer at a nursing home).

· Instead of going to see a movie or show, take a drive down Burnside or SE 82^nd.  Pray for those who are trapped in pornography or sex-trafficking.

· Use money normally spent on landscaping or home improvement to rent a dumpster for a neighborhood clean-up day.

· Instead of time spent with peers, spend some quality time with the elderly.  Ask them to share their story.

There are lots of great resources and devotional guides to help you consider and contemplate Christ through the season of Lent.  Here are a few of our favorites:

· A Journey into Wholeness:  A Lenten Reflection Guide by Christine Sine from Mustard Seed   Associates.

· Refresh Retreat with Paula Gamble www.mysoulrefresh.com

· Show Me The Way:  Daily Lenten Readings by Henri Nouwen

· The Story of God for Kids from Soma (an Acts 29 community)