Most people think of Easter as a day or at most a weekend. However, the church worldwide
celebrates Easter as a season called Lent. So, Lent is another word for “Easter season” (like Christmas
season) restoring Easter from a single weekend to the far more robust and transformative holiday it
was meant to be.
While Christmas is a season of filling and feasting, Easter is a season of emptying and fasting. Lent is a
time to slow down, talk to God and people, purge our tastes of empty soul calories, and renew our
taste for things that matter. Lent helps us by removing some of the lesser things (food, stuff, media,
habits) to make room for the big things that really matter (loving God and people).
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Practically, we do this by FASTING (emptying) and FOCUS (filling). For Lent, some fast food. Some fast
from self-focus, meaning, instead of just doing their own thing with their own time and their own
stuff – they commit to hospitality – generously sharing themselves to focus on others. Some fast
media to focus on real conversations.
Practicing lent on paper sounds great, but in real life It will be messy – we all like the idea of fasting from something to focus on God and the life he gives, but in real life it is awkward and distracting (it’s OK). For those on social media – this is your moment to unplug and reset your heart. Bottom line – go for it!
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Fast one day a week (Tip: fast the Hebrew day of “dinner to dinner” rather than all one day)
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Give up one food item entirely.
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Give up social media.
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Turn off all devices at 8 pm – no “checking” anything!
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Reading through Christ’s “sermon on the mount” (Matt 5-7).
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Commit to the amount of sleep you need each night.
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Meet up with one person a week for lunch.
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Read a Lenten devotional
Biola Lent Project 2024
Tim Keller’s (free) online Lent Devotional
John Piper’s list of ideas.
Bible.com app of Lenten readings.
Chuck Colson on benefits of Lent