Journey Through Lent: Introduction
INTRODUCTION
It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
For those of you who grew up practicing fasting, you may think of the practice primarily as self-denial. I can relate.
As a young boy, I grew up in a Jewish home celebrating Yom Kippur, a day of fasting that meant I could not enjoy my favorite snacks. When my mother transitioned my family to the Roman Catholic Church, it meant six weeks without candy or sweets. This experience left a sour taste in my mouth until I was challenged that the primary aim of fasting was not self-denial, but the aim was spiritual reformation.
As we prepare to engage in the Lenten season, the end we have in mind is not to suffer the loss of our desires, but rather to have our desires changed to more wonderful things. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, the purpose of Lenten fasting and preparation is to expose our desires as weak and to develop a longing and imagination for the holiday of resurrection life in God’s Kingdom.
Our hope in writing this Lenten devotional is for you to journey through the Gospel of John with a growing longing for the coming Kingdom of Jesus, and to see those things that we have chosen to fast as mud pies in a slum, incomparable to the delight of the glory to come.
Pastor Eric Targe
Park Community Church Near North
As I reflect on the upward call toward God, that sweet inner life with Christ, and the hunger to continue pressing further in, I think of the words of one of my favorite authors, Octavius Winslow: “What prompts a constant traveling to the atoning blood? What endears the Savior who shed that blood? What is it that makes his flesh meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed? What is it that keeps the conscience tender and clean? What enables the believer to walk with God as a dear child? O, it is the secret contrition of the lowly spirit, springing from a view of the cross of Jesus, and through the cross leading to the heart of God.”
Lent is an opportunity for reorientation. It is a season to pull back from the regular rhythms of life, to develop new intentionality that aims to strengthen our resolve in Christ, to focus our vision, and to renew our eternal perspective. What better way to accomplish such heavenly ends than to slowly work our way through the Gospel of John? John, the Son of Thunder who became the Apostle of Love, beckons us to behold Christ in all of His glory.
Pastor Eric and I pray that you have a blessed and reflective Lenten season.
Pastor Raef Chenery
Park Community Church South Loop
As a young boy, I grew up in a Jewish home celebrating Yom Kippur, a day of fasting that meant I could not enjoy my favorite snacks. When my mother transitioned my family to the Roman Catholic Church, it meant six weeks without candy or sweets. This experience left a sour taste in my mouth until I was challenged that the primary aim of fasting was not self-denial, but the aim was spiritual reformation.
As we prepare to engage in the Lenten season, the end we have in mind is not to suffer the loss of our desires, but rather to have our desires changed to more wonderful things. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, the purpose of Lenten fasting and preparation is to expose our desires as weak and to develop a longing and imagination for the holiday of resurrection life in God’s Kingdom.
Our hope in writing this Lenten devotional is for you to journey through the Gospel of John with a growing longing for the coming Kingdom of Jesus, and to see those things that we have chosen to fast as mud pies in a slum, incomparable to the delight of the glory to come.
Pastor Eric Targe
Park Community Church Near North
As I reflect on the upward call toward God, that sweet inner life with Christ, and the hunger to continue pressing further in, I think of the words of one of my favorite authors, Octavius Winslow: “What prompts a constant traveling to the atoning blood? What endears the Savior who shed that blood? What is it that makes his flesh meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed? What is it that keeps the conscience tender and clean? What enables the believer to walk with God as a dear child? O, it is the secret contrition of the lowly spirit, springing from a view of the cross of Jesus, and through the cross leading to the heart of God.”
Lent is an opportunity for reorientation. It is a season to pull back from the regular rhythms of life, to develop new intentionality that aims to strengthen our resolve in Christ, to focus our vision, and to renew our eternal perspective. What better way to accomplish such heavenly ends than to slowly work our way through the Gospel of John? John, the Son of Thunder who became the Apostle of Love, beckons us to behold Christ in all of His glory.
Pastor Eric and I pray that you have a blessed and reflective Lenten season.
Pastor Raef Chenery
Park Community Church South Loop
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