A Lenten Prayer

Lent.  A time to prepare for the miracle and mystery of Easter.  To let go of what needs to die, so that we can enter into Christ’s resurrection more fully, more deeply. 

While I’m not from a tradition that emphasized Lent, this is a year when I need it.  I need this season to evaluate what needs to die, so that new life can come.

The past few months have been challenging ones for The Loop.  We lost momentum after the holidays, which we never regained.  Illness, busyness, forgetfulness, distractions, and choices all kept people away.  This week we hosted a “Taste of Alpha.”  Rather than the 15 people we’d hoped for (with the prayer that we’d launch a new Alpha class), Marshal and I ended up having dinner alone (with a very large pot of spaghetti!).  Our other Alpha class has functionally disappeared.  

I find myself asking:  “What now, Lord?”  

Enter into Lent.  Pray and ponder:  what needs to die so that Christ may fully live in me, and in us?

Will you enter into this Lenten prayer?  For me?  For The Loop?  For yourself?  Our world desperately needs the power of Christ’s resurrection.  The good new is that our God is in the business of resurrection.  The challenge that lies ahead is that death must come first.  What needs to die so that Christ’s life and power might be more fully displayed?  That is the prayer for this season of Lent...