Lent vs. Lint

Lent is the season in which the Church recalls the events of Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem. Lint is that stuff that some of us find in our belly buttons and most of us find in our dryers.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends the day before Easter. It is forty days, not counting Sundays. Unlike, Christmas (Dec. 25), Easter is not on the same date each year. Easter is based on a lunar calendar that reflects the Jewish celebration of the Passover. The church has maintained the connection between Christian celebration of Easter and the Jewish celebration of the Passover because Jesus was in Jerusalem with his disciples celebrating the Passover when he was betrayed, crucified, buried, and rose from the dead. Lent is a season of preparation for the events that lead up to the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter always occurs in the spring.

Spring reminds us of spring-cleaning and spring-cleaning reminds us of finding lint in the dryer and sweeping dust bunnies from underneath furniture. Many households prepare for the spring by putting cold weather clothes away, re-organizing rooms, cleaning, and redecorating the house.

In many ways, Lent is supposed to be a time for some Spring-cleaning for our souls. It is not necessarily about making sacrifices (giving up desserts, television, or some other comfort). Lent is a time for preparation and reflection on our relationship with God and God’s love for us. Lent is a time for organizing and prioritizing our lives. Lent is a time for us to consider what is really important in life and focus our energy on those things. We may decide that we need to work on our relationships with God, family, and friends. We may decide to work on a spiritual discipline, like daily prayer and reading scripture, fasting, service to the community, etc. In the end, we may decide that we will give up watching television so we can read scripture and pray during that time instead. We may decide to give up desserts or have an occasional fast so that we can give the money we would spend on that food to an organization that feeds the hungry. But Lent is not meant to simply be a time of self-denial. Lent is meant to be a time of self-fulfillment.

Lint is something you throw away – it’s like celebrating Lent by simply giving up something you enjoy. Lent is meant to be a time when we reflect on how much God loves us and respond by sharing God’s love with the world.

Let us pray,
Gracious God, during this season of Lent, we ask that you would send your Holy Spirit to be with us, to guide and direct us, as we reflect on Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem. Help us learn more about your love and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Deepen our love for you and help us respond to your love by sharing it with the world. If we choose to give something up during this season, we ask that it would be done in order to bring us closer to you. If we choose to begin a new spiritual discipline during this season, we ask that you would give us the strength, endurance, and commitment we need to see it through. Bring us closer to you as we recall Christ’s journey to the cross during this season of Lent. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.