05 Feb Lent Guide Available Now!
Are you looking for some Lent reading? A recent review in The Christian Century called The End of the Christian Life “a rich quarry for individual reflection and group discussion” and said it “would make excellent Lenten reading, especially during a pandemic!”
Life is fragile.
The past year has revealed this reality to us — on a global scale and, for many, in our own communities, our own families, our own bodies. As we reflect on the year 2020 and as we turn our attention toward the season of Lent, we remember the claim of Ash Wednesday – “You are dust, and to dust you will return.”
We are dust. As dust crumbles and is blown about by the wind, we, too, are momentary. Our bodies break apart; they don’t last forever.
And yet, we are beloved. We are small, we are on pilgrimage, and beloved.
The season of Lent reminds us that, just as the Israelites wandering in the wilderness were dependent on God to provide, we depend on God for our every breath. Just as Jesus wandered in the wilderness and held fast to the word of the Lord in the midst of temptation, we, too, are called to feast upon God’s word on our mortal journey. During Lent, many people choose to take on practices or give something up, trusting in God’s provision and repenting of the idols we have created on our own wilderness journeys. It can be a way to live more deeply into our lives as small yet beloved creatures.
For this reason, my colleague, Katlyn DeVries, and I have developed a FREE Lent Guide to accompany my book, The End of the Christian Life. It’s filled with daily and weekly practices designed to help us embrace our mortality, recognizing that we are bodily creatures, held in the embrace of a loving God.
May you receive this guide as a gift and an encouragement as we walk the dusty wilderness road, looking forward to the day when the promised land — the Temple — Jesus Christ himself — brings together heaven and earth in his work on the cross (Good Friday) and resurrection of Christ (Easter).