As a Baptist, if you say the word "Lint" to me, my mind immediately thinks of...
this.
For Catholics, if you say the word, "Lent" they immediately think of
this.
I'm not Catholic, but as you may know, our family did something very different during December to get ready to celebrate Christmas.
During family worship in the evenings, we used the entire month to celebrate advent...which just meant, we prepared our hearts, all month long for Christmas.
It changed us forever.
I don't think I could celebrate Christmas again without allowing the Lord to prepare my heart. I realized quickly that a lot of what we used to do during Christmas was stupid and pointless compared to how purposeful and exciting Christmas could be when we spend our month drawing nearer to the Lord.
As with Christmas, I am guilty of showing up for church on Easter Sunday and sort of just hitting a brick wall. Easter kind of drops on me like a ton of bricks. I'm not ready. I haven't really spent any time thinking about what Easter means. The beauty of the cross and the resurrection is tasted instead of really savored. And yet, those two things...the cross and the resurrection are the foundation of everything else in my life.
For our family, Aaron is leading us through this Lenten season focusing our family on the cross, on the gospel and what Christ has done in our personal lives and for this world.
Like Advent, Lent is just a time to prepare ourselves, to focus in on what Christ has done, so that Christmas, and now, Easter will be a time of true rejoicing.
We have never done anything like this for Easter as a family, so we're excited to see what the Lord will teach us during this time. Of course, like usual, we are behind the game. This season snuck up on us. We've already missed several days of "getting ready" but that's okay. Hopefully we'll be ready next year. That's what Google Calendar is for, right?
We plan on learning together in the evenings more about the cross, grace, God's love and the power of the resurrection. Lent is a time for prayer, fasting and also doing intentional things to love your neighbor. If someone were to say, "Raise your hand if you need God to grow you in those areas," my hand would be the first one in the air. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to learning over the next month or so.
We plan on having other families over to learn with us.
The boys and I are talking today about things we can do to tangibly love others around us.
We plan on eating lentils. They have nothing to do with lent, but I can't stop thinking about them every time I say "Lenten season."
Once again, we Hendricks would love any help we can get. Aaron is searching for Lenten daily devotions, and found one he likes, but we want to put some stuff together this year to use every year with our family.
We're working this weekend on what we're using for the rest of Lent. If you want to use what we're using, we'll be glad to send it to you. Just email me and let me know you want it. I think it will be too long to put on our blog. The devotions are short, but there are lots of days between now and Easter! We want to take what we've found online and make some adjustments to make them more family/kid friendly. We've found a lot of good things for grownups, and individuals, but we know our kids learn in a hands on way, so want to find more concrete ways to teach them through this season.
I think running during Lent will also be good for me. What a great time to ask God to teach me about suffering, about denying myself as I run? For those of you running, I think if we prepare mentally, physically and spiritually this is going to be a sweet time for all of us!
If some of you have already put some things together for Lent, or know of great resources, we would love for you to send them our way!
Preparing our hearts can look different, so maybe you just spend this time reading the gospel, and other devotionals about the cross.
Any suggestions?
9 comments:
Sara and I are now on day 2 of this journey. Yesterday was a bit thrown together, but we liked it and seem to have a decent system.
We are reading through the book by John Piper called "The Passion of Jesus Christ: 50 Reasons Why He Came To Die".
It's a book by Piper, so of course it's gonna be a little weighty... so, maybe not so much for the kiddos, but it has been really great for us. I mean, Lent is like 40 days, and this has 50 short devotional-like things that all revolve around the cross and why it was necessary.
After we read this, we pull out my old Baptist hymnal that I stole from my church back home years ago, and we read a hymn about Easter. *I say read a hymn because I feel like the two of us singing a hymn together would be super-awkward at this point in our marriage... give us a few years and maybe... for now we just consider it like reading poetry rather than a song.
Then, the fasting aspect has definitely been good for me. I am constantly reminded throughout the day of how much I would love something sweet to drink, and how dependent I am on caffeinated stuff to keep me happy and awake. That's not OK. But, it's a nice reminder of Christ throughout my day.
So, that's what we're doing as of now. Still open for suggestions. One missing piece that I would like to incorporate would be to do something intentional to love my neighbor or care for the poor during this season. Something that I don't normally already do.
Hey girl~
I am going to update my blog later today or tomorrow with our Lenten plans. This is such a great season of growth! Glad you guys are journeying with us!
Aimee
What a great idea, Ryan. I was thinking that I would like a book to read during this time, just for myself. That looks like a good one.
Can't wait to read your blog, Aimee!
Heather
Well, it's all new to the Newtons as well since this is the first Easter we're with the Methodist church who celebrate Lent. Matt said last night he was giving up fast food. I said, "Dude, we're about to have another kid! What else will we eat?!" So, he narrowed it down to Sonic.
I love the idea of giving up something so your thoughts turn to God...even if it is as simple as a fattening hamburger. Good luck learning Hendricks.
just saw this yesterday.....i think we're going to do the candles thing the week before easter. that's where our family is...
http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/538_holy_week_at_the_pipers/
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2007/2033_Lenten_Lights/
http://www.aholyexperience.com/search/label/Behold%20the%20Lamb
Growing up Catholic we were required to practice Lent and give up "something" usually it was something silly like candy or soda. When I went to high school...I went to a Southern Baptist high school and of course, we never discussed 'lent'...since becoming a born again Christian...I haven't given lent much thought...but this year it seems like it is talked about every where...something to think about.
No bread until Easter for me. I love bread, so it's a sacrifice, but also, I have found (as crazy as this sounds) when we take communion at Easter service, and I haven't had bread in my mouth for 40+ days, it really does something inside of me. This is my 4th year to sacrifice something for lent. I have found that you need to be specific with God, even WRITE IT DOWN, otherwise, you will justify this and that and then before you know it, you haven't really given up anything.
Also, 5 of my neighbors and I are doing the LOVE DARE book from the movie FIREPROOF. Our hubbys don't know and because the LOVE DARE is 40 days.......we thought it would be perfect for Easter. If you haven't seen the movie, GO RENT IT NOW, and buy a box of tissue on your way home.
Heather, we are a Catholic family in the Houston area and I wanted to let you know part of what we do to prepare. At our church we do "Stations of the Cross" every Friday during Lent. I'm including a link to explain what that is. I would recommend contacting your local Catholic Church and visiting during their Stations this lent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stations_of_the_Cross
Yay for Lent and Advent! I am so proud to hear you're getting something out of preparing for the seasons. As a convert to Catholicism, I can say it was definitely missing from my previous church experience. :)
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