Meaning and purpose of lent
We thank all those that spared time to join the Ash Wednesday service. Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, where Christians mark their foreheads with ash as a symbol of sorrow and mourning over their sin. It is written in Daniel, Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes (Daniel 9:3). The book of Esther brings out the same issue. There was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes (Esther 4:3). Christians who observe Lent correctly with genuine commitment and repentance anticipate deeper intimacy with God. In lent we develop an awareness that sin separates us from God and leads believers to regretful acknowledgment of sin with commitment to change. This change is not for a season.
In lent we recognize that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthian 3:16, 6:19) and the work of the potter has to be regarded as precious (Isaiah 64:8). Lent is a good time to give up one’s own resolutions and listen for God’s leading. Where God leads might be more difficult but he helps us to handle. Christians realize that they cannot do anything in their own strength either: only the grace of God is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). During the 40 days of the wilderness Christ wrestled with temptation, he became victorious over the devil by quoting scripture. This was not the first fast; biblical figures often fasted when petitioning God for something important. “So we fasted and implored our God and he listened to our entreaty” (Ezra 8:23).
The bible is rich with many scriptures that can encourage us in this season of prayer and fasting for example; Job 42; 1 John 1:9; Ephesians 2:1-5; Colossians 2:13), to draw closer to God, and to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Easter.” Lent can help establish a stronger sense of one’s need of God minute by minute and to develop a more disciplined, inti- mate, and authentic prayer life.
The Israelites “mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword” (2 Samuel 1:12). Before going to her husband to intercede for the Jews, Esther told Mordecai, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days’ night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do” (Esther 4:16). Jews and Christians have historically fasted to show repentance, to grieve particularly difficult trials, and to “seek God’s favor.” (Jonah 3:6).
I wish you a blessed Lenten season.
The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye
PROVOST