Ash Wednesday

For the past several years, our church has observed Lent. While I did not grow up participating in it, and thought that it was what my Catholic friends did, I have enjoyed observing it as an adult. For me, it has brought about an intentional walking with Jesus to the Cross, leading up to Resurrection Sunday, and it has made that day all the more glorious. It's a tradition, and as such, it is not essential to our faith. But I think there is something to be said about the Church fasting and anticipating the death and resurrection of Christ. As believers, we need to reminded again and again of what Christ did for us "lest we forget." The gospel needs to be preached daily and I think observing Lent is just one more tool to draw us into closer communion with the Father. What do you think?


Below was written by our pastor, Chad Karger, in the weekly church email. I would encourage you to ask yourself the following questions as well. Chad put these on his blog and added a bit more to it, so if you are interested in reading that, go here.


"I realize that not all of us grew up observing the season of Lent and you may have some ambivalence about doing anything related to the fast. Lent is the period of fasting during the forty-some odd days leading up to Good Friday and, ultimately, the celebration of Christ's resurrection. It has been abused, misconstrued, and misunderstood. So if the next forty days are just forty more days for you, so be it. If you are going to participate in the "fast," let me remind you of what Jesus said about fasting: Keep it to yourself (my paraphrase). That is, be cautious about going here and there and telling everyone you meet about your Lenten fast." 

Whatever you decide to do during this time, I'd like to offer the following questions. I have offered these questions to us in the past. They seem to be helpful during this time.

    1. What people, possessions, and/or plans are threatening to upstage God and God’s plans in your life? Another way to ask the same question: What provokes your imagination, your worry, your sleepless nights, or your brain space?

    2. What expectations and results have organized your life so that even God becomes a means toward these ends? Some of these may seem good, noble, or acceptable from a purely human perspective.

    3. What is the tangible fruit of your faith in God? Conversely, what areas of personal sin have you grown accustomed to and are harboring so as to grant the Enemy a foothold in your life?

    4. Are you aware of social issues whether near or far in which the poor, the weak, the helpless, the sick, and/ or dying are being exploited? If you are not aware of such realities, why is that? If you are aware of such injustices in this world, what are doing about it?

    5. Where are you able to simplify your life right now? TV? Buying? Eating out? Toys? Luxurious travel? Cars? Homes? Gadgets? Eating? Drinking? Music? Where could your life become less packed, less noisy, less consuming, less filling, or less luxurious? 




Leave me a comment if you have time. I would love to hear your thoughts on this tradition. 


~cheryl~

Plow in Hope

I have always struggled with discipline. I believe most people do. I have always struggled with pushing through something even if it wasn't fun. Ever since I was a child, I would procrastinate until the very last minute.  On one occasion, in the 8th grade, the assignment was to collect 50 different bugs and stick them on a display board. I knew that this was a huge portion of my grade and I recognized that it was important. But I hated bugs. I remember thinking, "Are you serious? There is no way."  I just couldn't bring myself to catch them, much less stick pins through them. So I kept putting it off, and putting it off and putting it off. I didn't want to deal with it. I just wanted to ignore the whole situation, because I was overwhelmed by the task. So I put off the dreaded bug collecting until the night before it was due. My gracious father went outside with me and helped me catch them, all the while, reminding me that I can't do this again, that I needed to learn to do things ahead of time, and that this pattern had to stop. I turned in the assignment the next morning, probably got an A, and once again "pulled it off."  I was one of those students, you know, the type that got good grades without much effort.  Annoying, right?  It is annoying, because I honestly don't think that served me well in life.  I never really learned to hunker down and just push through something that was difficult.

And now that I am 31 years old, a wife and a mother, I am still trying to learn that lesson.  My pastor, gave me two books to read about 8 months ago - The Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster and The Spirit of The Disciplines, by Dallas Willard. Those two books, along with John Piper's When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy, have radically changed how I view God, Scripture, following Jesus, loving my husband, loving my kids, being a homemaker, exercising; you name it, it's changed.

My perspective has changed, but if you know me, you know that I have in no way perfected those things. I have just come to understand, through reading these books and discussions with Patrick, how my lack of self-discipline plays a huge role in my sin patterns, in keeping me living in the flesh. For example, the tongue carries the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21) and my lack of self-control in that area has wreaked havoc on my life and those that I love. I believe that Christ is my righteousness. I believe I am a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). But about 8 months ago, I came to the end of my string, so to speak, when those didn't seem like a reality. I wanted to experience those truths in my daily life. But like Paul says in Romans 7:22-23, "For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me." I lack self-control and self-discipline because I am human. It is the Spirit within me that enables me to exhibit self-control, because it is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). And while I know that to be true, it is still a struggle to grasp.

I have to fight to believe that truth. I have to fight and take hold of Truth that will set me free.  And "...because the plowman should plow in hope..."(1 Cor.9:10), I have to put my hope in Him who saves me from myself. I have to "work out my salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). I can't sit on the sidelines and expect to live out my new nature without ever practicing it. Controlling my tongue takes practice; it takes work, diligence, and hope. And not because it secures my salvation, but because, on this side of heaven, I will always do battle with the flesh. I will always long for "The Far Country," like Andrew Peterson sings about.  And like the Proverb, "A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied"(13:4), I can't expect to sit on the couch and be changed and I have to put my hope and desires in the One who has changed me. I have to put my hand to the plow and trust that God, through Christ, is sanctifying this weary sinner.

I don't know about you, but I went through a phase in my life, where I avoided the spiritual disciplines like the plague. I found them to be legalistic and oppressive. But, in reality, I think that just fed my laziness.  I mean, seriously, who wants to fast, meditate, and pray in and of themselves?  Paul clearly states, "NO one" (Rom 3:10).  I believe that's why Timothy urges us to, "Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life" (1 Tim. 6:12).  It is a struggle, a battle, to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2).  John Piper says, in his book:

"Faith is something that must be fought for, if it is to thrive and survive. This is how we take hold on eternal life—by fighting to maintain faith, with its joy in Christ. Satan seeks more than anything to destroy our faith. You can hear this in 1 Thessalonians 3:5, where Paul says, “When I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.” In other words, their faith is what Satan targets. If faith is going to endure, with its joy in God, we must fight."

Dallas Willard, in his book, discusses how essential the spiritual disciplines are in the life of a Christian and challenges the notion that salvation is a one time act. 

"Why is it that we look upon our salvation as a moment that began our religious life instead of the daily life we receive from God? We're encouraged somehow today to remove the essence of faith from the particulars of daily human life and 

relocate it in special times, places, and states of mind.  

More and more, we are realizing the enormity of this problem.  Upon occasion, we exhort Christians to 'take Christ into the workplace' or 'bring Christ into the home.'  But doesn't this only point to the deadly assumption that Christians normally leave Christ at the church?  

Where does such an idea begin?  More than anyplace else it originates from failure to recognize the part our body plays in our spiritual life -- and this is, of course, where the disciplines enter the discussion"(p.28).

So, I have been taking a deeper look at the disciplines of fasting, meditation, and simplicity, to name a few. And I am learning how connected my body, spirit and flesh truly are. I have fasted for 24 hours on a few different occasions this past month. And I have learned a lot, by God's grace, about what it means to, what Piper refers to as "starving sin," in his book, A Hunger For God. BUT that is a whole other post, for a whole other different day.

So those are my thoughts, for now, on discipline and how it relates to the spiritual life. This is timely, due to the fact that Lent begins this week. What are you and/or your family doing for Lent? Do you observe Lent, why or why not? In what aspects do you struggle with discipline?

~cheryl~