Living Lent out loud!

Perhaps you remember the movie “Chocolat”? It is about a woman who blows into a French village to open up a chocolate and candy store. The village into which the woman enters is a much stayed, totally religious, and above all very traditional community. Everyone knows what is expected of them and no one challenges things or steps out of line. In some sense it might be considered by the religious as a bit of a utopia. But as the movie I think reminds us, being alive and being alive to God can be a bit of a messy business!

Perhaps that is why I have been feeling of late that this upcoming Lenten season needs to be different in some ways from at least some of the other Lents we have been through. I have yet to hear of any talk about what people are giving up (or taking on for that matter) for Lent. It is an old and worthwhile discipline. Perhaps you might have noticed that the people who are really living are dressed in brightly coloured clothes while a good many in the village remain in the grey and drab. It helps us to see who is living and who is seeking and who needs to. Now it is not always that easy so we need to stop, to look, to ask and to listen before we can move forward. We need to see things the way that other people see things. It is what we should both as individuals and as a community be doing so that there is fuel for prayer. The colours and the chocolate are used to help us see what passion is all about and who we might use it in our relationships around us: with our spouses, with our children, with our friends and neighbours, with those in authority around us. But how does this help us live out loud in this Lent?

First, we need to remind ourselves that like the growing light of the day, the kingdom of heaven is also grow in power and influence in the world. The kingdom grows because the Word of God is living and active in the world, some time quiet and almost imperceptible and at other times bold and brashly striding forward, knocking, seeking and finding.

Second, we need to be more aware of how we are living out our lives and the impact that we are having (or not having as the case may be) on the people around us. We need to recognize that not all the world is a stage. There are moments when we need to draw aside and pray quietly in our rooms. There are moments when we need to deny ourselves certain things to be good stewards and to creation new passions as well as demonstrating some self control. Have you ever asked yourself why you take up again a thing you stopped and did without during Lent. Shouldn’t this season be about letting things go and about taking new and good things up for good and for ever?

Lastly, shouldn’t we work at making sure that we pray with simplicity, live like life is worship denying ourselves taking up our crosses and recognize that everything that we do is an act of worship where God is concerned? These are some of the things I want you to come and explore with me in this Lenten season. Come and let us live out loud for Christ and his kingdom!