Had a conversation yesterday with a young member of my (Aimee's) church. I was asked to pick her up from school and we were riding home. She asked if we could play some music. I told her that I gave up my radio for Lent so that I could, instead, use that time to pray.
She thought about my words for a moment and then said to me: "I've thought about giving something up for Lent, but I'm not Catholic."
I thought about what she said for a moment, making sure I understood her (after all, we go to the same church, and have for almost 10 years now). Then I said to her, "Well, I'm not Catholic either."
I was raised in a church that encouraged sacrifice at Lent. It's something that I remember doing throughout my childhood. I wasn't raised Baptist. But I wasn't Catholic either. I'm not sure where the idea came from that you have to be Catholic to observe Lent. Personally, being someone who was raised observing it, and enjoyed doing it, I would encourage anyone to try it.
Observing Lent is all about preparing our hearts and minds for Easter. It's about remembering what Christ suffered for us. The practice of giving something up at Lent is meant to honor His sacrifice. We can never duplicate what He did. We can never pay it back. And we can never fully understand it (in this life). But our own act of sacrificing something that matters to us is a little way of moving just a little closer to understanding.
Also, it's a great conversation starter with those friends who don't know Jesus when they want to know why you aren't listening to your radio, or why you aren't eating sweets, or whatever it is.
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