Lent is a season of preparation.
It begins on Ash Wednesday, when we remember that we are dust, and it ends just before Easter, when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.
It is a season of prayer, honesty, and simplicity, and we take our cues for its observance from the Bible. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, fasting and praying and resisting the temptations of Satan. His 40 days echoed the 40 years the Hebrew people journeyed in the wilderness on the way to the promised land, the 40 days Moses spent on Mount Sinai, and the 40 days Elijah walked to Mount Horeb.
To find our own place among the many echoes of 40 in Scripture, we also remember the people of Nineveh who repented after Jonah declared that God would judge the city in 40 days. Lenten disciplines and practices like fasting, praying, or devotional reading prepare us to embrace more fully the hope we receive from Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
Vine Street Christian Church will mark the season together under the banner 40 Days of W.I.L.D. It contains a set of variations on Lenten themes: the wilderness; the wandering (and not all who wander are lost); the intention to live with God; the desire to hear what God says (and ignore the devil’s whispers); and the discovery of a fuller, more faithful life.
On the Sundays during Lent, we will return to those themes again and again, in a variety of ways, trusting that through the Spirit’s work in us and among us, we will grow in faith and love. Please join us for Christian education and worship.