The Purpose of Lent
Todd Simonis March 11, 2019
Ash Wednesday is peculiar. We do not generally go out of our way to be reminded of our impending death. Nevertheless, to fully grasp our mortality is an essential part of knowing Christ.
Jesus unites things that seem to be opposites, and because he can unite them he has a glory, beauty, and strength that leaves everybody else behind.
Temptation is not a choice between actions, but between identities. It raises the question of who and whose we are.
We have sin in our eyes, idols in our hearts, phones in our hands–and we have come to worship. Through Ezekiel we see God’s answer to a people who are physically present, but whose attention lies elsewhere.
“Staying connected to the vine” and “producing fruit” isn’t about our effort. It’s about our identity.
While no form of worship is perfect, Anglican worship is buttressed by foundational truths that ensure consistent focus on glorifying God alone.
Of all Christmas services, it is the Christmas pageant that most closely evokes the chaos that accompanied the night of Jesus’ birth, and most clearly demonstrates God’s desire to enter the chaos of our lives.
Through the story of Nicodemus conversing with Jesus we can begin to grasp the mystery of the Trinity, drawing us into the perfect love and unity of God.
We are judgmental creatures, and that is a great cause of conflict and division in this world. Christianity offers a unique solution to this universal human problem through God’s surprising judgement of humanity.
Maybe you’re feeling that your heart is incapable of doing what you know it should do, or at least what you know that it used to do. So when scripture commands of us joy and thanksgiving, what do we do?
Paul writes in Thessalonians that he did not want them to suffer because they didn’t know what to believe, or to proclaim, or to know; so he taught them.
From the disciples’ perspective, this was the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen. Jesus wasn’t supposed to suffer. He wasn’t supposed to be killed. That wasn’t the plan.
GoTherefore.org seeks to equip the church with resources that winsomely apply gospel truth to life through an Anglican lens, for the glory of God and the sake of others who do not yet know him.
GoTherefore.org seeks to equip the church with resources that winsomely apply gospel truth to life through an Anglican lens, for the glory of God and the sake of others who do not yet know him.