Lent Remixed

Lent Remixed

For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Matthew 4:2-3

For years I struggled with how to pull Christ back into the center of our Easter celebration. After prayerful consideration, my family, along with Kendra’s and Kristin’s families, adopted what we call Lent Remixed.

Lent is the (roughly) forty-day period leading up to Easter, during which some Christian denominations pray and abstain from meat and other items. Although it is not a biblical command, there is spiritual significance to the number forty as a time of preparation, praying, and fasting before hearing from God.

Both Moses (Exodus 34:28) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:2-13) fasted and waited forty days before they received instruction from God. Jesus fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights in the desert before he was tempted by Satan and, standing firm, began his public ministry (Matthew 4:2-3).

And so, in the tradition of Moses, Elijah, and Christ himself, many Christians observe Lent for the forty days (not counting Sundays) before Easter by preparing, fasting, and praying as they wait to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I so love the significance and symbolism behind the Lenten tradition that my family now observes Lent but with a twist: we pick a different item to fast from each week. As we fast, we pray for a specific cause and do something tangible to meet needs related to that cause. For example, we might fast from electronics, pray about human trafficking, and make a donation to International Justice Mission during one of the weeks.

What I love is that the weekly fasting and prayerful focus on global, national, and local issues, when combined with tangible acts of kindness, prepares our hearts and minds for the somber, joyous, devastating beauty of Holy Week like nothing else we’ve ever done.

Lent Remixed, for my family, is an antidote to Easter-bunny overload during this season.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

How might acts of kindness be worked into your own traditions as you prepare to enter the Easter season?