Breaking Routine

Day 1 Doxology:  Hey...It's been a while.  I'm glad you are joining me for another season of Lent.

As you know Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday.  If you do the math, Lent last 40 days not including Sundays.  The reason Sundays are excluded is because we celebrate each Sunday as mini Easters.  Therefore, Lent is a season that Christians prepare for Easter by usually giving something up, but for my Lenten discipline I write a blog each day (I try to write one each day!) about something that I want to praise God about.  I call them doxology moments.  So here is this year's first doxology moment...

It's funny, tonight as I was preparing for our Ash Wednesday Service, I had a thought, or better yet a feeling, that doing stuff that is not a part of the normal routine is more trouble.  Don't be hatin' on me; I'm just being honest.

I love doing special services like Ash Wednesday mainly because they remind me how much of a rut I can get into.  Interestingly, that is kind of why they are so important...they remind us key points about our faith, our selves, and the God we claim to serve.  Ash Wednesday reminds us of our sinfulness and our mortality.  So breaking the routine is well worth the trouble.

So, we pause from the routine of the spring, or the new year, to reset our devotion to God.  Many of us would rather just rush to the Easter Sunrise and the resurrection story, but we can't!  Our path must teach us about sacrifice, just as Christ endured the sacrifice before He was resurrected...so shall we endure the sacrifice that comes with Lent.  Then, only then we can be ready to celebrate an empty tomb!

Easter's coming, but first...Ash Wednesday!