Lenten "Discipline"

"Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1st Peter 2.2-5

We're drawing close to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the church's season of Lent, where we reflect closely upon Jesus' journey to the cross, his humility in the face of suffering and his steadfast faith. In years past I've given up something for Lent, almost every year for the past ten or so. One year during college I gave up fast food for Lent. That was a big deal because I was living off campus and stopped at Burger King in the union almost every day for lunch. Another year I joined my campus pastor and gave up smoking at the Lutheran Student Center. Four years ago I gave up cigarettes entirely, though that might have had something to do with the cute youth director from Oregon that I was itching to ask for a date at the time. I've given up beer, television, red meat, all meats, chocolate and a host of other things I love during Lent over the years.

This year may be a bit different. I've had my discipline forced upon me in 2007. Here's what I'm giving up: nights of uninterrupted sleep, free time, being responsible only to myself, uninterrupted movies on DVD, quiet meals at home with my wife, the middle seat in the back of my car, and a sizable portion of my income.

The quicker folks reading this have already realized that our newborn daughter is my Lenten discipline this year. Like the year I gave up cigarettes for good, though, this one is going to be a long-term project. We've been given something incredible: the opportunity and responsibility to shape a life. This is no yoke to lay down when Easter Sunday rolls around: I won't be sleeping any better by Easter than I am now, (let's hope that changes by Pentecost!) and even when Reformation Sunday rolls around, I still won't be able to just pick up my clubs and go for a round of 18 without checking to be sure my family doesn't need me.

But I'm not so concerned about what I'm giving up this year. The far greater impact is how my life is being changed by God through this wailing child. Though Kristin and I have gone to classes on parenting, and though we have an entire shelf of parenting books at home, it isn't our preparation that's allowing us to be parents now. Being parents is changing our lives far more than preparing to be parents ever did, and in ways we never would have imagined possible (For example, I never thought that my parental responsibilities would involve cleaning poo off the ceiling.) Just as our newborn is changing with every day of life in this world, we are changing with every day of being her parents; we are being remade into something other than what we were before, and God is building something in us that we never could have built in ourselves.

I think that today I understand more fully what Lent and the spiritual practices tied to the season are intended to do for people of faith. A Lenten discipline isn't something to suffer through for a short time and leave behind when Easter finally comes. Lenten disciplines are intended to change us, in definitive ways, changes that last far longer than the relatively short 40 days of Lent. In baptism God raises us out of death into new life, and the journey of faith that follows is the means by which God takes our dead lives, bound into sin, and remakes us in the image of Christ. Being people of faith changes our lives far more than preparing to be people of faith: living into the new life of Christ means giving up the reins and letting God decide what needs to be done in our lives. This is the impetus behind Lenten disciplines: that God might use this time to work changes in us that will affect our entire lives, and perhaps even the lives of the people around us.

Have you taken on a Lenten discipline this year? Wonderful: good for you. But if you've given up something you love only for the season, you may be selling yourself and your God short. Take up something new, something that will change you for a lifetime, and BE a person of faith. God bless you in your Lenten journey.