Psalm 16 • Genesis 22:1-14 • Romans 8:31-38 • Mark 8:31-38
“O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.“
Lent is recognized as a season of fasting. But, Lent is more than fasting. Lent is a season of sober engagement. We don’t merely remove things from our lives (fasting) but we thoughtfully add things. Let me emphasize that one word, thoughtfully. Don’t mindlessly add things to your life but thoughtfully, carefully adopt new practices of prayer, reading Scripture, service, and rest.
As a beginning, let me encourage you to take up Scripture anew. Perhaps you can simply reflect upon the weekly readings. Another good activity to adopt is the practice of praying/reading the Psalms. For the Lenten season I consider Psalm 22 through Psalm 31 to be especially good.
