God in His infinite mercy sent help to me today! Pastor F wrote me some words on Lent that made sense to me:


Myrtle:  Lent has been a misery for me. I do not understand it. Most of the sermons I have heard have seemed all Law and left me feeling utterly discouraged. I enjoyed yours for you sort of turned the world upside down with your Lent 4 sermon. And Pastor W actually created a beautiful message that truly wove all three readings together, not merely focused on one, for Lent 5. But for the most part, I do not understand why all I seem to hear is Law. Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn, I hear and see what a horrible Christian I am. As much as I have read about Lent, the reason for the season remains unclear. Mostly, this all smacks of the works righteousness stuff I flung to the ground and trod beneath my feet when joining the Lutheran confession.  It saddens me that I am on a countdown out of this season, knowing I am probably missing something as richly wondrous as Advent was, feeling deaf and dumb and mute where Lent is concerned.


Pastor F:  The reason for Lent is not to act better, but to remember the depths of our sin so that we might look anew at Christ. I am certain that in our protestant influenced age that it is often used as a time to "get the congregation back to doing this or that." But that is not its purpose.

The difficulty you seem to have is that you already are imposing Lent on yourself 24/7. You don't really need a reminder. This is a blessing for you, though it does not feel like it.

I find Lent a beautiful season for meditating on the fulness of the cross, seeing how firmly Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem, and pondering my own weaknesses. This is not about my works, but His. Thanks be to God!

But when you say, "It saddens me that I am on a countdown out of this season," you have actually found the real point. You are supposed to want Lent to end! Christians aren't Christians because we live in a dying world. We're Christians because Jesus is raised from the dead! Lent is there it heighten our frustration with the now so that when we remember the not-yet already come in Christ, we are that much more bolstered to face the present that does exist.




Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!