Looking Back at Lent

We celebrated Easter a few days ago, so this week, I’m looking back on a Lenten practice I chose to take on during the 40 days before Easter. Would you like to come along with me?

In the week or two before Ash Wednesday, people often asked me, “What are you doing for Lent?”

They could have been wondering what I planned to add for Lent, like a devotional, a book, or scripture readings.

Or they might have been asking what I planned to take away for Lent, like fasting from meals, social media, chocolate, coffee, or some other food or activity.

These are all ways to identify with loss and to remember Jesus’ suffering during those somber days before Easter.

In the past, I have added a devotional reading to my morning quiet time that helped me study the scriptures and focus on Christ’s journey toward the cross.

But this year, I decided to be creative!

I chose to wear a wooden cross hung by a ribbon around my neck. I wore it every day during the six weeks of Lent. It went on in the morning and came off before bedtime.

I called it my Lenten practice.

I love what Oswald Chambers wrote in My Utmost for His Highest about what Jesus did on the cross.

“There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross - He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.

This is amazing, and I believe it with all my heart.

But I am not a showy person. I do not like bumper stickers, t-shirts, or catchy phrases that “advertise” Jesus.

So, wearing a 3 1/2 inch dark brown wooden cross on my chest is not my preferred way of letting others know that I am a follower of Christ.

Many people do. God bless them.

But I am not one of them.

But this year, I hoped that by keeping the cross before me, I would not pass over what Jesus did for me. Lent gave me 40 days to remember the bloody and repulsive things that happened on the day Jesus died. In the past, I have wanted to put these horrifying facts behind me and instead, focus on the light of the resurrection - an event much easier to glory in.

But this year, I chose not to ignore his suffering and death. It is too significant.

A secondary, less important motivation for wearing this cross was to experience how I felt wearing it. Would people ask me about it? Would they make fun of me? Would they “categorize” and dismiss me? Would they rejoice with me and make themselves known to me as fellow believers?

I wanted people to react in some way. How would I feel?

But in all the days I wore this cross, only one person asked me about it.

One person.

And she was a friend of mine who was curious.

She and I were with a group visiting the University of Iowa library. While there, several people looked at the cross and up at my face, but no one asked or commented.

I was pleased that I could explain to my friend why I was wearing this cross as we exited the library.

I told her that I don’t normally wear crosses. I confessed that sometimes big crosses look showy and rather monkish. But wearing this cross was a Lenten practice, a liturgy of sorts, to help me remember and proclaim Jesus’ death and, in a way, die to myself.

She smiled, understanding both the reasons and the hesitations.

I’m glad she asked.

So, where am I after the 40 days of my cross-bearing Lenten practice?

• When I picked up and held that cross in my hand (which I did often!) I remembered and thanked Jesus for his suffering for my freedom from sin and death.

• The cross and all that happened there have become even more dear to me.

• I am open to exploring other areas of my life that might be more willing to step out of the shadows and into the gentle light of exposure.

• And YEAH Easter is here! That cross is empty, and death has been destroyed. This cross around my neck and in my hand makes the empty tomb feel even more glorious. Christ has risen! Alleluia!

• This scripture verse is precious to me now, more than ever:

  Hebrews 12:2

  Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

  For the joy set before him,

  he endured the cross,

  scorning its shame,

  and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I hope you will set aside time in the next few days to look back on your Lenten experience. I hope you reflect on what Christ accomplished for you on that cross and what you encountered in the last 40 days as you thought about Him and His work on your behalf. I encourage you to write your thoughts while they are fresh and tuck them into your journal or Bible. Your experience matters; perhaps next year sometime, you will discover how much you’ve grown.

Today, I wonder: Did you participate in a Lenten practice? If so, what did you choose to do?

In what ways do you feel you have grown spiritually because of that practice?

Is there a change you see in yourself or a decision you made for things to be different in the future?

Jesus,

Thank you for what you did on the cross.

Because of your willingness to say yes, we are people with hope and a future.

This life is not all there is. Your death and resurrection made sure of that.

May we never bypass this truth on the way to Easter.

May we never be ashamed of you or the cross on which you died.

Thank you with all my heart.

Amen.

(A special thanks to my friend, Ben, who fashioned this beautiful cross necklace with his own hands. Ben has given away many of these crosses, and with every giving, he has reminded each person that they are fully loved by Jesus, the One who died for them so they can live freely in that love. THANKS, BEN. You’re a dear one.)