Today is the first day of Lent. There are many things to be said about Lent. But the only way to practice it is to do it. Set commitments, let Sundays be breaks,1 and allow the suffering of Jesus and the world to become real to you. One way to begin the commitment is to participate in Ash Wednesday today - find a church community local to you and go to their service.
While the prophetic passage for Ash Wednesday is included below (a powerful reminder of why we even fast), we continue in John today. It’s a good word of encouragement from Jesus, so often read in times of trial and trouble.
But it’s more than an encouragement, isn’t it? It’s a command: Don’t be troubled.
Trust.
There are many human reasons to give out on trust. And there are logical reasons to ignore what Jesus is commanding here. Why would we trust someone who doesn’t seem present? …or someone who lived 2000 years ago? …or someone who has never been married or had kids or experienced the particulars of my life?
There are all sorts of reasons we could make up to dismiss Jesus.
To trust him is a choice of faith.
John 14:1-4
“Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. You know the way to the place I’m going.”
Isaiah 58:1-8
Shout loudly; don’t hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their crime, to the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, desiring knowledge of my ways like a nation that acted righteously, that didn’t abandon their God. They ask me for righteous judgments, wanting to be close to God. “Why do we fast and you don’t see; why afflict ourselves and you don’t notice?” Yet on your fast day you do whatever you want, and oppress all your workers. You quarrel and brawl, and then you fast; you hit each other violently with your fists. You shouldn’t fast as you are doing today if you want to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I choose, a day of self-affliction, of bending one’s head like a reed and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
Isn’t this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated, and breaking every yoke? Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them, and not hiding from your own family? Then your light will break out like the dawn, and you will be healed quickly. Your own righteousness will walk before you, and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.
Prayer
God,
Today, as we step into this season of Lent, I acknowledge my own frailty, my own dust. The world is full of troubles, and my heart is tempted to be troubled with it. Yet, you have commanded otherwise: Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust.
I want to trust, Lord. But sometimes, trust feels like stepping into the unknown, like surrendering control I want to keep. Help me to loosen my grip, to release my fears, to trust that your presence is real, even when I cannot see it.
As I walk through this season, let fasting not be for show, but for transformation. Let my prayers not be empty words, but an honest longing for you. Let my acts of love not be out of duty, but out of a heart reshaped by your own.
Prepare my heart, O God, for the road ahead—the road to the cross, the road to resurrection. And as I walk, let me trust that you go before me, preparing the way.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
Sunday is always the day of resurrection - even during Lent, Jesus is still alive.