Thoughts on Ash Wednesday

A long church tradition is to use the season of Lent as a time of personal evaluation and repentance in preparation for celebrating Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday. Sacrifices for the six weeks of Lent have included types of food, a variety of social or entertainment activities, or ways of spending money. I'd like to suggest a new category for personal sacrifice, actions that we should not be doing now and should not restart after Lent is over.

Being the imperfect beings we are, this list could be quite extensive. The benefits of giving up something that should not be restarted can include improved health, improved relationships, and improved spiritual development all of which will put us in a better position to honor God each day. If you plan to sacrifice something for Lent anyway, why not make it something that will be good for you to avoid the rest of your life?

Such a practice is good not only for the individual but also for a church. The individual looks to Jesus Christ for an example and says that is what I ought to be. What do I need to give up to become more like him? The local church looks at the churches in the Book of Acts in the Bible and God's plan for the Bride of Christ and sees them in action in ways that most honor God. The same question applies. What can the local church stop doing that will allow it to fit into God's plan for his family?

Anyone can make their own list of negatives that need to be dropped for Lent and rejected for a lifetime. Here a few of my suggestions for consideration:

1. Talking before thinking
2. Looking for someone else to blame
3. Looking for someone else to do your work
4. Accusing before seeking to understand
5. Seeing other people as objects to be used for personal gain
6. Acting with personal benefit always as a priority
7. Making decisions based on immediate gratification
8. Refusing the servant role
9. Demanding your rights regardless of consequences
10. Living as if decisions related to personal health and the environment have no impact on a relationship with God, society, or future generations

The list for a church can be just as long.

1. Making excuses for lack of action supporting the Kingdom of God
2. Criticizing other Christian groups/churches without seeking understanding
3. Comparing self to other churches
4. Accepting a maintenance mentality
5. Deciding that the condition of church facilities is not worthy of spiritual concern
6. Deciding that the condition of church facilities is the most important spiritual concern
7. Allowing the most outspoken person to be the most influential person
8. Allowing the oldest or largest or wealthiest family to set the direction for the church
9. Deciding that the condition of the physical world is God's concern, not the church's
10. Deciding that the church has no place in determining the moral condition of society

I have no doubts that we would all be better off as individuals and our churches would be more effective in sharing the gospel if we would enter the time after Easter having left these or  similar attitudes and actions in the pre-Lent past.