Lent Begins 1 John 1:5-2:2

Sermon Lent begins 1 jn 1:5-2:2

1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 2:1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world

Lent is a time to consider the suffering of Jesus
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world

Lent is about the journey of self discovery
Lent asks the question
Where is god-Where are we-Where do we meet
Lent calls for self examination
Lent calls us to look at our selves

Lent is the annual reminder to remember that it is not about us
Often we think we have arrive- we can get kind of smug
When in fact we haven’t even got on board for the process yet

Let calls us to leave the areas of superficial spirituality & give ourselves to god
Lent includes struggle, moving along the road, hard choices needed for meaning
Lent asks the hard question - Are you willing to repent of your sin
12 step program = fearless moral inventory

Sermons in this series will include
Temptations, sin, prayer, repentance, and crucifixion

Time to consider the suffering of Christ, repent and identify with Christ
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world

Q: What is Lent?
A:Historically, Lent is the forty day period before Easter, excluding Sundays, it began on Ash Wednesday and ended on Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday).
Q: Why are Sundays excluded from the reckoning of the forty days?
A: Because Sunday is the day on which Christ arose, its inappropriate day to fast and mourn our sins. On Sunday we must celebrate Christ’s resurrection Q: Q. Why are the forty days called Lent?
A: They are called Lent because that is the Old English word for spring, the season of the year during which they fall. This is something unique to English. In almost all other languages its name is a derivative of the Latin term Quadragesima, or “the forty days.”
Q: Why is Lent forty days long?
A: Because forty days is a traditional number of discipline, devotion, and preparation in the Bible.
Moses stayed on the Mountain of God forty days (Exodus 24:18 and 34:28),
the spies were in the land for forty days (Numbers 13:25),
Elijah traveled forty days before he reached the cave where he had his vision
Nineveh was given forty days to repent (Jonah 3:4),
Jesus spent forty days in wilderness praying and fasting (Matthew 4:2).
Q: how long has this been going on?
Since 400 ad
Q: When does Lent begin? Why do we put on ashes?
A: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is the day on which they faithful have their foreheads signed with ashes in the form of a Cross (see piece on Ash Wednesday). It is also a day of fast and abstinence.

Ash wed
So why, tonight, do we put this on
Palms are burned from palm Sunday – joy changes to sorrow.
The Bible tells us that we came from the dust and to the dust we shall return. ...
These ashes are also a sign of repentance.
Ashes are a symbol of repentance & signs that we seek to follow in God's path.

What did we experience on ash Wednesday?

Q: What are appropriate activities for ordinary days during Lent?
A: Prayer, Repentance, Mercy, [I reject this - ] Giving something up

2 extremes of repentance – those who don’t, and those who keep beating themselves up

repentance
Garrison Keillor writes about Larry, a resident of the fictional town of Lake Wobegon. Larry was saved 12 times at the Lutheran Church, an all-time record for a church that never gave altar calls. There wasn't even an organ playing "Just As I Am Without One Plea" in the background. Regardless of that, between 1953 and 1961, Larry Sorenson came forward 12 times, weeping buckets and crumpled up at the communion rail, to the shock of the minister, who had delivered a dry sermon on stewardship. But now he needed to put his arm around this person, pray with him and be certain he had a way to get home. "Even we fundamentalists got tired of him," Keillor writes. God didn't mean for you to feel guilty all your life. There comes a time when you should dry your tears and join the building committee and grapple with the problems of the church furnace and the church roof. But Larry just kept repenting and repenting.--Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home

All of us need to repent - All are guilty [1998]
At the funeral of Tsar Nicholas II, who was buried last summer 80 years after he and his family were murdered by Bolshevik zealots, Russian President Boris Yeltsin noted the necessity of national repentance for the crimes against the Romanov family. "We want to expiate the sins of our ancestors," he said. "Guilty are those who committed this heinous crime, and those who have been justifying it for decades - all of us."
We are all complicent in the death of jesus in the rejection of God

Repentance means - Explain repentance…..turning around
• I want to be a better father
• I want to be a better driver

Giving up something for lent
John Smith was the only Protestant to move into a large Catholic neighborhood. On the first Friday of Lent, John was outside grilling a big juicy steak on his grill.
Meanwhile, all of his neighbors were eating cold tuna fish for supper. This went on each Friday of Lent. On the last Friday of Lent, the neighborhood men got together and decided that something had to be done about John. He was tempting them to eat meat each Friday of Lent, and they couldn’t take it anymore.
They decided to try and convert John to Catholicism. They went over and talked to him. John decided to join all of his neighbors and become a Catholic, which made them all very happy.
They took him to church, and the priest sprinkled some water over him, and said, “You were born a Baptist, you were raised a Baptist, and now you are a Catholic.”
The men were so relieved, now their biggest Lenten temptation was resolved. The next year’s Lenten season rolled around. The first Friday of Lent came, and, just at supper time, when the neighborhood was settling down to their cold tuna fish dinner, the smell of steak cooking on a grill came wafting into their homes. The neighborhood men could not believe their noses! What was going on?!
They called each other up and decided to meet over in John’s yard to see if he had forgotten it was the first Friday of Lent. The group arrived just in time to see John standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water. He was sprinkling some water over his steak on the grill, saying, “You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and now you are a fish.”

A conversation between a father and his 10-year-old son, reported in the newspaper, illustrates the problem in our attitude toward Lent. The father was attempting to explain to his young son the necessity for giving up something for Lent. In fact, the father went beyond the nondirective method of parenting to suggest that the lad give up candy.
Quizzed by the boy about this kind of religiosity and what it would bring, the father replied that It will improve your character. You'll be a better person on Easter Sunday if you give up candy. After all, your mother and I have given up liquor for Lent.
The boy then said: That's funny Dad. I saw you and mother having a drink before dinner last night. The father replied, That was wine. We gave up hard liquor.
The lad countered, Oh, that's good. I'll give up hard candy.

We should not give up things that we should give up anyway
We should give things up because it helps us think about god
its not about no diet coke. We shouldn’t think about no diet coke
It is about this loss makes me think about God

What might you give up if you were serious?
Sports? Tv? Children’s activities

From DS cody- going into the wilderness
Lent is like being in the wilderness
You didn’t have to find your way there
You didn’t have to pretnet that you wanted to go
All you have to do is open yourself to the possibility that some chaos, some wild energy, lives within you and God will show you how to find it.
You can go kicking and screaming (my words). God will show you parts of yourself that you may not wish to see, but God also will comfort you and show you truth, and from truth you can expect new humility, energy and freedom.
Where will you find peace and strength for the days ahead? Is there a specific place, time, reading, and spiritual discipline that you are planning that will renew your soul? I have led several devotional times with leaders throughout our conference, and I am finding that the most difficult part for pastors is when I take a minute for us just to listen and be silent. Perhaps the best exercise we can take up during this season of denying, taking up, and following is holy listening.

Conclusion - suggestions for your lent

give something up

“Cut back on work.” Whatever is taking the most itme in your life, pare back on it so that you can find the quiet time

“Have a heart-to-heart with God.” Go for a walk. Spend some time in quiet

if you are not engaged in acts of mercy, this is the time to start

my radical lent question….
yet isn’t this what we should be doing all the time…

Lent…….take time to consider the suffering of Jesus and your condition
You cannot apologize or even understand your shortcomings unless you spend some time to consider them and repent of them.

There is no Easter without lent
No resurrection without death
If there were no darkness, there would be no need for light
There is no understanding without contemplation

As we begin lent, lets make time to consider the suffering of - lord Jesus Christ.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world