Lent - 40 Days before Good Friday | An invitation

The church calendar was created by the early church to help us orient our lives around the key moments of our Christian faith. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus being among such key moments.  The church calendar reminds us that we are part of a larger story. For years past Christians like ourselves have gathered around these rhythms to be reminded of the goodness and kindness of Jesus. Within the church calendar Lent is the season 40 days before Good Friday, starting on Ash Wednesday. It’s a period of grief and sadness and also a season of preparation for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Lent this year started on March 5, 2025 and goes on till Apr 17, 2025. Whether you have celebrated Lent before or never observed Lent, Lent is an invitation to look at our sin and be reminded that it was our sin that led him to Calvary. Lent forces us to sit with where we see sin in our lives and where we see sin around us as we await the reminder of the victorious resurrection of Jesus.

A devotional by Raechel Myers from shereadstruth.com

When our oldest started driving, we ran into a problem. With his new independence taking him places without his parents, he was frequently borrowing my credit card for covered expenses but oftentimes forgetting to return it or accidentally misplacing it. In a matter of six months, I had already replaced that card twice, and we needed a solution. Why not just get an additional card under his name on our account? It would certainly be convenient.

Well, convenient is a fantastic word to describe what happened. Not only was it convenient for our son to pay for his covered expenses with his own card, it was also surprisingly convenient to produce that card any time an expense popped up that he assumed should also be covered. This I did not see coming. Opening the next credit card statement, I was greeted by a large number of unexpected, additional charges with his initials next to them. I grabbed a highlighter and calculator, marking the charges and adding them up. This kid was in deep.

With approximately $17 to his name, my child had no way to pay me back. Of course, all I wanted was to forgive his debt and for him to learn a valuable lesson. But in order for him to truly learn, he needed to understand. So when he got home that night, I had the pages of the credit card statement on the kitchen counter with his charges highlighted in yellow. He was apologetic but also extremely overwhelmed by the reality of what he’d done and how it had all added up. I asked some important questions and clarified some important rules, and then sitting with my son at the kitchen counter that night, I had the honor of forgiving his debt. And he was grateful—more grateful than he would have been if he hadn’t understood the cost.

This is exactly what Lent is. A season to sit with our debt (our sin) to really look at it. And gain understanding about our charges. It’s an invitation to walk slowly but also walk towards hope. Because of the finished work of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus we are no longer debtors. We have been forgiven. We couldn’t, even if we tried, pay all that we owe. But just like Raechel forgave her son. Christ has forgiven us so much.