The Christian life is one that is to be marked by repentance and faith. Everywhere the Apostle Paul went, he called people to repent and turn to God (Acts 26:20). This isn’t something that we do only once, at the moment of salvation, rather it becomes the everyday flow of life. In 2 Corinthians 7:10 Paul tells the church that “godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.” This means that as Christians we never move beyond the gospel. We are always in need of our saviour, Jesus Christ. The same way we start the Christian life, by repenting and turning from sin to faith in God, is the same way we continue on, being transformed into Christ-likeness. Therefore, grief that is from God doesn’t drive us to try harder and do more, rather it drives us to continue to turn from our sin and believe in Jesus as our only hope.

With this said, it makes sense for us as a church to intentionally engage in repentance. As a regular rhythm in our lives we need to both individually and corporately reflect on our sin and be renewed by the good news that Jesus saves sinners. So how do we engage in this intentional repentance? There are many ways that we can and do, for instance, every time we read scripture or gather as a corporate body and sit under God’s Word we give opportunity for the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and receive godly grief that leads us to repentance. It’s important to note that this is a grief that leads to joy. We grieve that the world, and we with it, are not what it’s suppose to be, but we rejoice that God has made a way for us to be reconciled and we look longingly to when Jesus will make all things new.

Throughout history the church universal has engaged in different traditions and seasons of corporate repentance. One of these seasons is Lent (see below). Now, it’s important as we consider engaging in Lent together that we remember that the tradition itself is not something that we must do to be right with God. The Bible says that different festivals, regulations, and asceticism are not required in worship (Colossians 2:16-23). However, engaging in times of focus and discipline together can give us helpful visual reminders of what Christ has done for us and how we are now able to live. It is with this in mind, that VOX is engaging in the season of Lent together, starting with Ash Wednesday.

Lent

Lent is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Easter, celebrated by the Church through out history. Traditionally, it is a time that the church intentionally engages in a period of repentance and renewal as it prepares to celebrate Easter. Good Friday and Easter are the most significant events on the church calendar, and our belief in Jesus’ death and resurrection is the crux of our Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15). As we approach this most significant day, it only makes sense that we would enter a season of focused repentace and renewal by remembering what Christ did on the cross.

Ash Wednesday

Ashes are often used in the Bible to symbolize grief, mourning (Esth. 4:1, 3; Jer. 6:26), repentance (Job 42:6), and a sense of futility before a holy God. (Job 30:19). We see in the book of Jonah that when Nineveh hears Jonah’s message from God they turn from their wickedness and repent (Jonah 3:6-10). In Genesis 18:27 Abraham approaches God in humility by proclaiming “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes”.

Ash Wednesday is the first of the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter, and marks the beginning of Lenten renewal. Traditionally, the church gathers to begin the journey through lent together. As The Worship Source Book says,

The aim of Ash Wednesday worship is threefold: to meditate on our mortality, sinfulness, and need of a savior; to renew our commitment to daily repentance in the Lenten season and in all of life; and to remember with confidence and gratitude that Christ has conquered death and sin. Ash Wednesday worship, then, is filled with gospel truth. It is a witness to the power and beauty of our union with Christ and to the daily dying and rising with Christ that this entails.

The gathering includes reading and meditating on scripture that focuses us on Jesus and his work on the cross. There is also the “imposition” of the forehead with ash in the form of a cross and the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. (from Genesis 3:19, NRSV) or “Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ.” (from Romans 6:11, NRSV) This imposition of ashes is the central part of the worship service. The ash and cross represent God’s wrath that was poured out on Jesus at the cross because he bore our sin. By our taking the ash on our foreheads, we visually express our grief at our part in putting Jesus on the cross, but we also celebrate his grace extended to us through the cross.

Lent at VOX

We desire to be a church that is grounded in historical Christianity. This means we seek to understand how to live our faith out in a modern world by understanding and engaging the practices of the church in scripture and over history. Through doing this, we ensure that even as some cultural forms (i.e. music, art, space, and structure) change, the content and message of the Gospel does not.

VOX will enter the season of Lent as a church community. Our hope is that as we engage this season of focused repentance and renewal we will grow in our appreciation and understanding of Jesus and what he did at the cross, both individually and corporately. We will celebrate Lent by entering the season together at an Ash Wednesday service, engaging in spiritual disciplines of prayer and meditation on scripture both individually and communally, and finally by corporately gathering for worship on Good Friday and Easter.

Engaging Lent

We encourage you to not only join us corporately at VOX’s Ash Wednesday and Good Friday services, but to consider some additional ways that you and your family can engage Lent. Here are several ideas to get you started.

1) The 40 days of lent is associated with Christ’s suffering. Consider doing some form of “fasting” for the 40 days, as a way to enter into and reflect on Christ suffering or you. Try giving up something that is a part of your daily/weekly rhythm and replacing it with something that will help you focus on Jesus. For instance, the traditional fast is to go with out food and spend time in prayer or you could give up TV and instead read a book about the cross. Do devotions as a couple or have a special prayer meeting as a missional community. The point is be creative and do something that will help you engage in repentance and renewal.

2) Meditate on scriptures pertaining to Jesus suffering. A couple suggestions would be Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.

3) Read John Piper’s “50 Reasons Jesus Came to Die”.

Remember it’s not about ritual and you don’t have to do this to be a good Christian. We are saved by grace alone, but this grace is not cheap. We are saved by the precious blood of the lamb (1 Peter 1:19), and so we engage Lent as a community hoping that Christ’s costly grace may become precious to us.

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