A Disciplined Lent

In the movie The Karate Kid, a young man asks Mr. Miagi to teach him how to defend himself. Mr. Miagi agrees and invites the lad back to his home on the weekend for his first lesson. When the boy arrives, Mr. Miagi hands him a brush; he is to paint Mr. Miagi’s fence. Later he is told to sand Mr. Miagi’s verandah and to wax all 10 or so of Mr. Miagi’s automobiles...

The lad does it, but not without grumbling to himself. He came to learn Karate, not to be Mr. Miagi’s personal slave. Finally he can take no more and he goes to Mr. Miagi to say he’s finished with the whole thing. Mr. Miagi then explains that everything he has been doing has been building up his muscles and teaching him Karate movements. And the most important thing he has learned is discipline – how to follow, how to trust and obey...

Lent is all about discipline – a word our culture doesn’t like to hear about much these days. Lent is a time for us to think about Christ Jesus and his own obedience to his Father’s will that led to his journey to Jerusalem and the cross. It is also a time for us to listen again, as if for the first time, to what Jesus said and did to teach us about living, serving, trusting and obeying. It is a time for us to take up Jesus’ cross and follow him in self-giving love as his disciples, his disciplined people.

How might you do that this Lent? Perhaps you might want to make time for intentional, devotional prayer in your life over the next 40 days. Maybe it is Bible Study, reading through a Gospel, or a devotional book on Jesus’ passion that would help you grow as a disciple during this set aside time. Or perhaps Christ is inviting you to invite someone else into the Lenten Pilgrimage. Who do you know who doesn’t know of God’s love for them in Christ Jesus? Who do you know who doesn’t know a thing about Jesus’ life, or death? Who could you invite to take the 40 days of Lent to reflect on the Gospel story together with you?

I suspect that many people used to think of Lent as a burden. Today people either don’t think about it at all, or if they do, think of it as a quaint custom. The church has always thought of Lent as a gift – an opportunity to practice some particular discipline so that in the practice we might find ourselves drawn more closely to this Jesus who first walked the disciplined path for us all the way to the cross.

May your Lenten journey be a blessing for you and for those you encounter along the way.