{"id":2551,"date":"2018-03-26T12:07:16","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T17:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=2551"},"modified":"2018-03-26T12:07:16","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T17:07:16","slug":"lenten-reflection-love-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/lenten-reflection-love-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenten Reflection: Why I love Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Amanda Silcox, Hunger Advocacy Fellow,Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Two of my favori\"\"<\/a>te moments in the church year take place during Lent. The first takes place on Ash Wednesday, when everyone receives the mark of the cross in ashes on their forehead and the pastor says, \u201cRemember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.\u201d The second is Good Friday at the end of the reading when the pastor quotes Jesus saying, \u201cIt is finished\u201d and slams the big Bible shut. I have always looked forward to these moments, but I have never really though about why.<\/p>\n

Of course, I enjoy the excitement of the Advent & Christmas season and the joy of Easter, but who says Lent is their favorite time of the church year? Recently, I\u2019ve been reflecting on why I love these particular Lenten moments, and I think it\u2019s simply because they\u2019re different.<\/p>\n

These moments are drastically different from other experiences in our society. In the U.S., we don\u2019t like to think about our mortality. We don\u2019t like to think about all the things we\u2019ve done wrong or all of our imperfections. We would much rather talk about our successes and achievements or how we have overcome challenges in our lives.<\/p>\n

Because we strive to avoid our problems and imperfections, so much of our society is built on finding something that is wrong with us and then finding an easy fix to sell us. Beauty companies convince us that we need so many different soaps, gels, serums, lotions, toners, oils, razors, brushes, and styling tools to fix the parts of us that aren\u2019t deemed perfect or beautiful by society\u2019s standards. Tech companies advertise new apps, speakers, software, computers, TVs, and social media platforms for problems that I didn\u2019t even know existed. Every time that we\u2019re told just how totally and completely messed up we are, we\u2019re given a quick fix. Something we can buy to fix all of our problems! At least until we discover a new problem.<\/p>\n

But God\u2019s response is different. God tells us that there is nothing we can do or a product we can buy to make ourselves perfect. Humans have been messing things up for generations and will continue to do so. Yet, Jesus chose to sacrifice himself for us because we as humans are so dearly beloved. It\u2019s a type of love that I cannot understand.<\/p>\n

I love receiving the mark of the cross and being reminded, \u201dRemember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.\u201d I love the end of the Good Friday service when the pastor slams the Bible shut and says, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d But most of all, I love taking time during the season of Lent to reflect on my life, my actions, & my words. Lent reminds me of all the ways I am imperfect but that no matter how many times I fail to make the \u201cright\u201d decision, we all have a God who loves us and chooses us, now and forever.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I love Lent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Amanda Silcox, Hunger Advocacy Fellow,Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy Two of my favorite moments in the church year take place during Lent. The first takes place on Ash Wednesday, when everyone receives the mark of the cross in ashes on their forehead and the pastor says, \u201cRemember that you are dust and to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLenten Reflection: Why I love Lent - ELCA Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/lenten-reflection-love-lent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lenten Reflection: Why I love Lent - ELCA Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Amanda Silcox, Hunger Advocacy Fellow,Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy Two of my favorite moments in the church year take place during Lent. 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