Lent – A time to tune in to God’s “Frequency”

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am old enough to remember when instead of buttons to push on the car radio you had a dial.  You turned that dial left or right to get the best reception of the station you wanted to listen to.  Today of course it is done for you with presets buttons and automatic tuners.  I am also old enough to remember “rabbit ears” on the television.  You twisted and turned the antennae on top the set to get the best picture.  Do you remember that the best picture sometimes received by holding the “rabbit ears” in your hand by the window as high in the air as possible?  An uncomfortable position to be in, but the picture was really good!

Lent is always that time of year when we seek to take time and expend energy in order to get back in tune with God’s will and way for our lives.  For all of us throughout every day life we easily loose touch with the divine and the spiritual.  If a radio station comes in more and more faint as we drive about it is not the station that has moved but rather we have driven farther away from its location.  The same is true with God.  He hasn’t changed addresses.  He is always close at hand, always eager to shape and guide our lives.  But, daily routines and demands upon us often pull us further and further away.  In the process God’s voice can become more and more faint while the world’s ways and demands grow louder and louder.

“Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  That is the ancient call we hear during the days of Lent.  It is a call to tune in to God’s will and way through increased prayer, Bible ready, study, worship, sacrifice, and service.  For over 1500 years the Lenten season has been that time when Christians have sought to tune in, to return to God by utilizing the disciplines of Lent.

+ Regular worship – Sundays & Wednesdays
+ Increased prayer time
+ Bible study & Bible reading
+ Fasting
+ Sacrificial giving
+ Service to others

These are the ways in which generations of believers have sought to return the orbit of their lives into the sphere of God’s influence.  This Lent I pray that all of us might tune in and return to the Lord our God.

Together in Christ’s service,

Pastor Ed