Lent Begins

February 23rd, 2007 Matt Jones Leave a comment Go to comments

Oh yeah, Lent started on Wednesday and I forgot to post! Ash Wednesday starts the 40 days (+6 Sundays) of the Lenten season leading up to Easter and the resurrection. (See my post on the dichotomy of Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday in today’s scoiety.) This year I have given up carbonated beverages for Lent. And let me tell you, this will be difficult for me, but I think it is a good choice. If anyone is interested, my family is doing a Lenten devotional from Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction so stop by and check it out.

At the Ash Wednesday service we looked at Isaiah 55.1-7 and I wanted to share it with you here:

1 “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.

6 “Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.