What is lent?
The Lenten season begins on Ash Wednesday, and it lasts until the Saturday before Easter Day. The last week of Lent is called Holy or Passion Week, and includes both Maundy Thursday, when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, and Good Friday.
The forty days of Lent recall Jesus’ forty-day fast in the desert after his baptism. Before Jesus sought to heal others, he journeyed inwards to prepare for the struggle ahead.
Lent is popularly known as a time for abstaining. For forty days we say NO! to chocolate or caffeine, TV or texting. Ask around and you’ll hear a variety of reasons why people voluntarily restrict themselves from consuming things that ordinarily offer a dose of pleasure or a distraction from the boredom of being alone. What you likely won’t hear, though, is that Lent is a time to practice being alone with death, like Jesus did.
Alone/Together is a sermon series for Lent inspired by stories from Genesis that capture the enduring human struggle to outlive death. Each week we’ll explore how both of these contrasting truths are simultaneously present:
1) Together we are restricted by the fragility of life, eventually we all return to dust. No one is exempt, not even Jesus.
2) The fate that binds us together will also leave us alone, as Jesus was when death drew near.
Along the way we’ll listen for what scripture has to say about the difference between loneliness and being alone, the mini-deaths and resurrections we experience through boredom, the liberation of the gospel from self-help/wellness culture, and the eternal rest we discover in community.
Follow along each Sunday as we piece together, expand, and devour the Word of God. Show up with intention and dedicate yourself to faith this season.