Pastor’s corner

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10)

The season of Lent has begun. For many Protestants, Lent doesn't mean much, though it seems to be making a comeback among many of the mainline protestant churches. Ash Wednesday services are found at more than just Catholic churches, and people are more aware of not commenting to someone that there is a "smudge" on their forehead on Ash Wednesday. But many people still talk about giving up something for Lent as though it were a sort of New Year's Resolution, and jokes still abound about if it's Lent, when will you get it back, and can I borrow it when you do.

Lent is the 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays) when the church calls us to look into our own hearts and to see if there is "any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:24) It is a time of self-examination to see if we need to once again repent and turn around because, for whatever reason, we have ended up facing the wrong direction-- not necessarily a bad direction, just not the one that God wants us to be facing at this moment in our lives.

We look for our hearts to be renewed and made clean again, something only God can do.

We look for our spirits to be made whole again despite whatever bad things we've done or have happened to us over the previous year.

Amazing things can happen to us during Lent when we look at it as a time to really examine our lives and see if there is something in them that needs to go or be added. I had a pastor many years ago who gave up being so reserved for Lent. He needed to add more spontaneity to his life. According to most psychologists, it takes about 21 days to make or break a habit, so if you take the notion of giving up something for Lent or adding something to your life for Lent seriously and really work at it, you may find that by Easter your life has changed for the better.

And that is the glorious thing about Lent: it ends with Easter, the day when we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. And if we have followed through on our Lenten practice, whatever we have chosen to do, we will find that God has indeed created in us a clean heart and renewed our spirits.

Rev. Jeannette Solimine

United Church of Christ