Submitted by Rev. Andrew Sanders, Fairfax United Methodist Church

Lent is upon us. No, I don’t mean the fuzzy bits we pull from our belly buttons or the lint you remove from your dryer. What I’m talking about is a reverent time of 40 days of reflection. We first start the 40 days with Ash Wednesday, a day when we come to our local churches to partake in having ashes placed on our heads or hand to signify the reality that Christ gave all so that we may be sinless before God. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of 40 days in which we can give up or take on something that reminds the gift of sacrifice that Jesus first gave us.

God created humanity to be in relationship to our creator and each other. Since the beginning, humanity has strived to separate ourselves with God and other persons, through the hardening of our hearts. On its own, humanity cannot save itself. God gave us rituals that would clean human sin through sacrifices of innocent unblemished animals. The sacrifices were temporary until a person sinned again.

Knowing humanity would only further the void between creator and created, our Lord Christ Jesus came in physical human form, lived a perfect sinless life, and was crucified. Jesus’ death and resurrection three days later tells us that all power of the universe is in our savior. Jesus’ sacrifice saved all of humanity. It is now up to us to accept this amazing gift of God’s love so that we, too, can be saved.

I pray that this Lent is a time for you to sacrifice something in your life for the next 40 days, laying down something that you do often, or indulge in and replace it with something that you pick up such as the Bible, Christian podcasts, intentional prayer time, etc. Most of all, as you are drawing close to Christ and the people around you, come to church, bring your family and friends to continue this journey of transformation together.