ONE OF THE MEMORIES I HAVE OF THE LENTEN SEASON, (those forty days leading up to Easter) when I was a young boy, was being en-couraged to give up something we enjoyed for those forty days. It was a way of supposedly entering into the sufferings the Lord Jesus experi-enced as He moved toward His crucifixion. I can remember desiring to give up things like cleaning my room, or washing the dishes, but my mom insisted in had to be something I really enjoyed. She always saw through my deceptions.
I remember giving up things like candy and ice cream, and later, as an adult, I did give up watching television, and one year endeavored to do a true fast of no food for the full forty days. Sadly, I didn’t quite make the full forty days.
The idea of fasting for the forty days of Lent is not a bad idea, if we do it for the right reasons, that is to in some small way enter into the suffer-ings of our Lord. The purpose is to draw closer to Him through the proc-ess of denying ourselves that which we need or enjoy.
As we enter this year’s season of Lent I am calling us to enter into a little different kind of fasting. Not a fasting of giving up, but of adding to. I am encouraging the church to enter into a deeper time of drawing closer to God though concerted prayer.
In order to help you with this “fast” we are making available to you a prayer guide entitled, “Seek God for the City.” This daily prayer guide will help us, as a church, pray together prayers of hope for our community. I know you will want to take up this challenge and join with me in this spe-cial time of joining our hearts together as we draw closer to the heart of God, so be sure to pick up your guide this morning, and let us open our hearts to prayer.