Calgary Church – Join a movement….

Today is Lent, it marks the start of a 40 day countdown to Easter (not including the Sundays). Some Christian traditions pay more attention to this day than other. Some closely follow a traditional calendar of celebration.

Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans tend to follow seasons and celebrations more closely than their low church brothers and sisters, including the ever popular evangelicals. In fact, what you observe is the churches who try the hardest to be relevant to society around them, tend to ignore church seasons and festivals unless they are major ones like Easter and Christmas.

For around 150 years now Lent for many is considered too traditional and empty to bother celebrating so it has been removed from the minds of many Christians.

I think that's a mistake. Lent, among other traditions, are important faith components that can be translated into our culture to bring new meaning and relevance.

Many people just go through traditional motions, get rid of all the fat in the house, only eat fish, maybe they even give up an indulgence like chocolate or alcohol. None of these ideas or actions are bad, I'm sure they in some way draw you closer to the reality of Easter.

If you read this piece on spirituality you can develop an understanding of lent that treats this time period as a spiritual exercise--a chance to prepare yourself to reconnect with the event (Easter) that celebrates incarnation.