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Study guide Lent: Encounter God’s grace


By Robert C. Blezard L


ent is the season in our church year when we focus on practices and exercises that will help


strengthen our faith and draw us closer to God. But has our obser- vance of Lent been too negative? Reframing Lenten practices may help us experience Lent anew.


Exercise 1: Lent is a downer? In his article, David L. Miller reflected that the Lenten seasons of his childhood came “as a nagging killjoy” to his faith life, as the church focused on our sinful nature rather than God’s loving nature. How do you remember the


Lenten seasons of your childhood? Are they different now? For you, which approach (a focus on sinful- ness or God’s love) better promotes spiritual growth? Why do we need both? What’s the right balance?


Exercise 2: Love and fear of God In the Small Catechism (Evangeli- cal Lutheran Worship, page 1160), Martin Luther’s explanation of each of the Ten Commandments begins with the phrase “We are to fear and to love God.” Which is more powerful in our


culture: fear of God or love of God? Which does God desire more: our fear or love? If we have fear of God, but not love, what faith do we have? If we have love of God, but not fear, what faith do we have?


Blezard is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Arendtsville, Pa. He has a master of divinity degree from Boston University and did subsequent study at the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.) and the Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia.


Have tradi- tional Lenten practices


emphasized fear or love? How can we reframe our Lenten


spiritual practices to strike the right balance?


Exercise 3: Repent—that is, change Quick: Ask members of the study group to define “repent,” a word you hear a lot during Lent. Repent is often misunderstood to mean simply overdosing on shame and ceasing from sin. But in the Gospels, the Greek word translated as repent is “metanoia,” which means to change one’s heart and mind. Thus, to repent is to change your whole being away from the things of the world and toward the things of God. How does this understanding put a new spin on what it means to repent during Lent? Does your church’s and your family’s obser- vances of Lent inspire and equip you to change your heart and mind toward God? How might your prac- tices be changed to better encourage true repentance?


Exercise 4: The river of God’s grace What is the biggest river you’ve ever seen? Have you swam in or boated on a river? Have you lived near a river? What are your experiences? What makes a river mysterious, ter- rifying and fascinating? Why is a river a good metaphor for God’s love and grace? What qualities do they share? What additional significance comes when you recall that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River?


Exercise 5: God’s water ‘works’ John gave people a baptism for the repentance of sin in the Jordan River, which is only one of the ways


God has used water to accomplish great things. Read the “flood prayer” that accompanies baptism (Evan- gelical Lutheran Worship, page 230) and discuss:


What symbolism does water have


in the life of God’s people? Why does water figure so prominently in God’s dealings with people? What does water and God’s word do to us at our baptism? If we “fall into” God’s river of grace at Lent, isn’t it more of a returning to our baptism?


Exercise 6: More mystery Our left-brained culture likes to think linearly, and we crave con- crete, black-and-white answers to every question. Yet God’s logic is rarely linear, and answers to the deepest questions of faith are unresolved. No wonder mystery is lacking in many of our churches. Falling into the river of God’s grace and love is to embrace God’s holy mysteries. In matters of faith, what is the role of the intellect and what is the role of the heart? Why are both needed? Do Christian education materials tend to appeal to the mind or the heart? What spiritual practices can you use this Lent to open your heart to God’s love and grace?


Exercise 7: Reframing disciplines What disciplines have you tradition- ally embraced in your life and your church? Have they brought you joy and growth? Why have you done them? Has their focus been on your sinful nature more than on God’s loving and giving nature? Could you rethink those disciplines to empha- size God’s loving-kindness?


This study guide is offered as one example of the more than 300 that are currently available on The Lutheran’s website. Download guides—free to print and Web subscribers—at www.thelutheran.org (click “study guides”).


26 The Lutheran • www.thelutheran.org


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