Saint Andrew's Anglican Fellowship - Annapolis

40+ Reasons for Lent: Week Six

Admin — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:00:48 +0000

Lent is a minor movement in the symphony of the church year, the dissonance that opens into the resolution of Easter.

*****

Lent inoculates against sentimentalism.

*****

Lent tunes us to the broken beauty of the world.

*****

Lent strips off layers of self-deception and self-defense that screen us from the Risen Christ.

*****

Lent is not for doing things we never do otherwise. Like Sunday, Lent is for intensifying things we do all the time.

*****

The church year is painted in chiaroscuro. Without the darker hues of Lent, Easter is two-dimensional.

*****

Lent teaches us to cross our eyes: “For if the eye seek good objects, and will take / No cross from bad, we cannot ‘scape a snake.” -Donne

From 40+ Reasons for Lent, an exaltation of tweets by Peter Leithart

(http://www.leithart.com/2012/04/04/40-reasons-for-lent/)

40+ Reasons for Lent: Week Five

Admin — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:00:09 +0000

Lent reminds us that Jesus didn’t go to the cross so we can escape the cross; He went to the cross to enable us to bear it after Him.

*****

Lent gives us 40 days to contemplate the glory of the Crucified, which saves the world.

*****

Lent is a focused effort to identify and smash idols. Lent is boot camp for Josiahs.

*****

Lent teaches us that the Name we bear has the weight of a cross.

*****

During Lent, we contemplate the obedience of the Son so as the become sons who honor our Father and fathers.

*****

Lent rebuilds marriages, as we commune with the Perfect Husband who gave Himself wholly for His Bride.

From 40+ Reasons for Lent, an exaltation of tweets by Peter Leithart

(http://www.leithart.com/2012/04/04/40-reasons-for-lent/)

40+ Reasons for Lent: Week Four

Admin — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 17:12:47 +0000

Lent is not a withdrawal from history. The God of Lent is the God who enters time, the God with blood to shed for us.

*****

Lent gives the only answer there is to the problem of evil: A cross that triumphs over evil, a death that tramples death.

*****

Some demons come out only by prayer and fasting. Seems a good reason to fast and pray.

*****

The Christian year has a rhythm, each season its own tonality and coloration. Without Lent, the year is bland.

*****

Without Lent, how many paintings would have gone unpainted? How many cantatas left unwritten and unsung?

*****

Lent tells us what time it is – the time between resurrection and resurrection.

From 40+ Reasons for Lent, an exaltation of tweets by Peter Leithart

(http://www.leithart.com/2012/04/04/40-reasons-for-lent/)

40+ Reasons for Lent: Week Three

Admin — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:31:54 +0000

We’re hungry for all the wrong things. We need Lent to develop a taste for the fruit of the tree of life – that is, the fruit of the cross.
*****
Purple is the liturgical color of Lent, a deep color of penitence, a lush color of royalty. Lent is for training kings.
*****
The church year is an extended commemoration of the gospel story. Lent is long because the Passion is the biggest episode in the story.
*****
An exercise in delayed gratification, Lent is profoundly counter-cultural.
*****
Lent is catholic because it signifies our inclusion in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
*****
Lent reminds us that the only God that is is the God of the cross. Lent is a prophylactic against generic monotheism.

From 40+ Reasons for Lent, an exaltation of tweets by Peter Leithart

(http://www.leithart.com/2012/04/04/40-reasons-for-lent/)

40+ Reasons for Lent: Week Two

Admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:52:15 +0000

Lent is boot camp for spiritual warriors.

*****

Without Lent or something like it, the church risks falling into a victoryism without the cross, which is the weapon of victory.

*****

Lent didn’t keep Christians from converting Europe, forming Christendom, building cathedrals, celebrating carnivale.

*****

Lent is training in the fundamental Christian discipline of waiting.

*****

Lent is preparation for martyrdom. Nothing is more politically potent than a martyr.

*****

Like the whole church calendar, Lent inserts “the fact of Christ into the rhythm of seasons, weeks, days and hours.” –Congar

From 40+ Reasons for Lent, an exaltation of tweets by Peter Leithart

40+ Reasons for Lent: Week One

Admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:45:00 +0000

“We keep Easter to manifest and deepen our prior share in resurrection. We observe Lent to manifest and deepen our share in the cross.”

*****
“As a focused pursuit of the fruits of holiness, Lent is rooted in union with Christ, who is our sanctification.”

*****
“Lent is the season of blood and guts and flesh. It is the supremely anti-Gnostic season.”

*****
“Some say Lent inhibits the church’s cultural impact. To that, there are three answers: Christendom, Byzantium, & Bach.”

*****
“Lent is a pursuit of glory, because the Lord exalts those who humble themselves.”

*****
“To observe Lent rightly, we need to be confident that the power to obey God is a gift from God.”

*****
“Israel sought out and purged old leaven once a year. Lent is the Christian feast of unleavened bread.”

*****
“For Christians, death is not end but beginning. Lent is an extended meditation on that good news.”

*****
“Life is a Lenten journey through death toward resurrection.”

From 40+ Reasons for Lent, an exaltation of tweets by Peter Leithart

40+ Reasons for Lent: Ash Wednesday

Admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:18:27 +0000

From 40+ Reasons for Lent, an exaltation of tweets by Peter Leithart:

“To observe Lent rightly, we have to be persuaded that we already stand in God’s favor.”

*****

“Ash Wednesday reminds us to number our days. It helps us gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).