Some view the season of Lent as a “holy” time of year, leading up to Holy Week. “Holy” is a word we don’t usually use in everyday life but only in a religious context. Does the word “holy” draw up negative or positive connotations for you? What words do you pair with it? Perhaps you think of the Holy Bible, holy communion, holy matrimony, or maybe even “holy cow!” What is holiness? Because of our cultural changes over time, many do not understand what the biblical meaning of holiness is actually about. A simple definition is someone, somewhere, or something […]
Tag Archives: Lent
Spring, A Season Of Change
We are now over halfway through our journey through the season of Lent. A few years ago, during the pandemic, I wrote about this 40-day period of “spiritual quarantine” we call Lent that leads up to Easter. This time I want to focus on a different aspect of Lent: “lent” comes from the word meaning “spring season”. This week marks the official beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. As I write this while snow is still falling here in Michigan, it can be difficult to imagine warmer weather on its way. The land of Israel has its seasons too. […]
What God Finds In My Heart
Search me, O God, and know my heart;Try me and know my anxious thoughts;And see if there be any hurtful way in me,And lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23-24 (NASB) We discussed Lent as a season of reflection and repentance a couple of weeks ago. Psalm 139 is a good Psalm to meditate on, asking the Lord is probe us and reveal what needs to change. Search Me The Psalm opens, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me!” (Psalm 139:1). By ending the Psalm with the request to search him, David (the author) comes full circle. […]
Repent, It’s Lent!
Rabbi Eliezer famously taught that one should: “Repent one day before your death.” So his disciples asked him: “Does a person know which day he will die?” Rabbi Eliezer responded: “Certainly, then, a person should repent today, for perhaps tomorrow he will die—so that all his days he is repenting.” (Talmud, Shabbat 153a) We are in a season of repentance called Lent. It began on Wednesday, marking 40 days leading up to Easter (well, actually 46 days because Sundays don’t count). Given that it does not appear in the Bible, where does this practice come from? Origins of Lent The […]
40 Days in Spiritual Quarantine
The LORD said to Moses, “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.” Numbers 5:1-3 Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I stumbled across that the English word “quarantine” comes from a Latin root meaning “forty”. This word was first used when ships containing people or goods would “quarantine” at a port for […]