Lent Sermon Series: Giving It Up

What are you giving up for Lent? / Photo by Cristian Newman via Unsplash

“Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?"

— Isaiah 58:6

Lent invites us to give things up—some of us have fasted from chocolate, from alcohol, from Netflix, from social media. Are these the things God is calling us to give up? What change should this fast be producing in our lives? 

In a world defined by injustice, we are invited to live as people who give up on the injustice that makes us comfortable and powerful and to live into the world of justice that we long to see made real. We, like Jesus, pick up our cross, die to ourselves, and allow God’s way and God’s will to change the world around us. 

This Lent, we will explore the kind of fast God has chosen for us and we’ll challenge ourselves to give up the things God desires to see us give up: bitter arguments, unjust actions, selfishness, gossip, even our own control over our lives. 

Pr. Nick shares more of his thoughts on this Lent season in Knox’s Feb. 22 weekly email, found at this link! You can also sign up for the weekly email here.