Into Lent: Following Jesus to the Cross

Events

Feb 25

“Even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Mark 10:45)

Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve – and so how much more should we who have no claim to his glory apart from his grace and who choose to follow him also walk in his way. To deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow Christ is the way of Lent and the way of the Christian life.

We do not walk this Lenten road only as interested observers: as the press at a protest or the Red Cross in a war zone. We walk this road in the steps of Jesus. We follow him not only on the road but in the way of the road. We choose not to be served but to serve and to give our lives in his cause, even as he gave his life for our flourishing and good.

This Lent, we invite you to follow Jesus with us once more in that close way, choosing to deny ourselves and choosing to serve others.

We invite you to fast from serving yourself. Pick something which serves you: your pride, your comfort, your desires and ambition, and abstain from it in this season. Then, when temptation comes to serve yourself again, choose instead to find a way to serve others. Show kindness and compassion to those around you, remember that the way of Jesus is to choose to serve others rather than yourself.

Perhaps, at the end of this Lenten journey, we will find that what we allowed to wither in this season was never what gave us life at all, and that we found new life with Christ in the grave which he chose for our sakes, that we might rise and live as he lives.

—Rev. Nick