Meme Monday - Lent to Spread the Gospel - Mark 16:15
As Lent approaches, I'm thinking about the faith...and the ashes on Wednesday.
At Mass on Sunday a Monsignor spoke about how so many come back for the ashes. The church is full and foreheads are smudged.
The Catholics that are drawn back on Christmas and Easter also feel a pull on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday. Understood is that the life of Christ, His birth and death and resurrection, mean something and the ashes remind us that "unto dust we shall return." Our own mortality comes to mind.
And Jesus is across that chasm, bridging death and eternal life.....hand outstretched.
He says many things to us in scripture. Studying His Word is a guide for living. Therefore my own lent will have me reading the Bible, to draw closer to Him. I imagine all Christians agree that reading the Bible is a good thing, a worthy use of our time. Yet Jesus direct us from those very Words we read in Mark 16:15 to then go and PREACH those words to others...to share the faith. That...while a logical act progressing from His direction, seem much less doable. The follow-through of walking the walk is daunting to us.
But isn't that lent? Doing the hard things and mortifying our will in this case could also be seen as adding something to our lent...spreading the faith, assuming your role in the great commission. Many scriptures from the Bible affirm that we've each been given our own gifts to use for God. Mine may be different from yours, but the exhortation still exists to USE them to spread the faith. Our confirmation makes us soldiers for Christ. We are armed, now to engage....
I'll look to lent to hone the new practice of a habit I want to keep past the 40 days and I will be recommitting to the Scriptures and sharing the faith. Our faith is needed in this world and we know that God will grace us for doing the hard things.
How will you respond to Christ's words to, "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature?"
At Mass on Sunday a Monsignor spoke about how so many come back for the ashes. The church is full and foreheads are smudged.
The Catholics that are drawn back on Christmas and Easter also feel a pull on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday. Understood is that the life of Christ, His birth and death and resurrection, mean something and the ashes remind us that "unto dust we shall return." Our own mortality comes to mind.
And Jesus is across that chasm, bridging death and eternal life.....hand outstretched.
He says many things to us in scripture. Studying His Word is a guide for living. Therefore my own lent will have me reading the Bible, to draw closer to Him. I imagine all Christians agree that reading the Bible is a good thing, a worthy use of our time. Yet Jesus direct us from those very Words we read in Mark 16:15 to then go and PREACH those words to others...to share the faith. That...while a logical act progressing from His direction, seem much less doable. The follow-through of walking the walk is daunting to us.
But isn't that lent? Doing the hard things and mortifying our will in this case could also be seen as adding something to our lent...spreading the faith, assuming your role in the great commission. Many scriptures from the Bible affirm that we've each been given our own gifts to use for God. Mine may be different from yours, but the exhortation still exists to USE them to spread the faith. Our confirmation makes us soldiers for Christ. We are armed, now to engage....
I'll look to lent to hone the new practice of a habit I want to keep past the 40 days and I will be recommitting to the Scriptures and sharing the faith. Our faith is needed in this world and we know that God will grace us for doing the hard things.
How will you respond to Christ's words to, "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature?"
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