The gifted theologian and author, Dianna Butler Bass, writes about those of us who still go to church and asks, “Why?” We are not compelled by the government, military or even human convention. She answers, “. . . for many of us, we go because we want to be more deeply connected to God, to be better people, to learn what it takes to follow a life-giving way, to act more justly, to figure out how to love our neighbors as ourselves. We hope that being in church might help us be better, maybe even different.” We learn from Scripture, stories of faith, sermons, hymns and sharing in the sacrament of the Lord’s supper. We learn from our neighbors in the pews and partners in service. We learn from the very rhythms of the church year. Each season has its own lessons and blessings. Butler Bass reminds us that Lent, in particular, invites us to practice your faith.

We all know what practice looks like—whether we are practicing free throws, learning a musical instrument, a new language or our part in a play. There’s lots of repetition, instruction, effort, mistakes and more effort, learning from others, encouragement, “sticktoitiveness,” correction and still more effort. Lent offers us a gym where we can work out, building our spiritual muscles. We must practice in order to build our faith. None of us will arrive on Ash Wednesday (February 18) fully equipped for the kingdom of heaven!

The call of Lent is the call to repentance, which simply means we are called to change. Practice will begin to change us. Butler Bass writes, “Give, pray, fast. Sing, forgive, do justice. Love your enemies, turn the other cheek, keep Sabbath. Offer hospitality, serve the poor, care for the planet. The more we practice our faith, the more we become the person God created us to be—generous, wise, grounded in what is good and beautiful and just . . . By practicing our faith, we become the things we promised to be in our baptism vows, we exercise citizenship in the Kingdom of God as those who embody the beloved community that Jesus proclaimed.”

Beloved community of Prairie Faith, this Lent let’s practice inwardly and outwardly those tried and true exercises that will build up our spiritual muscles and that of our community. Butler Bass reminds us that Lent is the season of death. “How will we be remembered? We will be remembered not for what we had, not even for what we did, but for who we were—for our character and for our hearts.” This Lent let’s practice being Christians with God’s good grace and each other to help us.

Pastor Christine Wagner