Readings:
Jonah 3:1-10
Luke 11:29-32
Reflection:
“As we enter into the first week of Lent, I want to reflect on sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice seems simple enough but as I reflect on it more, I grapple with the sense of what it actually means. As a child, on Pancake day (Shrove Tuesday for those more theologically inclined) at dinner my family would go around the table and tell everyone what we would give up for lent.
As a younger child, I would often give up ice cream or chocolate. My motives were not entirely noble however, because as part of giving something up, I was allowed as much of this item as I desired on the Easter weekend. I have very fond memories of eating bowls and bowls of ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I reflect on this and think..
“Was that really a sacrifice?”
In my child-like brain, I had made a bargain in which I had traded all my bowls of ice cream for some level of value down the line.
In all this, I am forced to ask the question, what does sacrifice really mean?
To give up something with no reward? This is the question I battle with, and my reflections have led me to this.
Sacrifice leads to the greatest rewards. It is asking us to give up the small things in return for something much bigger. Christ asks us to lay down the unimportant in return for the more important.
I see lent as an opportunity then, not necessarily a time for sacrifice but a time to refocus. A time to reflect on where Jesus is in our life, where love and forgiveness (or lack of) exist in our life.
Perhaps there are times when we have lost focus, and we must ask ourselves what needs to be sacrificed so that we may refocus.
That used to look like bowls of ice cream being saved for later; perhaps now it looks a little different.”
Thomas Warren.