Another Lent is upon us. It is meant to be a sacred time for Jesus' followers. It is the time the Church sets aside each year to journey with Jesus to the cross.

  Without meaning to diminish anyone's sincere attempts to be faithful, Lent is  so much more than giving up chocolate for six weeks. If we take seriously the journey with Jesus and look intensely at our principles, priorities, values, and behaviors through the lens of Lent, then this sacred season can be what it was intended to be, life-changing.

This year I encourage you take Lent with a little more seriousness than maybe you have in the past. May I suggest that you plan to journey with the members of your church and the churches in your community through all the Lenten luncheons, prayer vigils, and special worship services that will be offered. These are serious, sincere attempts by your pastor(s) and the worship planners in your congregation to create the pathway upon which the Lenten journey travels.
Friends, this Lent, let us all journey with Jesus with a new sense of purpose.

Let me also suggest an additional way to do that. Thomas J. Rillo is an oblate of St. Meinrad Archabbey in southern Indiana. An oblate is a non-resident, non-monastic member of a particular monastery or convent who is committed to the Benedictine practice of prayer, hospitality and service. Recently Mr. Rillo wrote,

"At the beginning of Lent, the abbot sends out a form for an oblate to list bona opera, good works, to be performed for the Lenten season. The completed form is then reviewed by the abbot and consequently approved. The oblate is then obliged by the nature of oblation and obedience to the monastic way to fulfill what he or she freely chose to do as bona opera."

Now, I'm not suggesting we all become oblates, but this particular Lenten practice of theirs is worth serious consideration. Instead of giving up chocolate this Lent, or perhaps in addition to giving it up, what if we freely chose our own bona opera, our own "good works" to perform as part of our journey with Jesus throughout Lent? What if a Sunday school class or CWF circle or CYF group challenges each other to choose a good work or two to do for Lent and holds each other accountable to each person's bone opera? What if after Lent that group of people spent their gathering time telling their stories of how they encountered Jesus through those acts? It may just be me but the idea of bona opera seems to capture the essence of Lent in some new and exciting ways.

As we continue to discern answers to the question, "what is God up to in our neighborhoods and communities," maybe to intentionally journey with others in our neighborhood or workplace or community to fulfill our bona opera we will discover Jesus in new faces and places this Lent.

Greg Alexander
CCK General Minister