Fasting and Repentance: Good things to do

For Christians, today, Ash Wednesday, is the beginning of Lent. It is a time for us to examine, redirect and renew our lives.

All of us want to have "renewed" lives, lives that are meaningful, purposeful, lives that have "fresh air" regularly breathed into them.

Lent is an invitation to do so.
How?

Repentance is part of the process. Repentance simply means taking a look at our lives (our attitudes and behaviours), and continuing to change the things that need to be changed.

How do we know what needs to be changed?
Anything that gets in the way of open relationship to every other human being and to God's Divine Life.
Nurturing such openness to Life is a life time process, and facilitated through a healthy church community.

Another aspect of Lent is fasting. Fasting is not just about denying yourself food or other things.

Isaiah tells us of the fasting that God wants: "releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own."

Lent is a call to change our own lives in such a way that we can do our part in the healing and restoration of others....in our families, in our churches, in our communities, in our province, in our country, in our world.