Lent

Remember, O man, that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return. A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Martin Luther warned against our self-chosen crosses. He says, "the Lord devices perfectly made crosses for us and lay them on our life. You will have things you'll be giving up without any choice of your own. If you can receive them with grace, that's a good thing.".

The Lutheran Confessions totally rejects this distinction of meat thing, where you look at and say, I won't eat meat during the days of Lent while at the same time feasting on seafood, no that's not the path to go. The word for Lent in the German language is "fastenzeit," meaning fasting time. So the key is to remember is fasting literally means going hungry. So if you want to give up something, give up a meal; the traditional Western fast during Lent was to limit yourself to about 1 1/2 to 1 1/4 meals per day.

-Pr. Will Weedon