Getting our LENT on in the 'Hood!

I grew up in a tradition that didn't follow the religious liturgical calendar. In our young church plant we have several people who grew up in traditions that did follow this calendar. It is usually used as a means of trying to kick a habit or start a more positive one, or as a way to appease God for at least 40 days so that we can achieve some measure of favor or better luck in our life.
     WHY then is PAXnorth making a big deal of these forty days of focus? Have we gone all 'catholic or anglican'? Our intention is to use this rhythm of our calendar year to cause us to truly look to the incredible grace of God poured out to us at Easter. We believe that God sent Jesus on a mission to seek and save those who are lost, us and others. We both want to celebrate and be intentional about the Gospel mission in our neighbourhoods. So we are using this time to fast, pray, get to know and plan 'events' to reach those around us.
Here's what that looks like for us:
What is LENT?
It is typically kicked off on "Ash Wednesday" which is 46 days before Easter in the western world (passover in the Eastern world). LENT is taken from the 40 days of Jesus' fasting in the desert and subsequent temptation by Satan. This came before launching His public ministry to fulfill the mission of revealing the love and power of God to a world that would ultimately reject Him. Even in this God works out our ultimate redemption! Ash Wednesday is a means of signifying a desire to participate in the struggle of Christ (ashes are the symbol of mourning). 
 Christ comes on a mission to our world as a man living in the midst of our desperation, fighting against the curse of sin, embracing the passion of the cross, returning to life in victory and opening the way of life with God for a hopeless world. This cross-centered mission is what we focus on during LENT.
Why LENT at PAXnorth?
We often talk about Jesus being more/different than religion, and that He did not come merely as an example for us to follow but to be the very Savior of our lives . We are encouraging you to enter into LENT this year because Jesus did come to your world, has entered into your brokenness and taken your desperate sin to the cross. He does offer the reality of a transformed life as you live out the hope of an Easter resurrection daily. The same mission He accomplished for us, He continues through us to our hopelessly seeking world.
How exactly is PAXnorth doing LENT?
FAST Commit to fasting for the 46 days of LENT (Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22 until Easter, April 8) Fast from something that you are in the habit of doing daily; i.e. coffee, twitter, facebook, music on your way to and from work, etc.) KNOW Download/get a “PAXnorth>> in the hood” form for your neighbourhood/work space/apartment/dorm. Prayerfully fill out this form thinking of those you feel you need to get to know.
PRAY Take the time to pray for your ‘neighbours’ every time you think of the item you are fasting from.
REACH  Make the time during the months of FEBRUARY, MARCH and APRIL to host an event, open your home or grab coffee with those for whom you are praying. Use this opportunity as a place to build a friendship that will introduce Jesus in a low pressure, casual setting.
D-GROUP FOLLOW UP If you are part of a D- Group consider hosting an event where people can invite their friends, neighbours, or people from their community. Consider opening this up to the rest of PAX or just keeping it to your small group or a specific neighbourhood.  
  TELL EMAIL the event details to Nevin and Brad so we can continue to promote or to share the results of Getting our LENT on in the 'Hood'.
   Want some help thinking though how you approach your ‘neigbours’? Read these links to encourage you in the why and the how:
11 Ways to Love Your City
Talking to Your Neighbours about Jesus

F.O.G. Friday's - The Call of the Gospel

“To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I sit down across the table from a young man who insists he has a ‘call’ on his life to bless the churches with his extra-ordinary spiritual gifts, which he is praying for, and “trying to learn how to get”. He has travelled across Canada because he felt a call to come to Nova Scotia to speak to the Pastors, and the churches of what God wants to give them through an extra-ordinary blessing. He has been staying in hostels and shelters or living out over the last several weeks.

“And those whom he predestined he also called, and to those whom he called he also justified, and those he justified he also glorified.” Romans 8:30

 How does the Gospel address the call of God and how are we to live this out in your life? Maybe this short adapted list from Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology will help:

 A Call Outside of Ourselves: The call of every believer is not something we can work up in ourselves. The choosing, wooing and winning of our very salvation begins and ends in the will and glory of God through the work of His Son, Jesus. The call of God is not something we do it is what only God can do.

A Call Out of Darkness: The call of every believer is God’s taking us “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9).

A Call Into Relationship: The call of every believer is God’s placing us “into the fellowship of his Son”(1 Cor. 1:9, Acts 2:39)

A Call Into Kingdom living: The call of every believer is God’s placing us “into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:12; 1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:3)

A Call of Belonging: The call of every believer places us in a relationship of “belonging to Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:6)

A Call to be set apart for God’s purposes: The call of every believer is a call to “be saints”

A Call to Live Out of the Riches of God: The call of every believer is to live in a fullness of “peace” (1 Cor. 7:15, Col, 3:15), “freedom” (Gal. 5:13), “hope” (Eph. 1:18), “holiness” (1 Thess. 4:7), “patient endurance of suffering” (1 Peter 2:20-21; 3:9), and “eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:12)

SO what is the function of the Gospel in the call of every believer? 
O.K. I’ll admit it, I give myself too much credit. For what it’s worth, I know it’s foolish pride, lack of humility, fear of being dependent, need for control and my down right rebellious sinful nature! When caught in my pride I either try and discredit it, passing it off as personality, or pointing to societal influences, upbringing and culture. What this tells me? I am hopelessly unable to make the deeply needed changes that would make me anything more then a deeply self serving, self preserving, self interested, SELF. Self- esteem classes or self worth counseling does nothing for the various forms of my “ego-dei” (ego-god, I-god). I cannot “call” myself away from worshiping myself, even if I try to gloss it over with a ‘poor-me, I was wronged, the world, society and my family have messed me up.’ How does the Gospel of the cross move us beyond our need for self empowerment, or our self loathing to wholeness and a living out of a call beyond ego-dei?

It is so important to understand the ‘call’ of every believer comes not out of what spiritual gift you feel God has given you or that you hope He will give you. The call of every believer is far beyond the making of ourselves something greater than the sum of what our lives have become- no matter how successful or how wreaked that might look. Please don’t get me wrong, God gives us spiritual gifts, through his Holy Spirit, at the moment of salvation (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Pet. 4:10; 1 Cor. 12:11) I fear that we, church peeps, often hold these holy gifts up as a trophy for everyone to admire our greatness, as a measurement to determine who’s not ‘there’ yet, or as the complete sum of our spiritual life (call it a Corinthian church problem). 
The call of the Gospel is God’s work beyond our religious piety or self indulgent rut of addictions. The call of the Gospel is a call to the cross. Our response can only be a recognition that I am lost without Him resulting in a life of humble dependence on him. A daily posture of confession at the foot of the cross to live for His kingdom, not my own, and His glory, not my own. Out of this relationship of belonging solely to Jesus I replace my own agenda for His agenda and find peace, freedom, hope, holiness, patience to endure in suffering and indeed the riches of eternal life. 

Here it is: THE CALL OF THE GOSPEL is not to do something for Jesus in your life, with the greatness of your giftedness, because you come from such a terrible place of sinfulness (most testimonies we seem to applaud are like this). The call of the Gospel is a daily going to the cross for all that I am, I have, and ever hope to be. At the cross- I die daily so that He might have His victory and glory in my life! If we focus on this daily reality of the Gospel applied in our life God will place the rest of living out his will right in front of us as He knows we can handle, and in accordance to how He has gifted us.