3/15/23
This week we have a guest! Kim Elliott told me about something she was teaching in her Bible class that I thought was perfect for Lent. I asked if she would write about it for our Pastor’s Note this week. Enjoy!
Pastor Terry
Church Family, I am praying that this Lent season you are drawing closer to our Lord than you ever have!
This is my favorite time of year. It takes me back to being a little girl with a grandma who was very “fancy”! We had to have new dresses, spring coats, hats, ruffly socks (and other things), a white straw purse, new white shoes, and gloves. It was important that when we came together at church to see Jesus risen from the grave on Easter Sunday morning, we were appropriately adorned to greet Him! I love Easter and all the JOY that it inspires because the stone was rolled away and the tomb is empty! Thank you, Jesus!
Along with the clothing inventory check that many make in preparation for Easter, this time leading up to “the BIG Day” is a time to take inventory of our hearts and lives. Where am I in my walk with Jesus? That’s what Lent means to me. It’s a time when I annually reflect upon my journey with Jesus.
I’m currently teaching my Spiritual Formation classes of juniors and sophomores in high school about this process. Our curriculum points us to the 10,000 hours that it takes for anyone to become an expert in a field. This concept was first explored in a paper by Dr. Anders Ericcson, but it was made popular in the book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Honestly, it’s worth a YouTube search just to see Gladwell’s hair. It is akin to Albert Einstein’s with more vigor! He’s “something”! But…I digress.
Gladwell takes the 10,000 hour concept and boils it down to “talent and giftedness are not nearly as important as rigorous, dedicated practice.” My curriculum by Wheaton Press picks up that concept with the time the disciples spent with Jesus in those three years of His earthly ministry.
If we agree that it took Jesus maybe six months to “gather” the 12 into the group that would be disciples and apostles, then they would have had two and a half years of rigorous learning with their Rabbi. That’s 912.5 days! Not many days to squeeze in 10,000 hours, but it can be done mathematically. Do you now see why Pastor Terry asked me to compose this note?
Anyway…If we give them 8 hours of sleep, and we give Jesus some time to pray and get away from “the boys” for some rejuvenation with His Father in prayer…maybe four hours a day…we can give them 12 hours to walk, talk, ask, answer, listen, learn, eat, watch, pray, praise, ponder, mess up, get forgiveness, read, study, and all the other things that would have gone on each day being with Jesus. When we multiply 912.5 days by 12 hours, we get 10,950 hours…so 950 hours to spare! Now, that’s some intense training!
So how do we do it? Not quite on the crash course level the disciples took, but one purpose of Lent is to awaken us to what’s ahead and what we need to do to prepare for the resurrection. I don’t know about you, but I try to give away (missions projects and donations to my local church thrift stores are some of the things I like to contribute to), give up (Choose your own personal sacrifice here! Sometimes it’s tech, or food, or beverage, or whatever), and I pay attention to what and where Jesus is leading in my life. Along with daily reading, I’ve set aside my Saturday mornings for some deep diving into the Word. It’s become one of my favorite times of the week with Jesus where He has met with me in His Word and prayer.
My students are writing a paper about how long it’ll be before they hit the 10,000 hours with Jesus level. A quick “math-ish” Bible lesson showed them that if they don’t “up their game” it could be 40-50 years or more at their current rate! Remember, this isn’t just sitting in a church service or cracking open the Bible. It’s really listening, applying, journaling, and intentionally studying in quietness (with maybe soft music, if you prefer) and in prayer.
I know it’s a sacrifice, but that’s the point, right? Jesus made the greatest sacrifice for me, so it’s the least I can do to try to spend time…quality time…with Him. The awesome thing about it is that whenever I go to Him, He is right there listening, ready and waiting to lead me into places I couldn’t have dreamed possible. He is alive; His Word is truth; He is Water for my thirsty soul and my Bread of Life.
I hope this helps you to think about how you might draw closer to Jesus this season of Lent. The great thing that happens is that as we all draw closer to Jesus, we automatically get closer to one another. I feel that, even on Zoom from Florida, when I study the Word of God with you all on Wednesday nights! If you haven’t given Wednesday night Bible studies a try, you really should! We have great discussions and lots of fun, too!
Hey! Here we are again, “Loving God, Loving Others”! It’s crazy how it always goes back to that. It is the greatest commandment! So let’s love God more as we approach Easter, because when we get together in our “fancy” Easter clothes, we’ll be able to hug and love on each other more because we’ve been spending time with the Lover of our souls!
I sure do love all of you, and I thank Pastor Terry for letting me share these ideas with you!
Early Easter Blessings,
Kim Elliott