Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: What is “Lent?”

Hello and welcome to Prairie Lakes!

Glad you’re here.

Hey - we’re in week 2 of a series that Pastor Chip kicked off for us last week called “The Gift of Lent.”

The Gift of Lent.

What is “Lent,” and why is it a “gift?”

Well, some of us grew up in churches that approached the calendar year like it was made up not just of 4 seasons, but several different “spiritual seasons.”

They called it a “liturgical calendar.”

Depending on where you were in the calendar year, church services focused on different spiritual topics.

And the spiritual season that a lot of liturgical churches get into during these weeks that lead up to Good Friday and Easter is called “Lent.”

It’s meant as a time to reflect and prepare to encounter the fullness of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So that’s what Lent is.

Now, here’s the deal:

We are Baptist (kinda… mostly).

I mean, that’s our denominational affiliation.

(Some of you are probably learning in real time, right now, that you’re at a Baptist church—which is actually kinda awesome.)

But here’s the deal: Baptists kind of treat Lent more kind of like a buffet: it probably wouldn’t be first on my list of options; but every once in awhile it’s good… as long as I get to pick and choose what I eat.

Best I can describe our relationship with Lent.

Which is not at all the case if you grew up in a liturgical church.

Because it probably wasn’t a buffet; it was more like Sunday lunch at Grandma’s house, and you showed up to the table with your Sunday best on, and you ate whatever was in front of you, and you shut up about it.

Here’s a nice plate of Lent.

The faster you choke it down, the faster you can go outside and play.

And listen: we’ve got a weird mix of Baptists and Methodists and Catholics and Presbyterians and Lutherans (and whatever else you were or weren’t growing up) all in the room and joining online together in this wonderful Iowan crockpot that we call Prairie Lakes.

So:

No matter who you are, where you’ve been, or how much baggage you have with Lent—we’re glad that you’re here.

And:

We think that Lent is actually a gift to us—if we put ourselves in a position to receive it.

Series Intro: Gift of Lent (Overview)

So last week Pastor Chip talked about the gift of Freedom that Lent offers us—which on the surface sounds pretty awesome (because who doesn’t think freedom is a gift, amirite?).

Except… that we ended up talking about how fasting from food was a great way to receive that gift.

So how many of us jumped just head first into fasting last week and reminded ourselves of what it felt like to be “hangry?”

Ok.

All jokes aside: if you really want to be free in the way that Jesus talks about freedom, fasting is a great way to get there.

It’ll help you discover how to get past some of your own appetites and attachments and all of these things that we’ve convinced ourselves that we need to be happy and free.

It really is.

So good job if you tried it.

Good job if you feel like it was successful.

And even good job if you feel like it wasn’t.

Trust me when I say this: God doesn’t need you to be perfect; he just needs you to be obedient.

He can do a lot with really small acts of obedience.

Big Idea: The Gift of Comfort

Alright.

Here’s where we’re going this week.

Lent offers us another gift:

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