Lent Experiment 2022

Wednesday, March 2nd to Friday, April 15th

This Lent, use the guide below to deepen your experience with God. Consider printing a physical copy of the booklet!

Audio Guide

Consider listening to this guide through the 5 steps of planning your Lent experiment!

Lent Experiment Guide

INTRODUCTION

At the end of one of his most profound teachings, The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke 6:46-49)

Expounding on Jesus’s passion for his followers to not only hear his teachings but put them into practice, Dallas Willard said this in The Spirit of the Disciplines,

“The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy. We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.”

What if we committed ourselves to becoming the kinds of people who live out the teachings of Jesus? What if we ordered our lives in such a way that hope, joy, love, peace, and justice naturally flowed from us into the world around us? Often, Lent is seen as a season for giving up the things that we want – chocolate, coffee, social media – but it can become a time for us to surrender our surface-level desires in order to receive the deepest desires of our souls! This Lent, we invite you to discern where you desire new life and design an experiment that will help you join God in the journey toward resurrection life.

Steps for a Lent Experiment

Step 1: Examine Your Life
Step 2: Explore Patterns & Root Causes
Step 3: Imagine the New Life that is Possible
Step 4: Design Your Experiment
Step 5: Commit to Your Plan & Process in Community

 

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

For each of the following steps: meditate, reflect, and journal on the questions. The questions are there to help prompt your time of reflection. There is no need to answer every question, but try to reflect on a few of the prompts before moving on to the next step.

Step 1: Examine Your Life

  • Where do I long for newness to come into my life?
  • Where do I feel stuck? What’s not working in my life?
  • How do I avoid facing pain and difficulty in my life through behaviors that are not a true source of comfort?
  • What are the persistent habits or temptations that lead me to self- sabotage?
  • Where do I experience tension, anxiety or conflict in my relationships?
  • Where do those closest to me express concern about my growth and well-being?Search me, God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
  • Examples:
    I spend a lot of time watching television (netflix, hulu, etc).
  • I always want dessert after dinner and can’t stop myself from eating more.
  • I compulsively spend hours cleaning my house every day.
  • I frequently complain or speak negatively about people.

Step 2: Explore Patterns & Root Causes

  • What is happening underneath my behavior?
  • What is my physical or emotional state when I make these choices (tired, hungry, sad, lonely, bored)?
  • When am I most vulnerable to what I struggle with?
  • What false scripts and fears might underlie this pattern?
  • How might my presenting problems relate to core issues of my personality?
  • What is the fear that might be driving my decisions?

Examples:

Worry & anxiety
Obsession with my appearance I am jealous of others
I avoid pain and numb out

Step 3: Imagine the New Life that is Possible

Remember that this is not a self-improvement project, but a space to receive the promise of new life that is offered to us through Jesus in the Kingdom of God.

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:4)

  • What is the good reality and vision of life in the Kingdom that is promised to me by the gospel?
  • Is there a theological truth or passage of scripture that I can ground myself in throughout the next six weeks?
  • What would resurrection or new life look like in this area of my life?Examples:
  • “Because of my relationship with Jesus, I can find a true source of comfort & solace in my present awareness of God rather than needing other things (food, alcohol, social media, etc) to comfort myself.”
  • “I can learn to live in the rhythm and presence of God with a sense of rest rather than striving because nothing can separate me from the eternal love of God.”
  • “God is inviting me to find my truest identity as a child of the Creator, I don’t need to add on to or earn a sense of identity based on my achievements or what other people think of me.”

Step 4: Design an Experiment

MARKS OF A GOOD EXPERIMENT:
– It is specific, measurable, time bound, and avoids ambiguity
– Requires intentionality and consistency (daily or weekly)
– Can include both abstinence (stopping) and engagement (starting)
– Corresponds to a positive vision of what is possible (in God’s Kingdom)
– Is taken seriously and seeks to avoid exceptions, while also receiving grace when mistakes happen (you can always pick it back up the next day)

  • What new steps can I take to cooperate with God’s work in my life?
  • What could I stop doing?
  • What could I start as a healthy alternative?A helpful framework might be to include a multidimensional approach with practices in each of the following categories:
  • A NEW “MIND” PRACTICE
  • A NEW “BODY” PRACTICE
  • A NEW TIME, RESOURCE, OR RELATIONAL PRACTICE“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rm 12:1-2)Examples:
  • Abstinence: Make a vow to not speak negatively about anyone or anything. Engagement: Write letters to friends about a positive trait I see in them.
  • Abstinence: Limit myself to 30 mins of a specific activity per day
    Engagement: 30 mins of journaling in prayer to God
  • Abstinence: Limit myself to 2 outfits a week, pause from wearing makeup
    Engagement: Choose to speak positively about others

Step 5: Commit to Your Plan, Track it, & Process in Community

Commit: A successful experiment is executed with consistency. If you compromise or don’t take action, you won’t learn the benefit of your new choices. Make sure you have found changes that are realistic, yet challenging and substantive, so that you can determine whether the change has made a helpful difference.

Tracking your practices will help you remember your commitment and encourage you to continue with it. Use whatever works for you, whether a calendar you can write on, a spreadsheet on your computer, or an iPhone app. Place it where you will see it daily.

Community:
Processing in community is an excellent way to experience deeper transformation into Christlikeness. Share your Lent plan with a small group or a friend!

Let us remember the words of the Apostle Paul to the church in Colossae:

“Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for
you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified
you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:9-14)