They tell me time moves more quickly the older one gets, but just because I reached the “double nickel” age, I didn’t expect Lent to be upon us so quickly. One look at the calendar, however, and I realize it’s not just me, but Lent (and therefore Easter) is early this year. Whew!

Jazz Mass, along with Shrove Tuesday pancakes, dancing, parading and New Orleans’ brand music to stir the soul will happen on February 16th, followed by Ash Wednesday services on the 17th. Now’s the time to not only mark your calendars, but give some thought to how you will set aside your Lenten 40 days this year in preparation for Easter. Traditionally, folks give up something so that their longing for it reminds them to long for God with such a desire, too. In recent years, pastors and theologians have suggested not a “giving up,” but a “giving over” the 40+ days to a spiritual practice you may have never tried before or have left fallow for some time.

I’d like to suggest that you give over your Lenten season this year to contemplating Jesus’ Greatest Commandments:

Hear O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. (Matthew 22:37-39)

Both commandments are from our Jewish heritage, grafted on that family tree as we are, from The Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4, and which many call the heart of the Torah (and I concur!), and as Jesus himself goes on to say in Matthew 22:40, all of the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.

With that thought before us, I would commend to you a study entitled “40 Days with the Jesus Creed,” which takes the essence of Scot McKnight’s book, “The Jesus Creed” as the launching pad for the great moral statements of the New Testament. As the publisher explains, the shorter “40 Days…” provides us with a steady diet of reminders of what Jesus calls us to. We will explore, in short readings for 40 days, how what the author calls the Jesus Creed undergirds the Sermon on the Mount, the Love Chapter of the apostle Paul, and the core moral teachings of James (brother of Jesus), Peter and the apostle John. What I believe is that it is not enough to read a book once and then think we've got it. We need ongoing reminders, daily feedings as it were, of what is most important.

We do not make progress in learning to love God and love others because of a single sermon nor of a single insight. Instead, progress can only be made if we dedicate ourselves to an ongoing commitment to live the Jesus Creed daily. So, my prayer is that by spreading out these two themes over forty days, with a new theme each day, we will expose ourselves to the potent grace of God's love sufficiently to become more loving.

One more reminder. Neither “40 Days with the Jesus Creed” nor “The Jesus Creed” can be as effective as they are intended to be if we do not commit ourselves to reciting the Jesus Creed in the morning, in the evening, and anytime during the day that it comes to mind.

This was the moral creed of Jesus and the earliest Christians. What was an early Christian daily recital fell away as the church moved away from Judaism. May the daily recital of the Jesus Creed find its way back into the daily practice of Christians today—but for now, let’s try it out for 40 days in Lent, and see for ourselves the transformative power of Jesus’ commandments in our lives.

You can order “40 Days” through Lois Anderson (between $8-12, depending on the total number in our order) by calling the church or emailing her at landerson@westendumc.org. Many of our young adults have already climbed on board, along with some of our Adult Sunday morning classes, but if you’d like to form a study for mutual accountability, I’ll be glad to help, maybe even lead one!

In any case, I can’t think of more excellent words by which to live, can you?

Grace and joy,

Julie