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Spring begins next week! The spiritual season of spring, that is. Though it probably won’t be felt in the weather, it can be experienced during Lent, which begins next Wednesday and literally means “springtime.” Observing Lent helps us prepare for this new season, reminding us to be people of the resurrection - celebrated on Easter Sunday.
Overview of Lent
Lent is marked by the 40 days (not including Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter. The number 40 is connected with many biblical events, but especially with the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness. There he prepared for his ministry by facing the temptations that could have derailed his mission and calling. Christians use this period of time for introspection, self examination and repentance; primarily through the spiritual practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
In the early church, Lent was a time of preparation for those who were to be baptized, which took place at the Easter Vigil service. Since these new members were to be received into a living community of faith, the entire community was also called to preparation.
Why is CG observing Lent?
Over the last couple years we have observed Lent in the context of the 7 days of Holy Week. This year we are going to participate in the full Lenten season as a deliberate way to join with the church around the world in preparing ourselves for celebrating Easter (resurrection). To prepare is to approach Lent as an opportunity, not a requirement. After all, it is meant to be the church’s springtime, a time when out of the darkness of sin’s winter, a repentant, empowered people emerge. That’s our prayer at Common Ground!
So instead of charging ahead to Easter, Lent calls us to think about our relationship with our heavenly Father and the ways we respond or fail to respond to His love and care for us. That is why observing Lent is a great follow-up to the Sermon on the Mount. It’s another opportunity to take a look at how our lives compare to the life that Jesus offers.
Our hope and prayer is that through prayerful reflection, we open ourselves up before God and hear anew the call "Come follow me!" We recognize and respond afresh to God’s presence in our lives and in our world. We place our needs, our fears, our failures, our hopes, our very lives in God’s hands, again. And we abandon ourselves in Jesus’ death to recognize again who God is, to allow His transforming grace to work in us once more. It is a time of repentance, an opportunity to experience God’s mercy, to be set free from patterns of behavior, and to embrace a life of joyful holiness … a time to experience the depths of the Easter message!
To learn more about how Common Ground will observe Lent, including some practical ideas for you and your family, check out our download. | 
We’re looking for high school students and adults who are willing to share the love of Jesus Christ with children from our church and the surrounding neighborhoods. Common Ground KidsGames serves kids ages 6-14 by providing a full day program that incorporates sports, music, learning about Jesus and much, much more! KidsGames will kickoff on Sunday, June 13 at Conseco Fieldhouse and close on Friday, June 18. 
A pilgrimage is a way of praying with your feet. You go on a pilgrimage because you know there's something missing inside your soul, and the only way you can find it is to go to sacred places, places where God made Himself known to others. In sacred places, something gets done to you that you've been unable to do for yourself.