Why Do We Lent?
Have you ever wondered why a certain subsect of Christians religiously observe Lent and why we as a body of Christ are encouraged to participate in the Lenten season?
This year I am attempting to participate in Lent intentionally this year. One of the things I would like to abstain from is secular music.
Okay so first of all, let’s back track to first understand what lent is all about?
Why Do We Lent?
What is Lent?
Lent is a time of repentance and turning back to God. It is a moment when we honestly evaluate and truthfully access ourselves and our walk with Christ? Have we been as Christ like as we are called to be? Are we truly walking what we are talking about? This can be quite difficult to self reflect. As a young child I always equated Lent (and to some extent even now in my adult years), as simply a catholic practice that requires abstaining from anything ‘worldly’. For some people that could be food, others it’s their tv shows, the music they typically listen to or the type of clothes they chose to wear or whatever it may be!
But Lent goes beyond just working to prune our new year resolutions, it requires a surrendering to the transformative power of God and trusting that:
“And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, and you are the potter.
We all are formed by your hand.”
Isaiah 64:8 (NLT)
For more information on Lent
Music as therapy for the soul
So why music specifically? Well as Christians in the 21st century this can be one of the daily battles we face. Generally Lent accompanies fasting form food and reading and deeper devotion of the Word, this should be done ideally to accompany any participation in Lent. Personally, I have always seen music as therapeutic for the soul so I considered as part of my Lent period why not fully immerse myself in soul edifying music. As a young adult it can be difficult sometimes to abstain from secular music because it is just so prevalent around us in the malls, sometimes in the workplace and with the rise of different genres like Afrobeats as well as social media platforms like TikTok, how do we not get easily distracted in this day and age?
Well, it was no easy feat but with years of gathering some expo and getting information of the awesome AfroGospel artists that are up and coming, I can share a short playlist of some songs curated.
We have to be very careful the types of content we consume on a daily and that we allow feed into our souls and therefore our psych. It is what we have within us that comes out during our toughest moments.
More than that the recent release of Nathaniel Bassey (a Gospel artist) ‘Names of God‘ album really prompted me to want to start a new series that entails deep diving into the various personalities of God that we see through his various names and revelations to people in the Bible and ultimately to us.
I am excited to embark on this journey and delve deeper into the Names and thus the Characters of God that stands out to me the most in this season of life. I hope you enjoy the series. I hope these suggested albums and playlist is useful and helpful to you someone.
And whether you choose to participate in Lent or not, or chose to learn more about it. Let us all continue to seek God more and draw nearer to the heart of the Father.
May the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ over us on the cross never be in vain. May our lives and our trajectory always please Him and bring glory to His holy name.
Happy Lent!
#SeekGodMore
Mo 🙂
A young woman on a mission to discovering purpose, to inspire growth and contribute to the Kingdom mandate. On the blog we are all about learning and growing and this is done through writing on topics from Faith, Education, Music, Food, Travel and so much more… (Romans 12:2)
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