Lent Through a New Thought Lens

February 17, 2021

Dear Friends,

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is a 40-day period of spiritual preparation for Easter. It’s a period of purification hallmarked in the past by fasting and acts of self-denial. For those of you having come to Unity from a traditional Christian background, Lent may stand out for you as a somber time of giving up pleasures in an effort to practice self-discipline. Others may have used this time to foster new habits in their lives or to more diligently engage in daily prayer practices. Underneath the restrictions, efforts, diligence, and discipline was a true desire to grow spiritually so as to more deeply engage with the mysteries of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday. The belief that Jesus overcame death is the very cornerstone of Christianity.

The underlaying belief in the traditional practice of Lent is that humankind is basically flawed, mired in sinfulness. That it is through suffering and establishing dominion over both our bodies and corrupted natures that we can possibly take part in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Unity has a different view. New Thought belief is that humankind emerges from Divine Source spiritually perfect and whole. That our original nature is good, having come out of Absolute Good. Any “corruption” that humans might experience is the result of error thinking influenced by race consciousness and our own interpretations of our experiences. The path to realizing more and more of the good we truly are is consciousness, is coming into the awareness that we are the Kingdom of Heaven.

Our physicality and preoccupation with the three-dimensional world of materiality distracts us from Truth. Lent, in this context, can be embraced by us in New Thought as a time set aside for remembering and restoring Truth as our foundation of being.

Today’s Daily Word reads –

“On this Ash Wednesday, I give thanks for this holy season – a time of deep, prayerful contemplation. With faith, I commit to deepening my spiritual understanding and more fully expressing my divinity. I solemnly ask which habits or thought patterns are keeping me from being the person I want to be. I take time in the Silence to sit with this question, open to whatever wisdom comes to me.

As I consider what to give up, I also think of what I am giving to. I release old thoughts and patterns of behavior and welcome a new way of living. I release negative thinking to give myself the gift of positivity.”

This Lent I invite you to turn towards your highest and best selves. Certainly, the process will include some letting go and trying on. Use both to chart your course forward to a greater realization of Christ Consciousness.

Blessings Always,

Rev. Patty