The season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and takes place during the 40 days before Easter (excluding Sundays). The word Lent comes from the German word for “long” as in “the days are getting longer.”

Many of the traditions of Lent come to us from the 40 days when Jesus went into the desert. We view these days as a time of trial and temptation. When Satan tempted Jesus, it was a way of Jesus understanding who He understood Himself to be. Look at the list below and choose one. Who do you believe yourself to be? (Not every set of words may apply, but there will be one choice that is closer to the truth than the other.)

I am…
* My father’s son/daughter
* My brother’s/sister’s keeper
* a writer/painter/singer/dancer/poet
* batter/pitcher
* a coach/out in left field
* a lover/fighter
* theologian/politician
* your worst nightmare/your last hope
* testing the shallow end with my toes/cannonballer off the high dive

Look at these four Lenten words: Penance, Prayer, Abstinence, Almsgiving

Create a working definition for each word. Which represents how your church best connects with God during Lent?

Which represents how you personally connect with God during Lent?

Take that word and create a tattoo you could wear. Where would you wear it? Displayed or hidden?

Read Genesis 3:17-19 and Job 42:4-6. These are verses often heard in Ash Wednesday services. Are they hard to hear? Do you think a church should soften its language? Does your church impose ashes? What does this symbolize?

If you church were to paint a portrait of Jesus the size of the wall in your sanctuary, would it be more likely to depict the suffering Christ or the resurrected Christ?

Do you think we lose Lent in Easter? Why or why not?

Is it possible to appreciate the sound, color and light of Easter if we have not gone to the darkness of Good Friday?

Lent is somewhat like Advent. It is a time of preparation and waiting. Advent is about getting the world around us in order for Christ’s arrival. Lent seems to be about getting ourselves in order for Christ’s departure. Where do you go to clear your head? How often do you go there? Is there a specific piece of music or location you use? Talk about why.

How human was Jesus? (Don’t be afraid of this question. The smartest theologians in history have argued this for centuries.)

Read the story of Jesus in the wilderness being tempted by Satan: Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:9-13; Luke 4:1-13.

The word satan (note small “s”) comes to us from the Hebrew word ha-sataan, which means “stumbling block or obstacle.” What obstacle was being put in Jesus path? What is the ha-sataan you most frequently find yourself up against?

Imagine your life as a road. Far off in the distance are your life goals. In front of you on the path is a wall. When faced with a wall do you usually…
* go around
* go through
* climb over
* something else

Give an example from your own life when you used one of these methods of dealing with an obstacle.

Notice how in each story it seems to be Satan’s goal to get Jesus to question His identity. Do you think Jesus was human enough to question His own identity?

The word Lent does not appear in the Bible, but the Lent encompasses Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and other special days depending on how your church follows the calendar.

Have you ever known someone who knew he or she was going to be dying soon? Who was it? How close were you to the person? What kinds of things did they say and do?

Jesus tried several times to explain to His disciples that He was going away, and still they didn’t get it. Is if it difficult to accept that we are all mortal?

What does atonement mean?

The Bible says nothing can separate us from the love of God, yet we think we have to give up something or suffer to get back in God’s good graces. Do these two ideas seem to contradict each other? How do we reconcile them?

Theologian Allison Baker once theorized there is only one day in the history of the universe that Jesus was not present among us, and that day was the day between the crucifixion and the resurrection. How can this be true? Does it change your idea of who Jesus was?

We often ask how can Good Friday be good. It wasn’t always called Good Friday. We get the term from the German word for God which is Goot. Good Friday is meant to be seen as God’s Friday.

Do you think God cries?

Read Psalms 51. David wrote this after sleeping with another man’s wife and having the husband killed.
* What does David confess to God?
* What does David ask of God?
* What does David promise God?

How do these questions relate to Lent? Choose one verse in this psalm that speaks to you. (You don’t have to share it aloud.) Write it in your own words on a slip of paper and keep it in your purse or wallet for the whole season of Lent.