This Lent, I’m issuing a big challenge. I’m inviting you to tithe.
Wait! Wait! Please don’t stop reading quite yet. I’m not talking about dollars (as essential as those are to the work of the church). I’m offering a tougher ask. I’m inviting you to be here.
Frederick Buechner once observed that the season of Lent is roughly a tithe of the year, a dedication of 40 days to essential questions and renewed holy practices. I want to be more specific. I’m asking for a tithe of the season. There are six Sundays during Lent. I’m challenging you to be here for four of them—a tithe of the 40-day season—preferably consecutive Sundays, but I won’t be picky. Four Sundays.
That might not sound like a grueling Lenten challenge, but statistics argue otherwise. In a recent Gallup poll of 30,000+ Americans, 30 percent of people identifying as Protestant said they attend worship every week. Thirteen percent of Protestants say they attend “about once a month,” while 27 percent “seldom” attend, and 16 percent “never” go to worship. (For a summary of the full poll, see here.)
So, I guess four Sundays in a row might prove tougher than it sounds. But, hey, it’s Lent, my last at Glenn, so why not? I hereby challenge you to be in worship four Sundays in Lent, preferably sequentially. Who knows? It might be easier than giving up chocolate or social media.
I guess the worst that can happen is you’ll rue the waste of four hours. And the best? Well, there’s beautiful music in a beautiful setting among (in my opinion) beautiful people. For four hours this Lent, you can step away from the news. For four hours, you can catch your breath. For four hours, you can ponder the eternal. For four hours, there’s a real chance you’ll be surprised by the stirring of the Holy Spirit. For four hours, there is the potential to discover surprising truth about Christ and yourself. For four hours, you can sit among a people set apart as a “royal priesthood,” a people called to love, a people claimed by the amazing grace of God, a people of which you are a member. And I can guarantee you’ll be reminded that God loves you, forgives you, claims you as God’s own child, and calls you to be beautifully, powerfully different in the world.
No guilt. No shame. Just an invitation for this season of Lent—a tithe of days. And if this kind of tithe doesn’t appeal to you, you can always opt for the monetary variety. That’s good, too.
With gratitude,
Mark