A Lenten Blog: Almsgiving
Lent is a penitent season meant to prepare us. In it we hear the clear call of our Saviour to repent. We repent to prepare for resurrection! Lent, this penitent preparation, is marked by prayer, fasting, renewal through meditating on God’s word, and almsgiving.
What is almsgiving and why should we give alms? Almsgiving is a spiritual discipline connected to Lent and it is designed to connect us more deeply with each other and connect us with Jesus himself. For centuries the church has joined together in giving to the poor and needy as an expression of Christian love, justice, and communal solidarity.
In the Gospel passage for Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), twice Jesus says, “When you give to the needy…” (Matt. 6). There was no question of if, but when! Jesus just assumes those who walk His Way will give to the needy. But Jesus takes this even further, He identifies with needy. He not only calls them his own, He calls himself one of them, “I was hungry…I was thirsty…I was a stranger…whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me” (Matt. 25). Because of Jesus’ teaching, almsgiving in the early church was not just an individual act but a communal duty, reflecting the radical love and mutual care that defined early Christian identity.
Most of our Spiritual disciplines focus on our internal realities, they focus on me. Almsgiving is a Spiritual discipline that takes me out of me in compassion for the other. “We might say that almsgiving comes by being moved to compassion when we see the plight of others, not in a remote sense, but in a direct sense. Almsgiving, then, concerns our neighbors, especially those who bring us distress” (Lee Nelson).
Lent is a time to not run from distress, ours or others. Lent is a time to stare distress in the face and to see in the face of “the other” the face of another, the face of Jesus Christ. Fasting means we go without food, almsgiving ensures others do not! Fasting fixes our gaze on our own unseen face even as we are commanded to clean our physical face. Almsgiving forces us to see the physical faces of others that are treated as unseen all the time. The ones, “we speed past on the way to our jobs, vacations, and leisure pretending we do not see. But Christians serve a God who sees, so we must stop and see too. Once we see, we cannot close our hearts to help” (Lent, Esau McCaulley, 37).
Opening Our Hearts to Help
So, Restoration, let us let the Lord use Lent to open our hearts to help. During Lent, we have opened a special giving designation for Almsgiving. All of the offerings at Ash Wednesday and 100% of the Almsgiving designated funds will go towards this Almsgiving project.
We will use our giving to provide food for families in our neighborhood. More on this soon, but we are starting to dream about providing a pancake breakfast and giant Easter Egg Hunt for all of the families at Stratton Meadows Elementary, Women of Courage, and FLS. We also want to provide, if possible, packages of take home food for those in need.
So whether you set aside the money you would have spent on coffee, chocolate, and clothes during Lent or if you would like to just give above and beyond your normal giving, let us all seek Jesus as to what to give and seek Jesus in our giving!
Click HERE to give to our Almsgiving project.
