Connecting Worship and Daily Living in Lent

"Lent is a time of preparation for the initiation of people into the Christian life in baptism. It is also a time for the church to journey together toward Easter and the reaffirmation of the baptismal covenant. Lent is not about being miserable, sad, and funereal in anticipation of Good Friday. The Sundays of Lent are not part of the forty days of Lent and so remain "little Easters," as are all Sundays. Fasting and giving up something can be part of Lenten disciplines, but so can taking on some things. How does your church help seekers and members to connect worship and daily growth in spiritual, relational, emotional, and bodily fitness?" (excerpt, connecting Worship and Daily Living in Lent, Daniel Benedict,
http://www.gbod.org/worship/default.asp?act=reader&item_id=3864&loc_id=9,612,48)

I am intrigued by this statement: Lent is not about being miserable, sad, and funereal in anticipation of Good Friday. The Sundays of Lent are not part of the forty days of Lent and so remain "little Easters," as are all Sundays.

I think sometimes we are sad, down in the mouth, preparing for the ugliness of Good Friday, trying to get inside the the immense emotional agony that Jesus experienced as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, begging God the Father to not make him go to the Cross, begging God for another way, praying so hard that the intensity of his praying brought 'great drops of blood.' (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-47)

I cannot help but be distressed by the fact that Jesus who was perfect would be condemned to death in this awful way, not for ANYTHING Jesus did, but for what all of us have (or have not) done. It's like an emotionally charged movie where the really good person dies. Once, several years ago now, we were reading from The Giving Tree, and I was absolutely devastated and crying because this tree gave and gave and gave, until it had no more to give. How much more is this!

But the Sundays .... well, there is an Easter! There is JOY, there is HOPE, there is PROMISE.

So maybe, throughout Lent I can consider the cost of the gift, but on Sundays I can praise God and jump for joy in the knowledge that the Resurrection is just around the corner.