Sacramental Living

Martin Luther once wrote:

“Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth.”

This got our Spiritual Formation Pastor, Tony Jeck, thinking. He hatched an idea that he and I and any men in our faith community who want to should go unshaven for the Season of Lent.

Ash Wednesday rolled around and I still needed convincing. I mean, come on, I’m fully aware of my sin. I don’t need a burly face to remind me of it! But eventually I caved.

So this will be the first of 6 posts chronicling my personal journey through Lent as I face … my facial hair … and my sin.

My first observation is how quickly facial hair fills in. I forgot to shave until Friday afternoon (2 days late). Plus, I’m not the hairiest guy in the world (my wife thanks God for that). So I figured I wouldn’t notice anything. But I’m only 3 days in and as you can see … it’s coming in surprisingly quickly!

Sin is like that. I confess. I experience God’s forgiveness. I pray for the power to sin no more. Then, I go about life not really keeping my guard up. Then I’m tempted to sin. And BAM … who knew it crept up on me like that?!

Just at the point I thought I was “clean” … just when I was sure that I was overcoming sin … that’s when I was most vulnerable.

I look forward to being confronted everyday with the reality of sin. I look forward to learning to live out Christ’s power over sin. I look forward …

SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
How are you journeying through the Season of Lent?

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
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Related Posts:

• Sin and Facial Hair 2
• Sin and Facial Hair 3
• Sharing the Journey
• The Frustration of Foolishness
• All Our Sins