7 Letters, Guide: Renunciation (Introduction)
Take Communion (2 minutes)
Leader Note: Begin this time by taking communion together, whether as a full meal or some version of the bread and the cup before or after your meal. If you don’t already have a Communion liturgy, have someone read through this prayer based on the Lord’s Supper in Luke 22 and the Wedding Supper in Revelation 19v6–9:
All-loving God, we praise you and rejoice in your presence. We come to this table together with hope and longing love, sharing the Lord's Supper, to eat and drink a foretaste of that future Wedding Supper. Jesus, we are making ourselves ready: tuning our hearts and training our appetites to desire you and you alone. Infuse our lives with your presence as we share your body, broken for us, and your blood, poured out for us. You wait with longing for us to drink anew in your kingdom, so we say: Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.
Read This Overview Aloud (3 minutes)
Lent is a 40-day season within the church calendar that stretches from Ash Wednesday (March 5) to Easter Sunday (April 20), mirroring Jesus’ 40-day fast in the desert. Traditionally, Lent is marked by Fasting as a way of confessing our grief over sin. The Lenten Practice of abstaining from a particular food has often been referred to as Fasting, but it is more appropriately understood as Renunciation. Whereas Fasting is the giving up of all food for a given period of time, Renunciation is the giving up of a particular, often good or neutral, appetite—bodily or otherwise—for the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. So, for the sake of clarity, we will refer to our Lenten practice as the practice of Renunciation.
As Jesus describes to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2, it can be easy for us to lose sight of our “first love” and settle for a “lesser love.” A practice of Renunciation invites us to reclaim our first love by focusing on what God freely offers, allowing us to enjoy lesser loves without attachment. The goal is not simply to starve a lesser love but to re-throne our first love.
This year, we want God to use the 40 days of Lent to help us reclaim our first love, which is why we will use tonight to help prepare for our Lenten Renunciation by working through three major questions: 1) What is God wanting to freely give me? 2) What substitute or lesser love might God be inviting me to renounce? And 3) What practice might God be inviting me to re-engage?
Do This Practice Tonight (35 minutes)
Every week through the season of Lent, our Discipleship nights will be solely dedicated to reflecting on and deepening our practice of Renunciation. In preparation for that, tonight’s discussion will consist of three major movements: Revealing, Renouncing, and Reclaiming. We are having this conversation now so that we can show up to the Ash Wednesday gathering ready to begin our practices of Renunciation together.
Revealing: Before we explore what we may end up renouncing or reclaiming, we want to give God the first word. To do this, we are going to take some time in listening prayer, asking God the following question: “What are you wanting to freely give me in this season?” It may be something connected to a deepened understanding of your belovedness or identity, or a sense of peace or comfort in the midst of the chaos you’re experiencing, or a clearer sense of his presence to you. Whatever it is, there is a work that God is doing that he wants you to know about so that you can participate with him in it. If the idea of hearing God feels a bit daunting, start out with the question, “What do you want to receive from God in this season?”
Okay, let’s take a few moments together in silent prayer with God exploring what good gifts our Good Father wants to give us in this next season.
Leader Note: This silent prayer time should be kept to about 5 minutes.
Renouncing: With those themes in mind, let’s take the next few minutes to consider and discuss what good or neutral appetite we use as a substitute for what God is trying to give us that God might be inviting us to renounce for this season of Lent. What is something other than God that we have become dependent on to attend to the deeper aches of our soul? As I read that, something obvious might have immediately come to mind—don’t ignore that.
That said, if you’re having trouble identifying a neutral appetite that you habitually reach for in place of what you are seeking from God, consider the following lesser loves. Afterwards, we’ll each share one that stands out to us:
Wealth: What luxuries might your budget afford you that bring you a sense of security? Could you give up shopping, repurpose your saving habits, or give up a particular habit of consumption like dining out or buying coffee?
Power: What do you repeatedly return to in order to feel a sense of control? What could you give up that would leave you feeling powerless?
Pleasure: What do you use to find pleasure, comfort, or emotional regulation? Is there a specific food or media that you reach for when feeling depleted?
Appearance: What aspect of your appearance fuels your sense of value or likeability? What if you gave up makeup, or a certain product, or took down every mirror in your house for 40 days?
Vocational Success: How does your sense of identity or purpose excessively derive from your career? What if you had a set time you were going to leave the office each day or you refrained from working lunches and used your break to participate in midday prayer instead?
Let’s have a conversation about what God is stirring in you—what lesser love might he be inviting you to lay down for Lent?
Leader Note: This discussion should be kept to 15 minutes.
Reclaiming: Having explored that last question, let’s take the next few minutes to consider what practice God might be inviting us to reclaim during Lent. Put simply, how can you make space to receive the good gift God wants to give you? Think back to when you first met Jesus: What spontaneous expressions of love flowed from you when you first experienced Jesus' love? Perhaps worship came really easily and you were constantly in communion with God. Or maybe it was something like serving, or reading the Bible, telling people about Jesus, or something else. Is it possible that God might be inviting you to return to one of those practices during Lent?
Let’s have a conversation now about what God is stirring in you—what first love might God be inviting you to return to for Lent?
Leader Note: This discussion should be kept to 15 minutes. Afterwards, close this time by having everyone turn to the person beside them and pray blessing over what God is doing in them through this Lenten season.
Read The Practice for the Week Ahead (5 minutes)
Our Practice for the week ahead is to prepare for Lent by continuing to pray and process through what we shared tonight, asking God to clarify what exactly he might be asking us to renounce and reclaim. The hope is that each of us attend the Ash Wednesday Gathering on March 5 beginning our 40-day Renunciation.
If you’re unfamiliar with Lent, it’s good to know that each Sunday (or your Sabbath) of Lent is a “feasting day,” in which we pause our renunciation—eating sugar, going shopping, watching tv, etc.—in order to help stir up hope for what is to come: our celebration of the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday.
That said, the day before Lent begins is called Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday (March 4). This is a feast day on the church calendar, in which people get together to celebrate all that God has done as they prepare for 40 days of Renunciation. It’s not required, but it’s something our Community can take part in if we want! This is a feast that would include all the things that we will be renouncing (or things that are symbolic of what we are renouncing) for the Lenten season. Since this may practically be a meal made up of desserts, bread, coffee, alcohol, and meat, we should feel free to round it out with other foods as well. And while it’s obviously not an excuse to overindulge, it is certainly a time to celebrate.
So let’s spend time this week sitting with the Spirit and having a conversation about what it is each of us want to renounce during the Lenten season, and once you choose something, plan to bring it (or something that symbolizes/references it) to our Shrove Tuesday feast to share with everyone! The following night (Wednesday, March 5), we will plan to attend the Ash Wednesday gathering as a Community.
End in Prayer (5 minutes)
Leader note: Close your time together in prayer, asking God to continue growing your Community through the Practice of Renunciation.