What to do with Lent?

Lent has become a bit of a monster with people giving up chocolate, sweets, and all manner of other things and proudly telling everyone they can about it.  But does that idea of giving up just reinforce the idea of being good to earn salvation?  Does it simply reinforce the idea that God is a killjoy who wants to deny us pleasure and enjoyment, hence giving up something we enjoy makes him happy?  I know that's not the idea behind it but I think that's got lost somewhere.

This year I'm encouraging Grace Church not to give up but to take up.  We're giving out reading plans for lent on Sunday.  40 days of Bible readings in John's gospel which is the book we are preaching through after Easter.  The hope is that if people agree to read these then they can chat about them and their questions over coffee on Sunday before and after the service and even during the week.  The aim is to get God's word even more active than it is already among God's people.

Here's the reading plan:

Weds 18th Feb John 1v1-18

Thurs 19th Feb John 1v19-34

Fri 20th Feb John 1v35-51

Sat 21st Feb John 2v1-12

Sun 22nd Feb

Mon 23rd Feb John 2v13-25

Tues 24th Feb John 3v1-21

Weds 25th Feb John 3v22-36

Thurs 26th Feb John 4v1-42

Fri 27th Feb John 4v43-54

Sat 28th Feb John 5v1-18

Sun 1st Mar

Mon 2nd Mar John 5v19-47

Tues 3rd Mar John 6v1-24

Weds 4th Mar John 6v25-59

Thurs 5th Mar John 6v60-71

Fri 6th Mar John 7v1-24

Sat 7th Mar John 7v25-52

Sun 8th Mar

Mon 9th Mar John 8v1-30

Tues 10th Mar John 8v31-59

Weds 11th Mar John 9v1-23

Thurs 12th Mar John 9v24-41

Fri 13th Mar John 10v1-21

Sat 14th Mar John 10v22-42

Sun 15th Mar

Mon 16th Mar John 11v1-27

Tues 17th Mar John 11v28-57

Weds 18th Mar John 12v1-26

Thurs 19th Mar John 12v27-50

Fri 20th Mar John 13v1-17

Sat 21st Mar John 13v18-38

Sun 22nd Mar

Mon 23rd Mar John 14v1-31

Tues 24th Mar John 15v1-27

Weds 25th Mar John 16v1-33

Thurs 26th Mar John 17v1-26

Fri 27th Mar John 18v1-18

Sat 28th Mar John 18v19-40

Sun 29th Mar

Mon 30th Mar John 19v1-16

Tues 31st Mar John 19v17-42

Weds 1st Apr John 20v1-18

Thurs 2nd Apr John 20v19-31

Fri 3rd Apr John 21v1-14

Sat 4th Apr John 21v15-25