THE GIFT OF LENT

The dried palm leaves are burned – a slow process that requires that they be lit, stirred and relit and stirred again and again until they have all been reduced to ash.  The smell of the smoke permeates one’s clothing and hair.  Is this the smell of repentance? 

This practice is well over a thousand years old.  In these days when life and change are in hyper drive, it seems almost ancient, primitive in fact, but none the less, sacred.  In the burning of the leaves, watching the short bursts of flame and the pin points of dying embers among the ashes, there is a connection with God.  Perhaps like a burnt sin offering? 

And so the palms of last year’s Palm Sunday become the ashes of this year’s Ash Wednesday.

The solemnity and themes of confession and contrition of Ash Wednesday don’t hold the same attraction for us that the joyous celebration of Easter and chocolate bunnies do.

“From dust you came and to dust you shall return,” is a reminder that death is going to come to us all.  That even though we are created in the image of God, without God’s grace, we tend to love ourselves and our self-centered desires more than we love God and doing God’s will including loving our neighbors as Christ loved us. 

It reminds us also that while God’s grace is so freely offered to us, it is so costly to the one who gives it.  Yet, without that grace and the forgiveness it offers us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we all face spiritual death.

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a time of self-examination and fasting, abstaining from food or activities.  Like all human beings, I have been known to “give up something for Lent” that is easy, convenient or beneficial to me.  I don’t really like watching sports, so I’ll give up watching ESPN.  Or, I need to loose a few pounds, so I’ll give up chocolate for Lent 

I’m not criticizing the choice of instituting healthy self-care practices for Lent, far from it, but unless any of the sacrifices we choose to make lead us to our prayer closets to engage with the transforming love of God through Christ through the spiritual practices of prayer, meditation and reading the scriptures, they are meaningless.  For it is during these times as we rely on the power of God’s Holy Spirit to resist temptation, do that, like fine steel, our faith and trust are tempered and strengthened.  It is during these times that we are participating in God's grace that we grow in the likeness of Christ and in our love for God and for neighbor. 

I also believe that the time and money we would have spent on what we are sacrificing for Lent can also be used to share the love of Christ through the spiritual practices of giving and service.  An hour of TV or computer time might be replaced with an hour of volunteer service.  The amount spent on a can of pop or a candy bar or a meal at a restaurant could be donated to the Food Pantry.

To me, taking the easy path through Lent or ignoring it completely to skip directly to Easter, is like nibbling at the crumbs of the Bread of Life and only wetting one’s lips on the rim of the Cup of Salvation.  And I know that Christ came so that we might have so much more than that.  

Rather than looking at Lent as a time of gloom and guilt, let us see it as a gift of God’s grace. Confession, repentance and reconciliation with God through Christ produce life and hope, which brings resurrection within us. 

The gift of the discipline of Lent is that it frees us to be the people God has created us to be and to experience the fullness of Christ’s love.