Just like Advent isn’t really a season in its own right, but rather a period of preparation for the celebration of the Incarnation, Lent is at its core a period of personal and communal self-examination intended to prepare us for the celebration of a glorious Easter. But that is not how we usually think of Lent. Lent is penitential, gloomy, a time to take a hard look at ourselves and the burden of sin we carry, a time to give something up that we like, a time when we shout as a congregation “Crucify him!” (him being Jesus) during dramatic readings of the gospels on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Nothing very glorious about any of that!
But consider a different perspective, one more faithful to the intent of the Lenten season. Lent is derived from a word meaning “springtime,” denoting new birth, restored life, a chance for a new start. Here is a novel idea to think about. Instead of giving up something you like, how about giving up something that you don’t like, such as things that get in the way of a glorious Easter celebration? Things like self-absorption, lack of charity, refusal to forgive, or disdain for those who differ from you in some way. That, of course, means taking a hard look yourself, maybe expressing sorrow to God for hurt that is caused, but there is little chance for a new start without knowing where those things that hinder our relationship with God and one another reside in our hearts and actions.
The Invitation to a Holy Lent during the Ash Wednesday service in the Prayer Book (BCP p. 264-5) notes that, by our disciplines of self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting, self-denial, and reading and meditating on God’s holy Word through this season, “the whole congregation [is] put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior,” such that our cry to “Crucify!” culminates in Thomas’ post-resurrection experience with Jesus, as he (we) exclaims “My Lord and my God!”
Penitential? Maybe. Gloomy? Doesn’t have to be. Hard self-look? Sure, but worthy endeavors, all, because our Lenten preparations are intended to culminate in a glorious Easter.
-Marc
