I did not grow up knowing about Lent in any sort of personal way. I only knew my Catholic friends in my neighborhood gave up the best stuff, usually food, that I really liked when they would share. It just didn’t make sense to this Baptist kid as I was growing up. It was also in the days before and during Vatican II, when much changed about the Catholic church.
So, what is Lent? I have grown up a whole lot since those days back in my hometown. As I have grown and moved from Baptist to Presbyterian and on to Methodist, my awareness of Lent has grown. Even then, the idea of Lent and celebrating the seasons of the Christian calendar have taken some practice to get used to. I can now see Lent as the time of introspection and longing for the Easter morning and the resurrection.
This season of the church, this time of rebirth, is tied to the natural world we live in. At Advent, we experience the darkness with only a flicker of light in the world. By Lent, our expectation grows and we arrive at our new birth. So, why give things up? That is the issue, being able to give things up signifies what exactly? I get it, the 40 day fast in the wilderness that led to Jesus becoming very aware of his Messiahship.
And that is the purpose of Lent. We are the only God the world can ever know. Jesus came to bring light, he left that light with us. Lent is our 40-day reminder of who we are and who we are called to be. You and I, we are the hope of the world and that is powerful. We must realize that each day, we go through the whole cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. When we learn to live as if each day was the only day, we become the living God we are called to be.
A recent cartoon of Charlie Brown and Snoopy, a Zen idea is expressed with Charlie Brown saying, “You know, Snoopy, we will die one day.” Snoopy answers, “Yes, but we will live all of the others.” That is powerful as you think about it. We know where it will end and since we do, we should joyously live all of the other days. As we head toward Easter, perhaps it is time to be reborn into the world of living every day.
TMM