Happy Lent!
You may or may not have realized that as of Ash Wednesday (Feb. 10th) we are officially in the season of Lent. It’s an important time for the church and all believers, but I’m afraid that for many in the Protestant tradition the season begins without much recognition.
Many of us in our theological neck of the woods don’t really practice Ash Wednesday as a way to kick-start the Lenten season, and, while I get it, it is somewhat of a shame. Mainly because for us the time to remember, pray and meditate on, as well as join Christ in His suffering and work of love is reduced from almost a two-month journey to a “not always so” solemn week (Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday). It’s a little bit different for our Catholic friends.
Not only does the Catholic Church commemorate the beginning of the Lenten Season with Ash Wednesday, but there are reminders throughout the entire march up to Easter about the importance of this time of year. I can still remember as a boy in private school the lunches where meat wasn’t served on Friday. How is it a meal with no meat? (although the pierogis they served were pretty great) Or, how every week we would get out of class for an entire afternoon to go to church for the Stations of the Cross (amazing). I probably shouldn’t say it was “amazing” to go to a remembrance about the suffering and death of our Savior, but I was in 6th grade and it meant I got to miss English for a day.
But of all the things that were meant to remind us of Christ’s sacrifice during this season maybe the greatest was through our own sacrifice. It’s still as clear to me as if it had been yesterday, on my first Ash Wednesday in Catholic School our homeroom teacher went around the room asking each child what they were giving up for Lent. What? I had never heard of such a thing. Give something up for over a month? You must be crazy!
So, as they got to me, I was merely was wanting to scream that I wasn’t Catholic and so this whole thing didn’t apply to me. As well as, having absolutely nothing in mind, I blurted out the first thing I could think of, “I’m giving up TV for Lent.” I stepped back from my deeply religious pronouncement, and, as my classmates marveled at the depth of spirituality that was required to give up this holy grail of entertainment (at least in my mind they were in awe of such things), I wondered about this funny and strange ritual of theirs.
Truthfully, I really had no intent of giving up TV in the midst of March Madness, but, more to the point, I came to find out that the notion behind this sacrifice was that, as we long for that which we have given up for Lent (supposedly my TV) we are to remember and think about the sacrifice of Christ. Well I thought it was a great idea, although I didn’t want to do it (the one time I wasn’t jealous of my friends for being Catholic), and I thought that, in a way, my own Evangelical faith was somewhat inferior.
What one thing are you sacrificing for the sake of Christ this Lenten season? Why didn’t we ask such questions? Was it because we are selfish and have less faith? Maybe. Maybe not. But the feeling that somehow my Evangelical heritage wasn’t at quite the same depth of my Catholic friends’, in at least this one area, hounded me for quite some time.
However, now as I stand on this side of puberty and 6th grade English, my frame of reference has changed. As we begin our journey with Christ this Lenten season let me ask you a similar yet amended question.What in your life have you yet to sacrifice for the sake of Christ?
If this time of remembrance is meant to draw us closer to him as well as join us with Him on His journey then my contention is that: we must follow His lead completely. We must follow our leader not simply by giving up one aspect of our life for a time, but everything for eternity. This is what Paul claims Christ has done for us when writing to the church in Philippi:
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had: 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
I appreciate the Catholic sentiment of giving something up for Lent to help us remember and identify with what Christ has done for us, but I believe they are coming at it from the wrong angle. Rather, we must be asking ourselves the question, “What is in my life that I still haven’t given to God?” Let me encourage you to walk towards Calvary this season with that question ruminating around in your mind and soul. If we are to truly follow Christ’s lead then it requires our sacrifice of all-of-it for always, because that is exactly what He has done for us.
After reading your blog, I am challenged with your question, “what is in my life that I still haven’t given to God?” And so, I will seek the Holy Spirit and ask Him to reveal to me if there is anything that I’ve not given Him, so He may have all of me.