The Practicing Progressive

Issue 11
February 19, 2007

I love Lent.

It may seem more than a little idiosyncratic for someone so averse to employing certain religious traditions as I to admit such devotion but I do, unashamedly. From Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, I savor this contemplative season. Part of my attraction, I am sure, has to do with my inherent Lutheran nature that finds self-reflection, even self-censure, something of a pleasurable pursuit and forty days all too brief to return to the writings of Kierkegaard or view the films of Bergman once again. The idea of setting aside time each year to ritually re-examine one’s motives and goals has great appeal to me. I am far too much of a realist to fail to acknowledge the dark underbelly of human existence that the church calls sin. Denying our propensity toward self-serving ways leads to the kind of naiveté that allows us to ignore the often destructive ramifications of our own actions. Everything from petty gossip to global warming, incidental hurts to violent imperialism, can find its cause in our self-centeredness. A whole liturgical season set aside to confront such a conundrum seems time very well spent.

If only most churches would spend it more wisely.

Too much of the valuable time of Lent is taken up by too many churches acknowledging ancient formulas that seek to rectify our collective conduct. Oh for a Lenten season that leaves behind the ludicrous litanies of blood atonement and divine appeasement! Can we not spend this holy season in congregational contemplation, musing on the holy power of compassionate action and Christian discipleship?

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” seems strangely inappropriate to a religious tradition consumed by personal prospects for eternity but suitably shocking for a religion that is centered, as Jesus’ was, on the kingdom of God in our midst. Lent reminds us that our allocation of time is limited. Rather than avoiding such a sobering reality with fantastic notions of a life to come, faithful disciples of Jesus will find in Lent the inspiration and courage to experience the kingdom that comes now…in every gesture of grace, in every act of kindness.

For most of the year we rest in romantic notions of an ordered universe, a divine plan. Lent, on the other hand, whispers a different truth. Life is less under our control than we would wish. Unexpected events lie in hiding, only awaiting an improper and unwanted time to make their appearance. The proper Christian response to such a foreboding future, it seems to me, is not the pious acquiescence of Job but the compassionate action of Christ, a life centered not in ourselves but others, a life lived in the kingdom that is in our midst.

And so I wish us all well on our Lenten journey. May it stir our spirits and open our hearts to truths we’d just as soon forget but desperately need to remember.