Naomi's Notes - 02/20/05
When I was in 3rd grade, my family moved from Mississippi to Grand Island, New York. In today's terminology, my dad was a "bi-vocational church planter," and we were trying to establish a Baptist presence in an overwhelmingly Catholic area.
Every Wednesday afternoon, the entire student body of my elementary school was bussed to the local Catholic church for catechism. About two other protestant children and I stayed behind and enjoyed free time, often running errands for teachers. Once a year, all the children returned to school with ashes on their forehead.
As a child I understood only that Ash Wednesday and Lent were some kind of religious observances that Baptists didn't do. I'd also heard my parents talk about some ridiculous adherence to "giving up something for Lent," like the lady who switched to a low tar brand of cigarettes during Lent.
Nowadays, more and more Baptist churches are observing Advent, but very few even mention the Lenten season. That is, except for those of us (myself included) who lightheartedly announce that we've "given up something - usually fattening food - for Lent," as if it's some kind of game.
But Lent means far more than that - and it's not just Baptists who misunderstand its meaning. Last Wednesday I observed a mother and baby entering a Frankfort store; both had ashes on their forehead. The ashes are supposed to represent penitence and sorrow for sin, so I was surprised to see them on such an innocent child.
Lent (from a Saxon word meaning "spring") is supposed to be a pre-Easter observance during which time Christians draw near to God "by extraordinary acts of penitence, charity, and religious devotion, and by fasting and abstinence from all things that tend to draw the heart from God." The object is "to deepen the religious life, to purify the heart from sin, and to unite us more closely to the Savior" (Richard Lobs, in The Services of the Christian Year). Ash Wednesday (think "sackcloth and ashes") marks the beginning of the season, which corresponds to the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness.
For me, "giving up something for Lent" is not just a means of dieting or making myself more self-disciplined. It becomes a religious experience in that every time I experience temptation and self-denial during these 40 days before Easter, I am prompted to keep my promise to focus intently on my spiritual relationship to God. My desire, as with all good habits, is that this will continue beyond Lent throughout the rest of the year.
See you in worship this Sunday -
Naomi