The Good Stuff

When I was growing up in the Methodist Church of rural south Georgia, Lent was mostly mentioned, but not really observed.  We knew it was Lent when the coin folders were handed out on Sunday morning with a word about denying ourselves something like a coke or candy.  Each day during Lent a dime went in the coin folder and we brought them back to the church on Easter Sunday as a special mission offering.  The thought of putting ashes on our forehead as the Catholics did was just not proper Protestant behavior.   

I cannot say exactly when things began to change, but I do know by the time I got into my ministry years, Lent was a season which was more widely observed.  I remember a friend saying lightheartedly, "There is no reason to let the Catholics have all the good stuff."  There really is a lot of good stuff packed in the season of Lent.   It is unfortunate that our love affair with the spontaneous and our fear of ritual keep us from experiencing the deeper levels of meaning within the ashes of Ash Wednesday, the holy meal of Maundy Thursday, and the horror of the cross.  

Lent is also a season which calls us to be more attentive to our involvement in spiritual disciplines such as fasting, praying, reading the Word, and living generously and sacrificially.  When we truly respond to the invitation to observe a holy Lent, we find that Easter is like morning light bursting forth from the darkness and rushing over us as if a powerful wave of the Spirit has overwhelmed and immersed us in the power of the resurrection.  Lent prepares our heart for such a moment.  It would be a shame to settle for something less.