Lent - part 1

We are well into lent by now and I've finally made some space to blog some thoughts and reflections on the season. I thought I'd break this into stages so if anyone wanted to have a dialogue about it I'd love to hear from you.

I have had many robust discussions with colleagues about lent, why or why it is not practised and the value of it and I can tell you that among these conversations have been passionate disagreements.

I come from a fairly conservative Churches of Christ up bringing and am currently engaged in ministry with the Churches of Christ in South Australia. I have never really been exposed to much of the traditional liturgy or rituals of the church because it has never really been a core focus of our restoration movement - that's not to say that the rituals aren't important, they just never played a major role in the life of the church I grew up in.

As I was emerging out of my final year of college I began to participate more and more in ecumenical conversations and where possible would attend services held by other denominations so I could learn and appreciate the different forms of worship and why they practised in this way. Some things I didn't quite get and others I knew wouldn't gel with me but I learned to appreciate anyway, while other worship practices enriched my Christian experience. A Church of Christ colleague of mine who was a couple of years ahead of me in college and is still a very dear friend helped me a great deal not only to appreciate different traditions but exposed me to how to recreate variations of these worship practices so our Church of Christ congregations could appreciate something of richness of alternative forms of worship.

So for the past few years I have chosen to take my congregations through the Lenten journey, each year is different and each year we learn something new about ourselves and who we are called to be. I came across a blog as lent was beginning titled - 'why Baptists don't observe lent'. I found the title intriguing so I read on. To cut a long story short I found the blog post to be short sighted and arrogant towards a tradition that might not be fully understood. The blog author referred to lent as a '40 day period preceded by the most intense gluttony and occupied with the setting aside of trivial pleasantries and followed by a return to the same old same old'. I disagree.

I have since had conversations with Baptist, Church of Christ, Uniting Church and Catholic communicants all of whom have a different reflection on why they observe lent. Yes that's right a Baptist observing lent! The author of the blog I read said that Baptist don't need lent because they repent 365 1/4 days a year (that's the bit I found arrogant) accusing all others of only repenting on the first day. My Catholic friend told me that she has spiritual practises 365 1/4 days a year and lent enables a heightened sense of the awareness of God and the journey towards Easter. I take offense at the implication that those who observe certain seasons of the church calender are merely drones who don't lead spiritual lives but hang out for ritual so they can finally receive absolution for their sinful lives.

I have also been criticized for giving something up for lent. Lent is traditionally a time of fasting. The 40 days of lent identifies with Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. It is a time of humbling one self and a time of discernment. I have chosen to give up coffee and alcohol for lent. For those who don't know me, no I don't have a drinking problem with alcohol, however I do enjoy a beer or a glass of wine with friends once or twice a week. I was put to the test when I attended a concert with my brother, brother-in-law and a friend and they offered to buy beers for me at the bar before we went in. I kindly declined and it created an interesting conversation around the table as they drank their beer and I went without.

Many of my friends were in shock when I told them what I was giving up. It's bound to come up in conversation because drinking caffeine and alcohol is a social thing. This has no impaired my socializing but my point in doing this has nothing to do with anyone except me and God and my own spiritual development. In case people didn't realize this, both coffee and alcohol contain addictive drugs, I hear friends joke about how they 'need' a coffee or hanging out for a drink. It made me think - can I do without it and not replace it with something else? Sometimes I think i enjoy these indulgences too much so it was the obvious choice for me to set myself the challenge. At the end of the second day of having no coffee I had an amazing headache. My mum (who works in a pharmacy) told me I was having caffeine withdrawals! Now that's got to tell you something about the substances we pump into our body! After all isn't our body a temple within which the Holy Spirit chooses to dwell? My spiritual discipline for this season is to cleanse and look after my 'temple' so it may be fit for God's service. I hope that after Easter I will be able to maintain some discipline around drinking (caffeine in particular) in moderation because after all do I really need it?

So I've gone without caffeine and alcohol for 16 days now and I feel so much better for it. I feel like my body is being cleansed and my focus is renewed. I told my congregation what I was doing and how the idea of lent was to give up something we think we needed (traditionally food). Rather than replacing it with something else we repeat the words in our head, 'God is enough'. It becomes a chant that helps us identify with Jesus' 40 days of discernment in the wilderness - God is enough. It works for me because at least 3 or 4 times a day a little voice in my head says 'I need a coffee' and the voice that replies says, 'God is enough'.

In addition to giving up something I have taken up a spiritual discipline which I plan to continue in some shape or form beyond lent. I have increased the regularity of spiritual direction and have locked in weekly retreat time at a local Christian spirituality centre. My wife and i are attending a whole day spiritual Lenten retreat in a couple of weeks. I will blog about these experiences later.

I think it's arrogant and naive to be quick to criticize an old Christian ritual simply because it's old (a hangover from the middle ages is what one colleague called it) or you think it bears no relevance. For many Christians, many of whom have much more specific spiritual disciplines than me 365 1/4 days of the year, find lent a very helpful discipline to heighten their sense of connection with God. Don't disrespect the ritual just because you don't practise it or understand it.

More to come...

Shalom
Mark