Ash Wednesday: Sad, Mad, Bad vs. Coleslaw

"Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great
devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and
it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a
season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided
a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy
Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of
notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful
were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to
the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation
was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set
forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all
Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the
observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and
meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning
of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now
kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer."

(Book of Common Prayer, 264-265)

Welcome to Lent. The pancakes have been eaten, the beads have been put away, and the revelry has ended... for now. It's time to don sackcloth and ashes. It's time to give up all those things that make us happy. Lent is a time of the -ad feelings right? Sad? Mad? Bad? Well, honestly... NO! Somewhere along the way either in our collective conscious or subconscious we began to believe that Lent is a Church season of competitive depravity. Giving up chocolate, alcohol, or whatever brings us joy makes it seem as though we are supposed to make ourselves sad enough that we feel good enough to receive God's love, forgiveness, and acceptance. The trouble is that is not how God's overabundant love works.

While giving something up or taking something on might be part of the next forty days, if we focus primarily upon what we give up, about how bad we are, about how much we need to get better at this or that, then we overlay an image of scarcity upon God's ability to love us (i.e. God only has enough love for those who are penitent). God's love though is overwhelmingly extravagant. It is enough to overcome any sense of separation. God's love has the ability to separate us so far from our sin that it is as distant as east is from west. The season of Lent is not about what we give up it's about what we take on.

A priest in this diocese offered an analogy that is helpful, for entering into Lent. He was talking about taking care of oneself, but I believe it also works for how we participate in this Holy Season. When one is trying to create balance and establish spiritual depth the first impulse is to take a bunch of stuff off of one's plate. In essence it is like trying to balance the blind Lady Justice's scales by pulling something off of one side, but in life this rarely has efficacy. When we try to de-commit from something we have signed up to do we end up letting others or ourselves down. Instead, this season of Lent is like mixing coleslaw. When you start you may be beginning with too much mayo, not enough chopped cabbage, a lack of salt, too little vinegar, and far too much pepper. Once one has started though one cannot dump the product without wasting far too much of what God has already given. Instead, one must discern what more can one take on and how that will effect the rest of the mix. Perhaps the addition of some slaw mix and vinegar makes the mayo a little easier to handle and cancels out some of the superfluous spice. The Truth is though, we cannot get these ingredients on our own.

Lent is a time to stock up and to mix in some new things, but we have to start by going to the source of all these ingredients. God invites us everyday, and the Church echoes this invitation primarily on this day and in this season, to return to God. To come back to the source of all Creation. A Holy Lent does not mean that we just act sad enough, so we feel good when Easter happens. It is not some sort of spiritual Olympics where the victor gets a crown and a gold medal. It is not competitive in any sense. Rather, it is an intentional time to come back to God, to get a little more of the ingredients that make us deeper Christians, to mix in something that restores our soul, and to share a little coleslaw with our Creator.