Pastor’s Ponderings
by Pastor Kimberly Chastain
Dear Ones,
This year, Easter is almost as late as it can possibly be — therefore, so is Lent. Lent is the 7 weeks of preparation, including Holy Week, that starts on Ash Wednesday and ends with the Feast of the Resurrection. Technically, in the liturgical calendar, Lent is 40 days long — the Sundays are considered to be “in” Lent, but not “of” Lent, because every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. The 40 days of Lent remind us of the 40 years spent in the wilderness by the Hebrew people, and of the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting and praying.
Presbyterians are relatively new to the observance of Lent. It was only in the 1970s that we began to join with the more liturgical members of the National Council of Churches in observing the seasons of the church year, and we’re still not very good at it. We have a book study starting on March 18 and a movie series starting on March 24, but those are more a part of our regular spiritual formation cycle than special Lenten observances. There are Ash Wednesday services this week, and special observances during Holy Week, but that’s about it.
Our theology emphasizes resurrection and new life, bringing the reign of God into our present world. There doesn’t seem to be much connection between giving up chocolate and the crucifixion of Christ. And most of us are feeling overwhelmed by life, so adding more to think about can feel like — well, like one more thing. In some ways, Mardi Gras, with its emphasis on throwing off restraints and letting go of limits seems closer to meeting our spiritual needs than fasting and self-denial.
If you are already burdened by grief or pain or an absence of joy during this season, perhaps you should take this time of Lent to build connections and to reach out to those around you. Share meals — send cards telling people you love them — have a conversation with someone you’ve never talked to. Open your heart to the image of God in every person you meet, and instead of keeping your struggles to yourself, ask others for help or wisdom or prayer. Preparing for resurrection is more than focusing on suffering and death; it is also walking with each other through the long days of fear and uncertainty. And perhaps we will find, as the earliest followers of Jesus found, that it is in community that we find new life and new hope.
Poet Steven Andrew Westby put it like this in his poem called “Lent”:
We give up the wrong things…
Acting as if what God desires most
is for us to be on a diet from joy.
Perhaps lent should instead
be a time of letting go
of all that prevents community.
During this Lent, let us give up isolation and self-reliance, opening ourselves to the power of connection in and through Christ, so that we may be more fully his people.
Blessings,
Pastor Kimberly