Preparing for Lent
10/02/15 05:18
The weather has given us a little break from winter here in the hills. We know that there can still be much more cold ahead, but it is nice to feel the warmth and have the snow melt around us. Still, it has not been a particularly wet winter and the forest is dry. We could use a wet spring to help us prepare for summer.
It isn’t really spring here. We know better than that. It’s still winter, with a bit of springtime weather thrown in. But we do notice that the days are lengthening. In just over a week, Lent will begin. The name of the season is taken from the lengthening of the days. The traditional Latin name for the season, Quadragesimal, never really caught on among English speakers. Somehow it doesn’t roll off our tongues that easily.
The meaning and practice of the season has shifted in my life as I have grown through different experiences. Early in my career, it was a time of personal piety. The prayer, penance, and self-denial were kinds of spiritual corrections to some of the excesses of other seasons of my life. I needed to focus more on my spirituality and less on the material. Lent was an opportunity to practice personal disciplines and re-focus my faith.
These days, I see Lent as an opportunity for the community and individual members of the church to practice grief. Grief is a reality in a life. And for those of us who have lived a few years and collected a few losses, grief seems to layer itself with depth upon depth. One loss reminds us of another. Things we thought we had gotten over are still present in our lives.
Since we all experience grief it makes sense that we might learn more about the journey of grief and engage in practices that give us skills for the grief that lies ahead. Maybe you can never prepare for the really big losses in life. Maybe there is no way to practice for the unimaginable. Still there are skills that help in a time of crisis and we turn to what is familiar when we don’t know where else to turn.
I don’t know if it is the somewhat puritanical roots of our particular corner of the church, or my family’s particular observances, or my personality type, but the season of the traditional church year that I barely observe is the one we are in now. The Latin is Septuagesima. More familiar is Shrovetide. Sometimes it is also called pre-Lent.
I’m not sure how you prepare for a season of preparing for Easter. In some traditions, this is the time of parties and excesses. If we will be giving something up for Lent, the reasoning goes, we might as well indulge ourselves before giving it up. The logic of that kind of thinking escapes me. I guess my mind just doesn’t work that way. In my way of thinking if what I want to do is to make corrections in my life, there is no need to exaggerate the things I want to correct before making the changes.
The name “Shrove” comes from the word shrive, meaning “confess.” Shrovetide is a season of intentionally collecting sins to confess in some traditions. The practice of Shrove Tuesday - Mardi Gras in French - is to eat all of the rich, fatty foods that will be denied during the season of Lent.
Although I recognize the value of fasting as a spiritual discipline, I think it is best as a private practice and not as an item of public display. Attempts at making it a communal ritual have ended up in some strange practices over the centuries. The ritual fasting of meatless Fridays promoted by the Roman Catholic church doesn’t really produce much reduction in the amount of food consumed. By substituting fish for other meat products, it is possible to consume the same number of calories and engage in a “fast” without any real self-denial or even much awareness that one is doing anything differently.
In general, faith doesn’t lend itself to mass production. It is, after all, all about our relationship with God. And relationships are built one-on-one.
I don’t intend to do anything much differently in this week of preparation for Lent. There will be a slight uptick in the work level at the church, because there is a lot of planning and thought that needs to go into the activities of the season. Holy Week is an intense time for us and there are lots of arrangements to be made.
The youth will host a pancake supper before our Ash Wednesday worship. It is a time to get together for a meal and to celebrate the joy of being together. The youth also raise a little money for a mission project to being the season in the spirit of service.
In London, Shrove Tuesday is the day for the annual Parliamentary Pancake Race. Teams from the House of Commons and the House of Lords participate in relay races to raise funds and awareness of the work of Rehab, which provides services for persons with disabilities and others who lack access to health care, training education and employment services. I’m not exactly sure what a pancake race is, but I guess it involves carrying the pan and perhaps flipping the pancake as you run. It is another tradition that doesn’t seem to have caught on in our corner of the world.
Mostly, these next few days are an opportunity to poke our heads out of doors, to breathe the fresh air and to be reminded that we are connected to this sweet earth in ways that are beyond our understanding. Its too early to begin working in the garden or getting serious about springtime chores. There is still plenty of ice in the lakes. Maybe it is a good time to just take a walk and do a little thinking.
Like life, this season is in part a time to look back and also look ahead. There is much more to be learned and much more to be revealed in the days to come.
It isn’t really spring here. We know better than that. It’s still winter, with a bit of springtime weather thrown in. But we do notice that the days are lengthening. In just over a week, Lent will begin. The name of the season is taken from the lengthening of the days. The traditional Latin name for the season, Quadragesimal, never really caught on among English speakers. Somehow it doesn’t roll off our tongues that easily.
The meaning and practice of the season has shifted in my life as I have grown through different experiences. Early in my career, it was a time of personal piety. The prayer, penance, and self-denial were kinds of spiritual corrections to some of the excesses of other seasons of my life. I needed to focus more on my spirituality and less on the material. Lent was an opportunity to practice personal disciplines and re-focus my faith.
These days, I see Lent as an opportunity for the community and individual members of the church to practice grief. Grief is a reality in a life. And for those of us who have lived a few years and collected a few losses, grief seems to layer itself with depth upon depth. One loss reminds us of another. Things we thought we had gotten over are still present in our lives.
Since we all experience grief it makes sense that we might learn more about the journey of grief and engage in practices that give us skills for the grief that lies ahead. Maybe you can never prepare for the really big losses in life. Maybe there is no way to practice for the unimaginable. Still there are skills that help in a time of crisis and we turn to what is familiar when we don’t know where else to turn.
I don’t know if it is the somewhat puritanical roots of our particular corner of the church, or my family’s particular observances, or my personality type, but the season of the traditional church year that I barely observe is the one we are in now. The Latin is Septuagesima. More familiar is Shrovetide. Sometimes it is also called pre-Lent.
I’m not sure how you prepare for a season of preparing for Easter. In some traditions, this is the time of parties and excesses. If we will be giving something up for Lent, the reasoning goes, we might as well indulge ourselves before giving it up. The logic of that kind of thinking escapes me. I guess my mind just doesn’t work that way. In my way of thinking if what I want to do is to make corrections in my life, there is no need to exaggerate the things I want to correct before making the changes.
The name “Shrove” comes from the word shrive, meaning “confess.” Shrovetide is a season of intentionally collecting sins to confess in some traditions. The practice of Shrove Tuesday - Mardi Gras in French - is to eat all of the rich, fatty foods that will be denied during the season of Lent.
Although I recognize the value of fasting as a spiritual discipline, I think it is best as a private practice and not as an item of public display. Attempts at making it a communal ritual have ended up in some strange practices over the centuries. The ritual fasting of meatless Fridays promoted by the Roman Catholic church doesn’t really produce much reduction in the amount of food consumed. By substituting fish for other meat products, it is possible to consume the same number of calories and engage in a “fast” without any real self-denial or even much awareness that one is doing anything differently.
In general, faith doesn’t lend itself to mass production. It is, after all, all about our relationship with God. And relationships are built one-on-one.
I don’t intend to do anything much differently in this week of preparation for Lent. There will be a slight uptick in the work level at the church, because there is a lot of planning and thought that needs to go into the activities of the season. Holy Week is an intense time for us and there are lots of arrangements to be made.
The youth will host a pancake supper before our Ash Wednesday worship. It is a time to get together for a meal and to celebrate the joy of being together. The youth also raise a little money for a mission project to being the season in the spirit of service.
In London, Shrove Tuesday is the day for the annual Parliamentary Pancake Race. Teams from the House of Commons and the House of Lords participate in relay races to raise funds and awareness of the work of Rehab, which provides services for persons with disabilities and others who lack access to health care, training education and employment services. I’m not exactly sure what a pancake race is, but I guess it involves carrying the pan and perhaps flipping the pancake as you run. It is another tradition that doesn’t seem to have caught on in our corner of the world.
Mostly, these next few days are an opportunity to poke our heads out of doors, to breathe the fresh air and to be reminded that we are connected to this sweet earth in ways that are beyond our understanding. Its too early to begin working in the garden or getting serious about springtime chores. There is still plenty of ice in the lakes. Maybe it is a good time to just take a walk and do a little thinking.
Like life, this season is in part a time to look back and also look ahead. There is much more to be learned and much more to be revealed in the days to come.