Lenten Reflections

One of the difficulties we face in Lent is that the Church calendar is not connected to the rest of life. If we lived in a unified society, where everyone followed the Church calendar, it would be much easier. It is hard to fast if people at work aren’t fasting, and hard to spend extra time in prayer if the school schedule is not slowing down. Advertisers don’t take a break during Lent to encourage almsgiving! If work, school, sports, and church all lined up with each other, it would be so much simpler.
 
I find myself longing for the unified sort of culture that would enable us all to adopt the same spiritual disciplines together. Discipleship is easier when we do it together; it is very difficult if everyone is on a different path. Living in a disjointed society means struggling to establish habits—it is easier to keep a workout regimen when you are on a team, just as it is easier to keep a fast or prayer schedule if everyone in town is doing the same. Disjointed societies make discipleship difficult!
 
One of the answers to disjointed societies is for the church to build its own, unified subculture. This internal unity offers the strength that makes the rhythms of discipleship more feasible, because the whole church is operating together. But there is often a cost, because these sort of unified subcultures demand a retreat from the broader world. Highly unified subcultures (think the Amish or Hasidic Jews) can easily embody common modes of discipleship, but they have to disengage from the world to do so.
 
We should learn from the communal approach—it makes discipleship patterns easier. (A small group would be a great place to commit to the same fasting, feasting, and prayer pattern.) But it is also important for us to realize that disunified cultures offer the gift of external witness. They might make discipleship hard, but they provide ample opportunity for contact with those who don’t yet care about following Jesus. In other words, whatever subculture we build that makes discipleship easier shouldn’t come at the expense of disengaging from the broader world. Living in a world where it is difficult to keep Lent is another way of saying that we live in a world where lots of people need the message of Lent.
 
The message of Lent is simple: We are mortal and weighed down by sin. We need the cross and resurrection, or all our effort will amount to “not enough” in the end. We struggle and strive to get life in order, to create peace and joy and flourishing, and yet, time after time, we find we are not enough. We must despair of ourselves—not only the things we are ashamed of but also what we view as our righteousness—and turn to the one who can actually heal us.
 
As you struggle to keep Lent in a culture that doesn’t make it easy, remember this message: it is Jesus, not keeping Lent perfectly, that we need. And when the conflicting patterns of the rest of life shatter your best plans for a disciplined Lent, remember the people around you in our multifaceted and diverse world. They need Jesus, too.
 
Steven+