[SB] (no subject)

[Molly Wolf]

Lent

You'd think that in a house this small, something as large as Webster's 
Third Dictionary (the big one) couldn't go missing. But I had to hunt for a 
good ten minutes before I remembered that I'd wrapped it in a plastic bag, 
for protection, and used it to kitten-proof the uncovered hot air vent in 
the kitchen.

I wanted to know where the word "Lent" came from. Eerdman's Dictionary of 
the Bible had proved uninformative; it told me nothing that I didn't 
already know. Webster's at least gave the source: "Lent" comes from the Old 
English for "spring". Huh. Not useful. Especially not useful when it's a 
very early Easter, and this is Canada. We'll be lucky to be in mid-Mud 
Season this Easter.

The online Roman Catholic Encyclopedia, on the other hand, told me more 
about the evolution of Lenten practices than I wanted to know. It's always 
wise, of course, to touch base with the community of Christians in time and 
space, and so it doesn't hurt to know what others have done (and still do) 
in the way of fasting and breaking fasts, how the customs evolved and 
changed. But that wasn't really want I wanted either.

I wanted something that gave me insight into the wisdom of Lent, its 
importance. All the Christians I know open their arms to Lent; they're glad 
to see it. They don't find it depressing at all, but a welcome chance for 
quiet thoughtfulness and exploration.  Sometimes they choose to give 
something up or take something on, but it's rarely a matter of duty, like a 
New Year's resolution, more a choice that will, in some way, correct 
something they want to correct or deepen something that they feel needs 
deepening.

In that sense, I'm glad to live in this climate, which favours Lent. We're 
into the endurance part of winter, what some have dubbed Foreveruary, a 
time when indoors is far easier than outdoors and cabin fever is a real 
risk.  To be northern tends to introversion -- look at the Russians! -- and 
Lent is introspective. Lent is about accepting and valuing reality, however 
superficially unlovely, and what's more real and unlovely than an urban 
southern Canadian winter, with slushy sidewalks and salt-stains everywhere?

Lent shares with Advent the sense of stillness and of waiting, but it's far 
more than that. Lent is for reality checks. If there's a problem, what part 
have I played in it? If a relationship has come unglued, how did I 
contribute? It's not about guilt or shame or blame; it's about seeing the 
patterns that need to be set to rights.

But sometimes what needs to be set to rights is our unrealistic, 
unnecessary guilt or shame or blame.  Lent isn't about feeling bad, 
although feeling bad may be part of what happens in Lent, if that's an 
appropriate part of the reality check. Sometimes we need to repent of 
self-loathing, realizing that loathing any of God's children is not 
Christian, and that includes our own selves. Lent is about forgiveness, and 
that may involve forgiving ourselves as well as others, being 
self-reconciled in mind and heart and spirit and body, accepting God's 
forgiveness as well as seeing our deep need for it.

It's the depth of Lent that I like, its complexity and its subtlety. It is 
the time of year when I feel most connected to the community of saints, but 
also to myself; it is a time of blessed journeying. Yes, it will darken 
towards the end, as we all turn towards the Cross and Christ's suffering, 
but that's part of the journey too. Until then, though, I'm back in the 
land that I love.



******************

I'm about to hit some sacred cows, and they moo so badly. -- Phyllis 
Tickle, aka The Divine Miz T.