The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
Socrates, 5th century BCE
Dear Friends in Christ,
With apologies to Eugene O’Neill, this month we begin Lent, which is a Long Day’s Journey into Light. A few days are particularly important for this journey: Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and of course Good Friday.
But, where do they come from, and why do we care?
First, the word Lent derives from lengthen. In our hemisphere days lengthen as we move toward Easter.
Second, it is very, very likely that this day of resurrection, Easter, is in the right place. As with our Jewish ancestors, the date of Easter is set by the stars and moon: it is the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox. That is, our spring in the northern hemisphere invokes the planets and even the solar system for our proclamation, which is why some people call Jesus “the cosmic Christ.”
But back up a bit: we know when Easter comes. Our ancestors thought we should have a season of preparation, and they used that Biblical number, forty, like years in the Exodus or days in the wilderness (or of rain, for Noah). So we prepare for Easter with forty days of Lent (plus Sundays). That schedule creates Ash Wednesday.
Keep reading: we come to sin in a moment.
So Lent prepares for Easter, and people prepare for Ash Wednesday by taking the palms from last year’s Holy Week (Palm Sunday) and burning them. Why? Well, it’s not pretty. It means all the nice things we said and sang last year have (all too often) dried up, and even turned to ash. See why some people don’t like Lent? Some of us literally get ash rubbed on our head.
But now this: the preparation for Easter began with a 40 day period of study and action, mostly public action, for what they called “serious sins.” Like injustice, unfair taxes, immoral leaders, unfair treatment of foreigners — really: you can look it up. Serious, public sins were the focus of Lent for centuries.
And then came an emperor, who made Christianity legal, but also said, let’s clarify some rules. Let’s all agree on theology. Let’s confirm that personal sins are our focus. Which meant less scrutiny of leadership and policy, and also — again — led lots of people to like Lent less.
Here at NHCC we can walk and chew gum at the same time, so to speak. We can discuss public sins, and we can reflect on personal, spiritual growth. We can explore ethics and morals on both levels, and we can determine if we want any empire to dictate our theology. Throughout, we can confirm that we know when Easter is, and what Easter is: God’s triumph over anyone or anything that thinks it can kill Jesus or kill us. So Lent is a brilliant time of renewal and recharging and repenting and repairing. Lent is the right time to examine our culture and society, and examine ourselves. We can do both, to honor our ancestors and our God. Thanks for reading this far. And God bless us all with “Good Lent.” To build God’s new thing, again.
See you in church,
