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Christians all over the world today will receive the imposition of ashes on their foreheads in observation of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. But what does this ancient practice exactly mean for us as Christians in a post-modern world? Why do we need ashy smudges above our eyebrows? Why does Lent begin this way, and does our observance of the season mean we have to give up chocolate or caffeine or The Celebrity Apprentice for 40 days until Easter?
In the PC(USA) the season of Lent—a period of 40 days—is recognized as a time of prayer, fasting, self-examination and service that helps us prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning. As Dr. Martha Moore-Keish, associate professor of theology at Columbia Seminary, puts it:
“Presbyterians do not enter this period of fasting and prayer to attract God’s attention or to be noticed by other people. Lent is a way of paying attention to our own lives. We receive the sign of the cross on our foreheads to focus our attention on who we really are…Ash Wednesday and the whole of Lent provide a time to focus our attention on the mystery at the heart of the Christian life: that through the death of Jesus Christ, we have entered new life…The paradox of Ash Wednesday, and of Lent, is that we take on particular disciplines—fasting, prayer, service—in order to repent and conform ourselves more closely to the life and death of Christ, all the while recognizing that Christ has already come to us before we sought him.”
In other words, Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent are not about us cutting out junk food or countless hours of web & tube surfing. (Honestly, giving up those things is just a pious–albeit unintentional–way to attract the attention of God and others. And avoiding M&Ms doesn’t bring us closer to God, deepen our faith or help us grow as disciples). Ash Wednesday and Lent is actually an incredibly profound opportunity to practice humility and compassion with and toward others on our faith journeys, all the while reflecting on Jesus’ ministry and walk toward the cross in Jerusalem.
It is a chance to take on something new: learning a new spiritual practice; adopting non-judgmental attitude; widening a compassionate heart, volunteering with a non-profit organization that seeks justice and empowerment for the poor and oppressed; spending more time with family; reconciling a broken relationship; speaking out against the bullying of LGBT youth; becoming a better steward of God’s creation, etc. It is a time in which we invest our love and our life into a different way of living–
a type of living that is counter to the self-centered, consumerist society that we live in…
a type of living that faithfully and selflessly seeks to build a community where all are welcome in unconditional love and mercy.
a type of living that believes in God’s promise to awake our souls (our inmost being) to the reality of God’s kingdom and the hope of a another world that is already/not yet…
Awake My Soul–Mumford & Sons (lyrics)
How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes
I struggle to find any truth in your lies
And now my heart stumbles on things I don’t know
My weakness I feel I must finally show
Lend me your hand and we’ll conquer them all
But lend me your heart and I’ll just let you fall
Lend me your eyes I can change what you see
But your soul you must keep, totally free
Har har, har har, har har, har har
Awake my soul
Awake my soul
How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes
I struggle to find any truth in your lies
And now my heart stumbles on things I don’t know
My weakness I feel I must finally show
Har har, har har, har har, har har
In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
And where you invest your love, you invest your life
In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
And where you invest your love, you invest your life
Awake my soul
Awake my soul
Awake my soul
For you were made to meet your maker
Awake my soul
Awake my soul
Awake my soul
For you were made to meet your maker
You were made to meet your maker
Thanks for this Andy…I will disagree with some of this point:
In other words, Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent are not about us cutting out junk food or countless hours of web & tube surfing. (Honestly, giving up those things is just a pious–albeit unintentional–way to attract the attention of God and others. And avoiding M&Ms doesn’t bring us closer to God, deepen our faith or help us grow as disciples).
Those things CAN deepen our faith, etc. depending on your intentions. Let’s say you usually get M & M’s from the office vending machine most afternoons. You give them up for Lent-a form of fasting. Each afternoon when you break your normal habit, you can turn your attention to God and remember what Lent is about. If you cut out Facebook and use the extra time for prayer or Bible reading or writing a card to someone who needs to know they’re not alone, that would be a good discipline.
But that doesn’t always happen-don’t know if it happens often. I do love Lent..
Thanks Lindsey, you raise a great point. You’re right, those things can deepen faith depending on intention but it’s been my experience that often the intention is rooted the cultural assumption that Lent is solely about giving up things to become closer to God, and also guided by a good amount of guilt as a result of a theological misunderstanding of Lent by Protestants, particularly Presbyterians.
If someone is going to give up a bad habit or vice then an intentionally different action of taking on something new has to follow. Giving up M&Ms is pointless if you’re not substituting a different action in its place, i.e. taking the $ you used to spend on M&Ms and giving to a non-profit or using the time on Facebook to be in prayer/write a card/take a walk/read scripture, etc.
Although there are exceptions, I was aiming my comments at the majority of Presbyterians who tend to give up things just for the sake of “giving up things because it’s Lent” and who also try to garner attention and approval for their attempt/success/failure to give up the vice for Lent. While it’s unintentional and not a deliberately pious act, it is modern day example of Matthew 6:1-18. And it seems the Church has failed at teaching people that they have to give up certain things to prove their worthiness or to receive God’s love. For Presbyterians, Lent should be viewed and practiced in the way Martha Moore-Keish describes.