Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

© 2021, Dr. Tamilio

Last year, Lent began on February 26: about two weeks before the world as we know it went into lockdown mode.  The Coronavirus had swept through Asia and Europe and had finally infected America.  People started wearing masks.  Some wore rubber gloves and face shields.  People rushed to the supermarket.  The shelves quickly emptied.  We ran out of toilet paper.

To some extent, Lent was the perfect season for us to begin our COVID-19 routine.  Lent is an arduous time, spiritually.  It is the time when we are intentionally reflective about our faith.  We consider the ways we have fallen short of God’s grace and adopt practices that will help us deepen our commitment to Christ.  Having to remember to put on a mask every time you leave the house, and to use hand sanitizer when you return, is actually an apt symbol of these forty days.

Biblically, Lent follows the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness.  Chronologically, we have the stories of his nativity and the few accounts from his youth.  Then, John baptizes him in the Jordon and the Spirit of God sends him into the wilderness.  Most Bible scholars say that this was to prepare Jesus for his public ministry — to equip him by introducing the adversary who would be at his heels throughout his life.

One year later, and the Coronavirus is still with us.  We are still wearing masks and using hand sanitizers.  (Thank goodness Charmin, Cottonelle, and Angel Soft got on the ball and didn’t leave us hanging!)  We enter this season at a time that seems tailormade for it.

This Lent already seems different.  We did not hold our Ash Wednesday service in person this year — the service that launches us into the Lenten season — because you cannot impose ashes while social distancing.  Most of us associate Lent with spring, but, as I write this, many parts of the United States are experiencing sub-Arctic temperatures.  It doesn’t feel like Easter is 40 days away, especially for those in Texas and many Midwestern states.

All this said, how do we enter this season?  Why do we (as the church) do so?  What is the meaning of it all?  In his book Pauses for Lent: 40 Words for 40 Days, Trevor Hudson writes the following: “The Christian calendar contains different seasons.  These seasons are ‘time gifts’ that the church offers to help us participate more fully in what God has done in human history.”[1]  Hudson goes on to say that Lent seems somewhat foreign to those who were raised in churches that aren’t Catholic or Anglican.  That was certainly the case for me.

When I was a kid, I had a lot of Catholic friends.  I was envious that they went to CCD on Wednesday nights and had to give something up for Lent.  They envied the fact that I didn’t!  Traditionally, though, Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and Orthodox believers tend to focus more on traditional understandings of Lent than most (though certainly not all) Protestant churches.  This is unfortunate.  Hudson writes, “Our ignorance has unfortunate consequences — we lose out on a wonderful opportunity to reflect on our lives, to face our addictions to consumer culture, and to become more intentional in our discipleship to Christ.”[2]

Lent is a time for us to grow spiritually — to grow in our relationship with Christ and with one another.  It is a time for us to grow the body of Christ.  There are many ways this can be achieved.  You do not have to give something up for Lent.  You can do something different.  According to the website Busted Halo (I love that name), Busted Halo offers several suggestions.[3]  Here are just a handful of them:

• Take something on — 40 days of letter writing, 40 acts of kindness, 40 phone calls to the important people in your life.
• Unplug from your iPhone or turn off your car radio on your commute. The silence may be jarring at first, but you may find that you are able to concentrate better and will be more observant of your surroundings.  (More about that in a minute.)
• Make a commitment to fast from insensitive, cruel comments about others. So, no gossiping or going down the Twitter rabbit hole.
• Tap into your creative side and try using coloring as a way to pray and meditate during Lent. Our Christian Education Team has an opportunity for you to do this.  Don’t worry: you do not need to be a Picasso, Monet, or Rembrandt to participate.  (Rev. Dee will say more about that in a bit as well.)
• Pray for somebody. As you’re walking down the street, driving the highways, or waiting for a meeting to start, pick out a person who appears to be in need and pray for that person.  Be mindful of the words of philosopher Philo of Alexandria, who said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.”
• Instead of turning on a streaming service for your next binge-watching session, read the entire Gospel of Markin one sitting.  As the shortest Gospel, it is the most concise story of Jesus’ life, and the cross, a central Lenten symbol, plays an even more prominent role than in the other Gospels.

There are many ways to approach Lent as an opportunity to grow spiritually.  The idea is to pause and take a moment to look at life differently — if only for the next six weeks.

Mari-Anna Stålnacke writes the following: “Lent is an opportunity for repentance, renewal, and spiritual growth.  We all need it whether we admit it or not.  Just like Jesus fasted, we need to turn our eyes on God.  Just like Jesus took time away to pray, we need to make room for God.”[4]

As I have said many times in the past, this is no easy feat.  The world constantly clamors for our attention: the spouse, the kids, the boss.  When we’re not home or at work, we fill the space with other noise: the radio, the television, the podcast.  We think we need noise for some strange reason.  Maybe we fear the silence.  Think about it: when you sit with a friend and there is an extended time where neither of you say anything (notice that we call it an “awkward” silence), we feel the need to fill the space with talk — any talk.

Turn off the radio and TV.  Sit in the uncomfortable silence.  You may find it a breather from it all.  Use that time wisely: to pray, to meditate, to reflect.  Open the door to your spirit.  Allow God in — and allow God to speak to you, to teach you a prayer, to lead you down paths you didn’t think existed.

The truth is, there are many ways that all of us can take advantage of this season in order to grow spiritually.  The number forty in the Bible (i.e. Noah being on the ark to escape forty days and forty nights of rain, the Hebrews wandering in the desert for forty years, Jesus being tempted in the desert by Satan for forty days), the number forty means a really long time.

But it isn’t that long.  Easter will be here before you know it.

Don’t rush it.  Live in Lent, and let it live in you.  Amen.

[1] Trevor Hudson, Pauses for Lent: 40 Words for 40 Days (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2015), introduction.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Taken from bustedhalo.com/ministry-resources/25-great-things-you-can-do-for-lent.

[4] Mari-Anna Stålnacke, “Lent Is an Opportunity,” taken from Flowing Faith (online), March 5, 2014.