By: Marek Zabriskie
This Lent will be unlike any other that we have ever known. Clergy around the world tried to find ways safely to impose ashes – a historic rite that signifies our mortality and marks the beginning of Lent – on Ash Wednesday.
At Christ Church, we used Q-Tips to mark the sign of the cross on people’s foreheads using ashes, while the priest said, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
This was a visible sign of how radically different Lent 2021 will be. Lent is a penitential season where Christians give up something for God as a spiritual practice. For most of us, living through this pandemic has been like a prolonged season of Lent and giving significant things up.
Lent finds its origin in the Early Church. It is a 40-day season preceding Easter that marks the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness outside the ancient city of Jericho fasting and in prayer.
During that time, Jesus did spiritual battle with the devil and fought against temptation by quoting from Scripture. Spiritual masters say that Jesus was combatting the false self, which tells us, “I am what I possess, what I do and what others think of me.”
A major part of the spiritual journey is to move beyond the inauthentic self, which sees others rather than God as its chief audience. When we place our primary focus on God, it improves all of our relationships.
This gets to the heart of Lent, which is about spiritual transformation. It’s a bit like spring cleaning when we decide to tidy up our garage or basement. We sweep, dust, organize and discard items. Our soul needs tidying up as well, and Lent is the season for a spiritual cleanse.
Historically during Lent, Christians have tackled temptation by giving something up significant. Such a sacrifice reminds us of all that Christ sacrificed for us. It thus bonds us to Jesus.
For many years, Christians in Rouen, France gave up butter for Lent and donated the money they saved to the Church, which allowed Rouen Cathedral to build its famous “Butter Tower.”
Giving up something makes us aware of striving to live our faith during Lent. It also strengthens our will and reminds us how weak we often are, indulging ourselves in countless ways.
This year, it’s hard to speak about giving up something for Lent as COVID has made us give up so many things – close contact with friends, eating out in restaurants, attending church, movies or sporting events, shopping in crowded stores, traveling on airplanes, attending college classes in person or working at the office. The list is endless.
In recent years, Christians have strived to take on and give up one thing for Lent. Here are a few suggestions:
Considering taking on one thing:
1. Watch an online worship service each Sunday. Rest throughout the remainder of the day, turning off electronics, reading, walking, napping, cooking a meal and savoring time with family and God. It will enhance the rest of your week.
2. Read one of the gospels slowly and meditatively. Pause when a passage strikes you. Mull it over. Then offer a prayer to God and listen to hear God’s response.
3. Read a Lenten devotional by a spiritual writer like Joan Chittister, Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, Esther de Waal, Margaret Guenther, Thomas Keating or Basil Pennington. Dogwood Books and Gifts at Christ Church Greenwich offers a wide selection.
4. Set aside 10 to 15 minutes each day to pray. There are many ways to pray. Your clergy will be glad to help you. Prayer is like mindfulness, only better, as it connects us with God – ultimate the Source of Love behind the universe.
5. Say grace before dinner. It will add peace, substance and gratitude to each meal.
6. Keep a gratitude journal for 40 days, noting things for which you are thankful.
7. Call or write a letter or send a card each day to someone with whom you have not been in regular touch and resurrect 40 relationships by Easter.
8. Take a meditative walk each day and sense God in the things that you notice.
9. Do 40 acts of kindness over Lent. Visit the Christ Church Greenwich website to learn more.
Choose one thing to give up:
1. Simplify your life and home by selecting one item each day over 40 days to give away.
2. Fast by eating light meals in Lent. Do it for spiritual reasons, not as a diet. You will be rewarded with greater spiritual clarity, losing weight and feeling happier and healthier.
3. Give up alcohol for Lent. If you cannot give it up for 40 days, perhaps you should give it up forever.
4. Fast from gossiping. Our tongue is more dangerous than we think.
5. Fast from complaining and criticizing. The average parent criticizes a child 25 times a day before they get to school. Fast from negativity and criticisms and transform every relationship.
6. Give up luxuries for Lent. Stop ordering from catalogues and shopping. More than half of the 1.2 billion people in India live on less than $2 a day.
7. Give up watching television for Lent. Read a book. Have a conversation. Give your mind and spirit a break from the almighty screen.
8. Fast from social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) for Lent. Limit the time that you spend online each day.
A concerted spiritual focus will cleanse your soul and prepare you by the end of Lent to embrace the miracle of Easter.
