Lent...

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of lent. To some people that statement could not be any more obvious (as in, "well duh, of course it is"), however to many people including Christians that is something they don't know. Or maybe they heard it once but never really though about it. In any, case it is not an important part of their lives. And it has never been for me either. But I want it to be.

As Evangelicals (which I claim to be only because it sums up my understanding of God better than any other one-word term) we seem to avoid and even disdain anything that smacks of ritualism. Anything that involves fasting and observing certain days and what is that on your forehead? There is no place for anything but grace and the way the spirit is moving right now at this moment. And if the spirit says you want a cheeseburger, then I guess you better have a cheeseburger. And whatever else the spirit says at any given moment. There seems to be no place for spiritual discipline of type implied by Lent. We are also taught (usually not blatantly but through subtext) that "those people" aren't really spiritual they are just doing what someone told them to do, stand up, recite this, sit down, no meat on Fridays, whatever.

I have wrestled for a long time with the difference and the balance between ritual/liturgical practices and whatever you would call the more Evangelical approach*. I still haven't quite figured it out but I am looking at it more directly than I have in awhile. And because of that I am observing Lent for the first time. We'll see how that goes...


*which is as far as I can tell
1. Introductory worship song (optional)
2. Welcome to new people, where is the nursery, etc.
3. 30-40 minutes of singing
4. Announcements
5. 30-50 minutes sermon on whatever the pastor wants to talk about, rarely related to the season or time of year
6. prayer and blessing of some sort
7. coffee