Toward the end of February, we marked the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is supposed to be a serious, sober season of preparation for Holy Week and Easter. Honestly, sometimes I have trouble keeping that kind of Lent. Advent and Christmas are so much easier, aren’t they? We have that time of year figured out with all the cheery carols, fattening foods, festive décor, encouraging cards, and gaudy sweaters that delight (or horrify) family and friends.
Deep down, I know that the forty days of Lent, with their emphasis on diligent prayer, intentional Bible study, commitment to service, and reclaiming discipline in the spiritual life, are extremely valuable. Though we shouldn’t need the reminder, we do. Lenten preparation helps us remember that the baby Jesus of Christmas grew up and was humbly obedient to God to the point of death, even death on a cross. I also have come to see how, as we follow Jesus to the cross in Lent, our celebration of what God did at Easter comes into remarkable perspective.
Technically speaking, this past Sunday marked the first Sunday in Lent. Note that I didn’t write, “the first Sunday of Lent,” because Sundays are actually not a part of Lent. Sundays are in Lent, but not of Lent. This is because the church’s ancient view was that every Sunday, regardless of the time of year, is celebrated as a “little Easter.” Though it seems like a fine, almost hair-splitting, distinction to make, consider the implication one changed preposition can make.
When Jesus prayed for his disciples to his Father in John 17:15-16, he says, “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.” As Jesus-followers, we are not ultimately bound up by the forces that are breaking and killing the world. Instead, we are caught up in a divine will that transcends them, that conquers them. Perhaps you’ve heard the convenient shorthand of Jesus’ prayer, that we are to be “in the world, but not of it.” The apostle Paul encourages us in the same way in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Christian lives are fixed squarely in the seeming paradox of being fully engaged and alive in the world, and caught up in something…more.
In the same way, even the somber days of Lent must make way for the little Easters that come every time we celebrate the Lord’s Day together in worship. What happens when we see worship in this way? Keeping Lent will make us reckon with our overconsumption and overdependence on things that substitute for God. We are in Lent, but not of it. It is a time for repentance and conversion, returning to the nourishing Vine, who is Christ. However, in the midst of all the penitence and confession, thank God that we are not owned by our shortcomings, failures and hurts. These Sundays to come – along with all the Sundays of the year – celebrate God’s triumph over them, and we are God’s.
Every Sunday is a time to hear and share the Good News of the new way made by God in Jesus Christ, who is the Way that leads is to life, abundant and eternal. Thanks be to God!
Grace and Peace,