For some reason this morning, I woke up feeling ambivalent about Lent. The only way that I could describe what I was feeling was to say that I felt like I was sleepwalking through Lent.
Tracy and I talked about it at breakfast this morning. I explained that it felt as if the more removed we became from Duke and our "Liturgical Worship Education" the less I felt strongly about a strict adherence to the Season of Lent.
We had an awesome conversation. We shared the importance of the season and our love for the liturgical and lectionary cycles. We talked about the power of the message and the opportunity for really moving through a period of repentance and forgiveness. But, I still felt a little numb.
Maybe it was the busyness, maybe it was the opportunities that I had chosen, maybe it was the fact that I wasn't preaching this weekend, or maybe it was a combination of them all.
We then talked about the fact that maybe it isn't so much that the season has lost it's power, but the church has lost its ability to find a true expression of the season through its application. I take some personal responsibility in that at least in my most current setting, but I think the church has a lot of work to do.
In order to be relevant and timely, we have got to find a way to express the power of a changed life through the life and grace of Christ. This is not a once a year gig - but something we have to do all year. If all we do during Lent is put on another dinner and attract those who are already here - than we're missing an opportunity. If Lent is to be a time of conversion, maybe we have to do more to give opportunities for relationship building throughout the year, so that when these seasons do arrive, we would have opportunity for catechises. WE have got to rethink how we are followers of Christ and be that expression in the world.
I think Lent has become something for those on the inside, and that's probably what disturbs me the most. Next year . . . no, next week, I'm going to begin to seek new ways of being the church. It has to start now, so that next year I won't feel the same way.
I think that I'm just tired of going through the motions right now. Maybe that's my act of confession!
2 comments:
Oh my sweet husband, Lent is working in you. Great post - together the church can come through this Lent desiring to live again, in a new way, with a new Christ resurected from the dead.
Elephant shoes!
In every journey there's a beginning, a middle(pressing onward) and an end or destination.
Each has purpose and meaning for personal and spiritual growth. Teaching humility, patience and understanding.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
prov. 29:18
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