Lent 2014

Another season of Lent is upon us.

The workings of Lent are always a mystery to me.  I feel as if I should be getting more out the experience than I ever do.  Sure, I give up something and take in something else and perhaps add a little bit of extra Scripture and prayer to my daily rounds, but it scarcely feels like something which is impacting my life as radically as I think that it should be.

I know that there are those - especially among the evangelical community - that consider Lent in particular, and the concept of a church calendar in general, as something that is constructed by man instead of inspired by God and therefore a hindrance.  I personally disagree with this:  we have a normal calendar that follows the seasons of the year.  It should be no different for our religious life as well.

And Lent is a good thing.  A time of subduing, of consideration of our sin, of denial of pleasures and luxuries is something that the church often claims we need to do more of.  Lent, that commemoration of the great denial of Christ in the desert 40 days without food or water, gives many a vehicle to do that in a way that is regular, planned, and helpful.

But that still does not help me with the fact that I do not get everything out of it I should.

Should I deny myself more?  Should I seek longer hours in prayer and more time in Scripture?  Certainly none of things are bad in and of themselves, but do they really get to essence of what Lent should be? Or do this just (as seems likely) add another set of traditions and works where they do no good?

If Lent is about repentance and meditation on our sin and unworthiness and Christ's great suffering, what can I do that actually makes this more meaningful?  The answer, at least for me, is as staggeringly simple as it is difficult:  be more like Christ.

Be more like Christ.  Seek to root out the sin in my heart.  Look at the Beatitudes and truly ask "Is this my desire?"  Look around me and say "Am I loving my neighbor as myself?"

Am I denying myself, taking up my cross, and following Christ?

Because here, it seems to me, is the unusual part:  If I would simply do this, I would find that focus is truly on Christ and becoming less of a sinner and more like Him. 

And that, really, is the point of Lent in the first place.