Dear Incarnation,
The 40-day season of Lent begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday. I've heard a number of comments along the lines of "thank goodness Lent is coming" over the past few weeks. Lent is a mercy, even a balm, when the world is uncertain and frightening. It gives us a season in which to express our sorrows, our regrets, and our deep need for God.
The 40 days of Lent are modeled after Jesus' 40 days and the Israelites' 40 years in the wilderness. During this season, we intentionally go into the wilderness with God, to barren places where temptations assail us, resources are scarce, hope is fleeting, and death is at the door. And year after year, Lent after Lent, we find that God is there with us in the wilderness. He brings us once again through all our desert wanderings, through death itself, to resurrection on Easter morning.
But in the church calendar, the feasts always outlast the fasts. Before Lent, we enjoy one last feast of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (tonight!). This tradition began as a way to clear the pantry of decadent foods before beginning Lenten fasts. We'll enjoy a feast of pancakes (sign up to help, or to bring toppings/extras!), a fun British tradition of pancake races, and a "feast" on the word alleluia in songs and activities before we "bury the alleluias" for Lent.
Then Lent will begin tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. We'll have services at 7am (VA), 6pm (VA), and 7pm (MD). All the details are on our website.
Over the next six Sundays, you'll notice some changes to our Sunday worship to help us enter into the season of Lent:
The Penitential Order. On Sundays in Lent, we follow what's called "the penitential order," which rearranges our usual liturgy to begin with confession and repentance. It'll feel a little disorienting at first, and that's okay — it's all part of the Lenten wilderness.
Silence. After the sermon, we practice silence, adding one minute every Sunday in Lent. Whether we find silence comforting, restful, or painfully awkward, it is often a place where God meets us. If you'd like to learn more, I wrote a longer explanation of our Lenten silences, along with some guidance for engaging them, here.
Sermons. Throughout Lent, we will be using the lectionary scriptures to preach on the topic of acedia, an extinct-but-revived word from the ancient world of the early church. In Greek, acedia means "lack of care." It has been translated over the centuries as listlessness, spiritual torpor, sloth, despair, distraction, despondency, resistance to love, resistance to joy, aversion to God, ennui, boredom, and more. It encompasses elements of all of those terms. Despite its association with sloth, acedia is not simply laziness; in fact, its symptoms often manifest as excessive busyness and productivity. We'll learn more about this unique spiritual malady — one I believe is particularly pervasive in our time — and its remedies in the coming weeks.
No alleluias. We fast from the word alleluia in our music and liturgies until Easter, making the first cries of "Alleluia, Christ is Risen!" all the sweeter.
Stones. The back wall of Drew Elementary will feature 40 stones, one for each of the days of Lent. These stones represent the barren wilderness through which we journey together. We will use them to create the dissonant, noisy, rumbling strepitus during our Tenebrae service on Good Friday. And then they will reappear, transformed into something beautiful, on Easter morning (hint hint, you'll get to help with this transformation if you attend a Shrove Tuesday supper tonight!)
"Every Sunday, a little Easter." Even in Lent, our worship is not all doom and gloom. The Sundays of Lent don't count toward the 40-day total; they are considered feast days, when we can break whatever Lenten fasts and disciplines we might be practicing. Woohoo! Every Sunday is a little Easter, a foretaste of the resurrection, a glimpse of the far-off joy that awaits us. And so while we give full expression to our frailty, anguish, and sorrow during Lent, we also gather around Christ's table each week to break bread and drink wine together in grateful celebration.
During Lent, people often adopt spiritual practices of fasting, prayer, and generosity as a way of intentionally entering this season and preparing for Easter. If you'd like suggestions on any of those practices, please reach out to me or Katie, or search the blog archives (for example, this post has lots of ideas!).
We'd also like to suggest the practice of confession as especially appropriate during Lent. Though we're more familiar with the shorthand "confession" (which conjures up countless movie scenes), this rite is actually called Reconciliation in our prayer book. I prefer that term, because the emphasis is not on the details of what we confess, but on our being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. If you've never practiced Reconciliation, I promise it's not as scary as it sounds, and can be such a helpful spiritual practice. I encourage you to make an appointment during Lent with me or Katie. We will also offer drop-in confession on Good Friday. We will have materials to help you prepare for confession available on the welcome table throughout Lent.
Are you wondering how God is inviting you to engage with Lent? All of these good things (fasting, prayer, generosity, confession) can be both helps and hindrances to our life with God, depending on how we go about them. And so rather than begin with an ambitious Lenten to-do list, I want to first invite you to reflection. Last year, Incarnation's Nicole Gagnon wrote a helpful prayer of Lenten preparation for the Ignatian Examen small group she was leading. I thought it was excellent and helpful, and so I'm offering it to you again:
Lenten Preparation Prayer
(Sources of inspiration: this Letter from Amy and this blog post)
Settle your body into your chair, either closing your eyes or softening your gaze toward the floor. Place your hands into a comfortable, yet open posture. Take a few deep breaths and quiet your mind, then look at God, who is looking back at you with love.
Spend some time thanking God for the gifts he has given you over the last month, perhaps in special moments that happened, new discoveries made, words of encouragement received, and in the small glimpses of beauty.
Invite God to help you look at the Lenten season ahead and ask for his light to be a source of comfort for you.
Reflect on the following questions with God, paying attention to any strong emotions that might arise within you:
— When you look at me and my life, what brings you joy?
— What does my soul need from you during Lent?
— What graces would you like me to be more open to in this season? Help me to see the thoughts, words, and deeds that make it harder for me to accept those graces from you.
Ask for God’s guidance in how to prepare yourself for Lent:
— Is there a specific attitude or action you would like for me to lay down or take up in order to create more space for you?
— What would you like me to pay attention to in this season?
— How would you like for me to act towards myself in this season?
— How would you like for me to act towards others in this season?
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
**
I am grateful that we will enter the wilderness of Lent together. And I hope to see you tonight and tomorrow!
With love,
Amy
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