Somber Lent leads to Easter joy
Sometimes it’s not the well-planned words of a pastor at a church service, but the things going on on the sidelines that bring the impact. Such was the case when I attended an Ash Wednesday service one year.
As part of the service, the pastors had set up several “stations” in the narthex. Each station had a verse to read, an action to perform, and an application point. We were asked to go through it methodically and not to rush. We were also asked to try to keep our voices low…if we had to speak at all.
We began the process, spreading out evenly amongst the five stations. It was quiet…but not completely quiet, as one mom was reading the instructions at each place to her son, who was a new reader. He had many questions as they went along and it was sweet hearing their interactions when I took a moment to listen - it was hard not to in the quiet room!
At one station, you were asked to write down something that you’re holding on to - like a hurt from someone in the past - and crumple up the paper and throw it away symbolizing that you’re done with it and have forgiven them. I finished that station and moved on to another one and as I began reading the new instructions, the mom and her young son reached the station I had just left. I wasn’t paying too much attention but she must have said something like, “Can you think of something that someone did to you that was mean and we’ll write it down for you to forgive them.” I didn’t hear his response but it was very obvious what he said because his mom replied, “Well, right down your sister‘s name…”
I almost laughed out loud.
It was a nice counterpoint to the solemnity of the service. A service where we’re encouraged, traditionally, to contemplate our sin and to keep doing so throughout the seven weeks of Lent until we rejoice in the truth of our forgiveness in the gift of the Resurrection on Easter morning.
Oh, the beauty of that day when we can rejoice! We were lost and now we’re saved!
It's a little bit dark to spend the month and a half of Lent - smack dab in the cold and darkness of winter, too - thinking about why Jesus had to do what he did. Thinking about the fact that, because of us, he had to suffer and die. It’s a bit dreary, really.
But that’s the point. Or, rather, that’s the counterpoint. The whole purpose of the one is for the other to shine all the brighter. The purpose of Lent isn’t to feel discouraged and lost in our sin…the purpose is to get us to think about how badly we need the gift of Easter. To see, in light of our inadequacies, how brightly shines the sacrifice of Jesus. When he, the perfect sacrificial lamb as per the Old Testament’s requirements, did what we could never do.
Pay the price of our sins.
So that we may live together eternally!
And so we rejoice! And we forgive - as did our wee friend that Ash Wednesday night - because we, too, have been forgiven.
Amen and amen!
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21
As part of the service, the pastors had set up several “stations” in the narthex. Each station had a verse to read, an action to perform, and an application point. We were asked to go through it methodically and not to rush. We were also asked to try to keep our voices low…if we had to speak at all.
We began the process, spreading out evenly amongst the five stations. It was quiet…but not completely quiet, as one mom was reading the instructions at each place to her son, who was a new reader. He had many questions as they went along and it was sweet hearing their interactions when I took a moment to listen - it was hard not to in the quiet room!
At one station, you were asked to write down something that you’re holding on to - like a hurt from someone in the past - and crumple up the paper and throw it away symbolizing that you’re done with it and have forgiven them. I finished that station and moved on to another one and as I began reading the new instructions, the mom and her young son reached the station I had just left. I wasn’t paying too much attention but she must have said something like, “Can you think of something that someone did to you that was mean and we’ll write it down for you to forgive them.” I didn’t hear his response but it was very obvious what he said because his mom replied, “Well, right down your sister‘s name…”
I almost laughed out loud.
It was a nice counterpoint to the solemnity of the service. A service where we’re encouraged, traditionally, to contemplate our sin and to keep doing so throughout the seven weeks of Lent until we rejoice in the truth of our forgiveness in the gift of the Resurrection on Easter morning.
Oh, the beauty of that day when we can rejoice! We were lost and now we’re saved!
It's a little bit dark to spend the month and a half of Lent - smack dab in the cold and darkness of winter, too - thinking about why Jesus had to do what he did. Thinking about the fact that, because of us, he had to suffer and die. It’s a bit dreary, really.
But that’s the point. Or, rather, that’s the counterpoint. The whole purpose of the one is for the other to shine all the brighter. The purpose of Lent isn’t to feel discouraged and lost in our sin…the purpose is to get us to think about how badly we need the gift of Easter. To see, in light of our inadequacies, how brightly shines the sacrifice of Jesus. When he, the perfect sacrificial lamb as per the Old Testament’s requirements, did what we could never do.
Pay the price of our sins.
So that we may live together eternally!
And so we rejoice! And we forgive - as did our wee friend that Ash Wednesday night - because we, too, have been forgiven.
Amen and amen!
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21
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