Lent began last Wednesday. It snuck up on many Christians because the date of Easter is so early in 2024.
I’m always struck by how many of the folks in our campus church love Lent. You would think a season all about penance and self-denial and mortality wouldn’t be popular. But like those mental health surveys that show that people going through depression predict their future with greater accuracy than those without depression, Lent gives a kind of religious OK to those times that we’re feeling sad or down on ourselves. Christianity can sometimes feel relentlessly cheerful and positive, but Lent reminds us that a good chunk of our scripture and theology is lament. Lent gives us permission to say: my life is a bit of a mess. And Lent also gives us permission to say: God, help me out.
I like to think of those who love Lent like Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People: “I feel bad about this! I feel really, really bad about this! Just let me feel bad about this!” Sometimes religion can get so focused on improving us that it doesn’t meet us in those times when we just feel bad. Lent meets us there. But Lent doesn’t leave us there. It gives ways out: quiet, honesty with ourselves, rethinking our priorities, giving up bad habits we’ve fallen into, and an invitation to renew our lives of prayer and devotion.
Having a season like Lent on our spiritual calendar tells me that feeling bad is real and OK for a time, but that it shouldn’t be all the time. Life can be hard. We do fail. We disappoint ourselves. Very sad things happen. We hurt others. We turn away from God. But a season like this says that there is a time to re-set, renew and remember. And for Christians, our season of repentance culminates in the silence of Good Friday, but life and hope are triumphant again on Easter Sunday.