This may not be a good thing for a bishop to say. Nevertheless, here it is. I do not like Lent. At all. There; now that’s out in the open.
There are many reasons for it. One is that it starts out with a peculiar hypocrisy on Ash Wednesday. On the very day that the gospel urges us to be wary of practicing our piety so that we can be seen by others, what do we do? We all trot out of church with a big, and very public, smudge of ashes on our foreheads. Then there is the whole idea of giving something up. I’m not good at all at giving things up. I’m willing to confess that my spiritual logic here is faulty, but if God provides something that gives me pleasure what joy could God possibly get from me giving it up. And besides. Most of the things we are willing to give up show the triviality of the exercise. I’m willing to give up Oreos, for example. What could possibly be the spiritual reward in that? Is God that easily bamboozled?
In fact, I don’t think I would get any of it were it not for this week’s Old Testament reading. There are two things about the passage from Isaiah worth noting here. Let me begin with the second. Isaiah urges the people in a passage filled with anything but giving things up, “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near” (55:6). It makes perfect sense, but the conundrum it leaves me with is when, exactly, is it that the Lord may be found, that the Lord is near and may be called upon? And how on earth would I know?
But look back at the beginning of the passage, the other thing to note about it. Isaiah invites people to come and receive the rich gifts of God. “[C]ome to the waters; . . . come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk” (55:1). This is the opposite of giving something up for Lent, especially something like Oreos. This is not sacrificial. It is indulgent.
But look more closely. To whom does Isaiah issue the invitation to indulge? To come to the waters, he invites those who thirst. To buy and eat and to receive wine and milk, he invites those without money.
When you put it together, I think you have God near and accessible to those who have nothing to distract them from perceiving God’s presence. Lent isn’t so much about taking on a purposeless discipline as it is about removing the things that prevent us from perceiving God’s abundance, God’s presence, God’s nearness. Isaiah’s invitees don’t need help to do that. The hungry, the thirsty, the poor have nothing to get in their way.
I, however, do. That calls for a time of spiritual help. Lent is not about giving things up. It is about a time of help for people like me.
Agape,
Bishop Stacy Sauls
Founder and President