On Ash Wednesday & Valentine's Day

The collision of Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day has provided no small amount of amusement for those who adhere to the Church Calendar [for example, this article in America: The Jesuit Review]. What could Valentine's Day have to do with the beginning of Lent, which can be characterized as a somber time of trying, and mostly failing, to feel guilty about your failings and ditch something you enjoy for 40 days? In this part of the world, Ash Wednesday falls seasonally on the border between winter and spring, which is particularly pronounced in the Great Plains. It is a time of transition between death and life in our physical world, of turning from winter and that which is old and decaying and beginning to face the possibility of spring and new growth. Lent is a time of preparation, a spring cleaning for the soul and self, so to speak. In order to grow and live into the new life made possible by the resurrection of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, we need to regularly be brought to repentance. We must confront our sins and flaws and wounds, the brokenness of the world, and our part in perpetuating this brokenness. In Lent, the Church in her wisdom beckons us into a time and space where we can confront and mourn the darkness we see in ourselves and in the world that we may be able to see to the dawning of light and hope on the horizon of Easter.

In the original language of the scriptures, the concept of repentance holds the idea of change and turning. In Greek, the word we translate"repent" means to change one's mind or purpose. In Hebrew, it holds the idea of turning back or returning. The Ash Wednesday liturgy for the Episcopal Church notes that, historically, Lent was a time where those who had been separated from the community of the church were restored to the community. Repentance, then, is God's invitation to us to confront what is sinful and broken in our lives, to change our course, and to return to God with new purpose. Repentance is not guilt and sorrow for the sake of guilt and sorrow but is rather a welcome into renewed relationship with God, with others, and with self.

The liturgy continues, stating that the purpose of the Lenten season is to "put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith." Those of us in agriculturally-heavy regions understand this need for clearing away on a very practical level. Whether it be succulents, a flower bed, a garden, or an entire field, we understand that things which are dead and diseased need to be cleared out before planting. We also understand that this process needs to continue for growth to continue. Weeds need to uprooted. Dead sections need to be pruned. Diseased plants need to be removed. Again, the Lenten season is for this sort of cleaning and clearing in our lives that we may continue to grow into who God intends us to be and continue to participate in God's healing work in this world. 

To come back around to Valentine's Day, it maybe actually be the perfect foil for Ash Wednesday. Culturally, Valentine's Day has more or less collapsed into cheap red and pink plastic, sub-par chocolate, and pressure to Instagram about a significant other, or to Facebook about the lack there of. Commercial Valentine's Day may very well represent the things we need to clear out of our lives to create space--things like rampant consumerism and social media addiction; it can also poke at a deep need for love and acceptance, a deep loneliness and even depression which often creeps out in winter and in the idolization of infatuation and romance around this time of year. In the fasting of Lent, we have the opportunity to confront and turn away from the things that make us spiritually unhealthy and perpetuate brokenness in ourselves and in the world. In this, we make space for God to work.

Maybe we choose to give up social media that we might make space to be really present with those in physical proximity with us. Maybe we give up news intake to cultivate hope and to clear out fear or bitterness which can easily spring from an over-consumption of fear-mongering headlines. Maybe we give up idle spending in order to see the needs crying out around us and to practice financial generosity in reponse. Maybe we give up negative self-talk in order to love ourselves better, which empowers us to love those around us without the disease of comparison. Maybe we commit to giving up over-filling our schedules that we may make space for prayer. Maybe we give up the distraction of television in order to create space for silence before God. In whatever way God is speaking to us in the nearing of this Lenten season, we can be hopeful and confident that it is never to leave us in a place of guilt or emptiness. Rather, this season holds the purpose of healing and new growth, that we may accept God's love for us so that we can love God with our whole hearts, love our neighbor as ourselves, and go out and do God's good work in this world however we are called.