Today is Ash Wednesday. Officially, the first day of the season of Lent.
Just yesterday, a member of the church I currently serve at asked me, "Why is Tuesday before Lent called 'fast Tuesday'?" I explained that traditionally, many Christians practice Lent by fasting so they would spent the day before eating heavier foods to prepare for their fast. In my experience, most people have transformed the practice of fasting food to simply giving up anything in their life. In recent years, the practice continues to transform as some people decide not to take away something from their lives but add something instead. In my mind, as long as the item or activity you are giving up/taking on brings you closer to God's presence during this season, you are celebrating Lent.
As I was heading to bed last night, I was scrolling on my Facebook page and one of my minister colleagues wrote a short but I felt very powerful statement about these two Lenten practices. To paraphrase his words, he mentioned how in the last two years of both the pandemic and the continuous tragedies we have experienced in the world, how can we take away another thing when it seems so much of our lives is already been taken away?
And in the same breathe, he mentioned how can we be asked to take on one more thing when we been carrying so much already? I found the statement profound and very realistic. Our spirituality needs to be more realistic at times. I would even say as real as the spirituality of Job.
Most everyone knows about the character of Job and the suffering he had endured. In most cases of "ultimate suffering", Job is the main example that ministers run to. And it's understandable why. In Job's situation, we never get a final answer as to why Job suffered. We get theories and numerous questions, but never a final answer as to why Job suffered the way he did. That alone is why I believe so many biblical scholars and ministers study Job's book...because deep down, the struggle for answers is so relatable.
Almost too relatable. In fact, these last several years have felt like something I would read in a biblical book: plagues, wars, deaths of beloved leaders, rebellions, corrupt leaders, discrimination, racism, xenophobia, fear of the end times...
So yes, I agree with my colleague. It does feel so hard to take on something to else during Lent. It feels unjust to ask myself and others to let go of one more thing when we are trying to hold on to what little we might have. So I wonder if instead this Lenten season, in our 40 day journey to become closer to God's presence and love in our lives, we simply just be...?
After all the suffering that Job had witnessed, there is a statement from the writer that shares Job had sat among the ashes. For the longest time, I found the imagery of this verse to be so powerful. It's a phrase my CPE supervisor would share with us as a model of pastoral care quite often. And today, this phrase comes back to me because it feels so relevant and real. How many of us have been sitting in ours and our loved one's ashes, both metaphorically and perhaps to some degree, even literally? In all that Job had endured, he knew he could not take on another thing to do nor could he ask himself to take away one more thing, for he had nothing more to give. And somehow, despite all that which had occurred, he still wanted a closer relationship with God.
So perhaps this season, we can simply just sit in the ashes that may be present in our lives. As we prepare to receive the ashes upon our foreheads, may we not feel pressured that we must take something on or we must give something up in order to feel God's presence. For God's presence is here with you. In the daily air that you breath, God is with you. In the teardrops that are released from pain, God is with you. From the unanswered questions that leave our lips these last few years and onward, God is with you.
May we remember we are not alone in our ashes this season and we are loved by the One that made us from the dust, always and forever.
Be at peace.
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