Hi, Y’all. I’m back home from a wonderful visit with some very dear people in my favorite place on earth. Thank you for your understanding and patience as I stepped away from my regular posting. I’ll get back to the Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday routine this week.
This is a piece I wrote on the plane traveling homeward, just processing some thoughts about the season of Lent that I’d like to share with you.
I had a conversation this past week about Sundays in Lent and whether it is ok to partake of what we’ve given up on Sundays. My friend, Jesus-sister, and faithful member of the Roman Catholic Church, said ‘no’. I said ‘yes’ (perhaps a bit too forcefully) because Sundays are always a Feast of the Resurrection and we are Resurrection people and nothing supersedes this Feast.
As I’ve pondered this, I stand with my assertion that Sundays are Feast Days always. If you’ve given up wine, or chocolate, or red meat, or something similar, it’s ok to have some in moderation (because Lent or not what we consume should always be in moderation) on Sundays. The objective of giving up something isn’t so that we can gorge on it when Lent is over (or on the Sundays in Lent) but to help us discover if these things are causing us or others harm or if they have gotten in the way of our relationship with God.
If we’ve given up things like harboring resentment or angry driving or other aggressive behaviors, these aren’t things that we should indulge in on Sundays or any day. We know these behaviors are harmful to us and Lent is the season to do the intentional, challenging, and very difficult work of letting go of these behaviors with God’s help. And, if you discover that giving up something like wine or chocolate has been of great benefit to your health and wellbeing, in other words you weren’t necessarily aware of the harm they were causing, then don’t partake on Sundays or take them back on after Lent.
Lent isn’t about proving how good we are at self-discipline or even self-control (although exercising these is a tool for our Lenten journey and life in general). Lent is about deepening our relationship with God. We give up things or behaviors or practices in order to open up our time, money, resources, emotions, and/or intellect in such a way that makes more room for our awareness of God.
God’s greatest desire is to be in relationship with us. It is not God’s desire that we suffer even though God knows we will suffer in this life because of the brokenness of the world, sometimes because our own self-serving choices and sometimes because of the choices of others. And, yes, we often learn our best lessons through suffering but God wants to relieve our suffering by showing us in flesh and blood what it is to love better, to live as God created and calls us to live. God suffered for us in the death of Jesus to show us that ultimate love is more powerful that anything we may fear.
In Matthew’s telling of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, the true temptation is to believe that God doesn’t want the best for us, that God is a god of scarcity rather than abundance. The Adversary tries to convince Jesus there are alternatives to God’s Way, to cause Jesus to distrust God’s Word and God’s promises. Turning stones to bread, intentionally putting himself in physical peril, and taking what is God’s to give as one’s own all go against God’s created order. It is the same temptation of the first humans in the Garden – to doubt God and God’s intent for all of creation. This is the same temptation we face every day – do we chose to live as God created us to live in loving relationship with our Creator, each other, and all of creation or do we go against God’s created order and live on our own terms.
God’s laws and commands aren’t made to cause us to suffer but to remind us who and Whose we are, God’s beloved. Whatever it is you’ve chosen to give up for this season of Lent, pause and ask yourself why. How does whatever it is make more room for your awareness of God in the ordinary, everyday moments of your life? Is is helping you know God and yourselves more deeply, to know you are God’s beloved created for a life of abundant love? And come Sunday, rejoice in the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Remember his death, proclaim his resurrection, await his coming in glory.
And keep lovin’ louder than the hate.
Mother Nancy's Coffee Thoughts 