Experiential Westminster Returns for Lent

This site has been dark for a while! But now that we are in the holiest, most rigorous season of the church year, perhaps it's time to begin a conversation about the meaning of Lent and how we observe it.

One of the ways I have prepared FOR Lent is to install in the Prayer Center a Stations of the Cross display. Stations of the Cross is a very old Christian observance during Lent. As you walk from station to station, you are recreating the events of Christ's passion, 14 occurrences from his conviction to his death. Why do this? I think there are three important reasons: it is a highly focused form of prayer, it reminds us of the truth of the Passion, and it is an investment of time.

Often our biggest stumbling block in prayer is to focus on our own needs, asking for God's help as though he were some form of "cosmic concierge" devoted to satisfying all our requests efficiently and in good time. We know we are being whiny and selfish, but without structure, that seems to be our "default setting." With the Stations, prayer is scripted. The important content is there for you. You speak words of adoration, confession, thanksgiving. You petition God, but for understanding, not a vacation or a new man in your life.

The Passion is a difficult subject. I myself am so squeamish! I could not have watched Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. I don't watch any gory movies, read about torture, or watch YouTube clips of animal cruelty. BUT, but, but! Can I really understand Christ's mission if I minimize or gloss over his arrest, humiliation and painful death? Am I spiritually mature if I just think about "gentle shepherd Jesus, " the Sunday-school guy with the blue eyes and curly hair who carries me across the beach sand when I can't walk any more? Ick. We Presbyterians don't have the reminder of Christ's death before us in church, either: our cross is pristine, not a scary graphic crucifix. So I think sometimes, in a sincere effort to focus more on resurrection than sacrifice, we take Jesus' sacrificial death too lightly and do not honor it as it deserves. Walk the stations. Put yourself in Jesus' place. Imagine the pain, the fear, the humiliation. And then remember that He chose these awful things so that he could be fully alive to us when resurrected, fully experiencing our pain, fear and humiliation just as we do. I walk the stations so that I can grasp, however imperfectly, the magnitude of God's self-sacrificing love.

The old adage says we should give as a gift something we would enjoy receiving ourselves. And who among us wouldn't appreciate having more time, or being given more time with our friends, family and loved ones? In Lent, we have many ways of giving God the gift of our time and attention. We give up foods, bad habits, whatever and then think of God whenever we feel temptation. We do additional acts of charity, read the Bible more, pray more. The Stations of the Cross can be our gift of time to God as well. It takes a good five minutes just to walk them superficially! That's not much. Yet, Sunday I found it very difficult to set aside my thoughts of lunch, laundry and errands for even five minutes. Until the five minutes were over. Just that little amount of extra time in God's presence refocused my priorities, renewed my commitment to make Lent a big part of my life this year, and reminded me of what my relationship to God is supposed to be: huge, complicated, satifying and unstintingly generous.

So next week, I'm not going to rush through the ritual. I'm going to walk slowly, meditate more deeply, say the words of the prayer with more sincerity, and enjoy this special opportunity to go deeper into the meaning of Easter. I hope some of you will be right ahead of me or right behind me in line to do likewise.