CategoriesSeasonal, Theology and Spirituality by

Lent: A Season of Darkness

In her book Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor challenged Christians to pause and embrace Lent as a season of “darkness.” True, Lent comes in spring, perhaps just before Daylight Savings Time, but she means something far deeper when she speaks of darkness. For her, Lent is an invitation to explore the parts of life and faith that are often overlooked, avoided, and clothed in our doubts, fears, and uncertainties.

 

Like Peterson, Taylor is a realist who understands how easy it is to hold on to easy answers when faced with the mystery of our faith.  Her practices include silence and contemplation by which we dwell in the “shadows,”  where she believes God often speaks profoundly.  For her, Lent is reframed not as a season of deprivation and letting go as much as a period of deep discovery and growth by which we face what is within.

Read More

CategoriesJesus' Way, Seasonal, Theology and Spirituality by

Lent: A Season of Reorientation

Last week I introduced Henri Nouwen and Lent as a journey of the heart; this week let’s consider Eugene Peterson and Lent as a season of reorientation.

I met Eugene Peterson at a campus ministry gathering in the early 90s.  I took classes from him and consider him my spiritual father, though we had only a handful of times together.  Lent, as an annual remembrance, was, like other practices, a time for reorienting one’s life toward God’s kingdom.  He emphasized what he might even have called the countercultural nature of Lent by which Christians learn to resist the pull and lure of consumerism and self-centered living. Read More

CategoriesSeasonal, Theology and Spirituality by

Lent: A Journey of the Heart

A journey of the heart

Henri Nouwen, known for his deep insights into spiritual life, saw Lent as a time for inner transformation—a journey of the heart. He often emphasized the importance of vulnerability, inviting followers of Jesus to step away from the distractions that impede their souls and examine their hearts honestly. Nouwen described Lent as a journey of returning to God, very much in the thread of the story of the prodigal son.

He first saw a reproduction of Rembrandt’s painting entitled, “The Return of the Prodigal Son” on a colleague’s office door. It may be impossible to explain the lifelong impact that experience had on Henri’s life. The image stirred something deeply profound in his heart.  Read More

CategoriesSeasonal, Spiritual Conversation by

A Deeper Meaning of Lent

Learning from Phil

Growing up, I didn’t know about Lent from my own experience; I only knew about it from my Catholic friend, Phil.  For a while, we were inseparable, sharing employment with the Chicago Tribune by delivering newspapers in the early morning hours. We went to school together from Ben Franklin Elementary School, Glen Ellyn Junior High, to Glenbard West High School.  Lent for Phil, as I recall, was about giving up something like Snicker bars, or Wrigley chewing gum.  In time, I learned a deeper meaning. 

Lent is the season of 40 days leading to our celebration of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus. The word simply means ”springtime,” but in liturgical circles, it is understood as a time of preparation—almost a desert experience like Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism.

“First popularized in the fourth century, Lent is traditionally associated with penitence, fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. It is a time for ‘giving things up’ balanced by ‘giving to those in need.’”[1]  Some consider it a time of dread and darkness, but it is better understood as a time of prayerful self-reflection.  It is “…a time to stop hanging on to whatever shreds of goodness we perceive in ourselves; a time to ask God to show us what we really look like.”[2] Read More