LENT 2007...

From the other side of the Pacific, and taking a break from growing grass in a more isolated part of Texas, Alan Simpson, is joining us with a series of gentle reflections on the Sunday readings during Lent. Here's his first contribution...

Catholicism from the outside, looking in...

Growing up Presbyterian I didn't know much about Lent. Maybe it was just that particular congregation but I don't remember the season being anything special. We knew about Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday, how those days somehow started the countdown to Easter. The Kiwanis Club held a big fundraiser, the Pancake Breakfast, around that time. We knew about Palm Sunday and Good Friday. The rest was only in-between times. I was just a kid, probably thinking more about the preacher's daughter and the other girls looking so nice in their Sunday Best than about what I 'should' have been.

Back in school, though, there was a difference in some of the other students, the Catholic kids and their richer cousins, the Episcopalians, mostly. It was subtle: a little less boisterous, a little more serious; fewer jokes and less teasing of the unpopular kids. Favorite desserts - even the famous cherry cream pie - went uneaten in the school cafeteria. The weird late winter behavior became more obvious as we got older.

It was in 9th grade and Susan [not her real name] looked especially sad. We'd been friends for several years. I asked her what was wrong.

"It's lent", she replied.

"Lint? Why does lint make you sad? A little masking tape can get rid of it."

"You don't understand", she said. "Lent - with an 'e' - is the 40 days before Easter when us Catholics have to give up everything we enjoy and worry about how we don't deserve Jesus! I love Jesus but I'm so bad that he doesn't like me and he has to die because of me!"

Well, let me tell you I was never so happy for the bell to ring for the next class! Even my hard-shell Baptist grandmother didn't believe Jesus ever stopped loving us, no matter how bad we were. Susan avoided me after that but the conversation stuck in my memory. It was many years before I learned that she didn't really understand what Lent is all about.

What is Lent all about...

So what is Lent all about? In simple terms, it is a time for penance, prayer, preparation for or remembrance of baptism, and preparation for the celebration of Easter. In Western tradition it runs for 40 days from Ash Wednesday to midnight on Holy Saturday. Five Sundays occur in the Lenten calendar period, the last being Palm Sunday, but are not counted in the 40 days because every Sunday is sort of a "little Easter".

I'm sure we've all seen folks who take the 'penance' part to an extreme. My friend Susan had done that. She had an excuse: she was still a child with a child's understanding. I'm thinking of the ones who get so caught up in feelings of unworthiness that it borders on self-hate, who seem so unhappy and miserable from self-examination that they look like they ate a bucket of sour pickles for breakfast.

I don't see as many people like that today as I used to. I think that is a good thing because Lent is not getting us ready for a crucifixion, a burial, and the end of hope.

Lent points us to the Resurrection!

Today's Epistle is from the book of Romans, Chapter 10, verses 8-13 [NIV]:

But what does it [the righteousness of faith rather than the righteousness of the Law] say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

There is nothing I can add to that to make it any plainer, so I'll just break it out into some key points to ponder:

• If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you WILL be saved.
• It is with your heart that you believe and are justified
• It is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

This, I believe, is what Lent should prepare us to understand:

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

That includes 'lost sheep', Catholics, 'heathen Methodists', mis-ordered Anglicans, and the 'happy-clappies'.

And it includes you, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

The rest of today's scripture readings can be found here: www.usccb.org/nab/022507.shtml

Alan Simpson

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