I think it is often the case that because people or groups we disagree with on a fundamental level practice certain things, we automatically assume the practices themselves are bad. Coming from a large, liberal city with a strong nominal Catholic presence, this was the case for me. For the better part of my life I steered clear of traditional liturgy and anything that smelled even slightly ‘religious’ to me. Fed by theological oversimplifications, I was against the idea of religion altogether, ignorant of so much. I will not dive into the debate over the use of that word here, but I will say that I am no longer a fan of the ‘anti-religion’ bandwagon. I don’t think it proper to turn away from two thousand years of church history and practice simply because there have been abuses or because it is fashionable to abhor religious establishment in this culture.
I was blessed to join the launch team of a church plant here in Raleigh when I moved in August, and the time I have spent at Imago Dei Church has been a wonderful season of learning and growth. One of the things I was able to embrace was the rich history of the church before our time. There is much to learn from the great minds that came before us, much to be applied and put in practice. While it is true that ritual for the sake of ritual is devoid of meaning, this is true of every aspect of Christian worship. The heart of the matter, as with all of life, is the Gospel. If we allow the Gospel to permeate every part of life, every act of corporate worship, every element in the liturgy, there is no reason it should be inferior to more modern approaches. On the contrary, I might even suggest that much of what is favored in today’s church culture has more in common with Rococo than with a Gospel-centric view of the world, focusing on visual appeal and often forsaking deep meaning.
Before I continue, I should make it clear that I am not making an argument that all churches should follow the Lectionary or the Christian year, or that ancient practices are inherently superior to modern ones. We have a projector screen at my church. I play the electric guitar. Loud. Everyone wears jeans. That’s not the point. The point is that we shouldn’t outright forsake our rich history because of modern fads. We should NEVER favor a practice because it is more fashionable. There should be prayerful meditation about every part of our worship.
That being said, this year will mark the first time I take part in Lent. I don’t suspect this would have ever happened in Miami, given the cultural connotations, but things are different in Raleigh. I will say that I will not be donning ash on my forehead this Wednesday (Ben Palka and I decided that two non-Southerners from big cities with large Catholic populations probably shouldn’t put ashes on the foreheads of a bunch of college students), but I will be observing the Lent season. I will be teaching on it some at our NC State Growth Group this week, to help our students think through the significance not just of the traditions, but of the events and truths they represent. As our church guide on Ash Wednesday put it, we will be observing the season “to prepare our hearts and minds through the spiritual disciplines of repentance, fasting, prayer, and meditation on God’s word in order to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday more fully.”
Consider Job 42:1-6, Jeremiah 6, and Daniel 9 and the sort of repentance that Ash Wednesday calls us to. Consider Psalm 51 and our desperate need for redemption. And consider Romans 7:18-8:4 and the great work of salvation that has taken our sin.
Does Lent point you to Christ? If the answer is yes (and I pray that it is), then embrace it as a grace and let it serve as an instrument to add fuel to the fire of the Gospel within you.