Veni Sancte Spiritus

 Once during my college years I walked into a Christian bookstore in early February and asked for Lenten Bible studies. The sales associate looked at me almost in shock and asked me to repeat my request. I said I was looking for a Lenten Bible study for the upcoming Lent. The sales associate said he would ask his manager and began to scribble something on a piece of paper, and then looked up at me and very seriously asked "How do you spell 'Lent'?"

I'm only in my first year of seminary, but I'm going to give this a shot because I think Lent is incredibly important.

Lent will be different in different Presbyterian churches. Different pastors and different communities will emphasize different things. Some will ask you to give something up (like meat or soda), some will ask you to add something on (such as a specialized Bible study), some will ask you to spend more time in reflection and silence, and some will leave it completely open to you about what you do. Some churches offer Taize services during Lent. Some offer special prayer groups. Some will offer services of lament and healing. Some will spend more time on the calls to confession, prayers of confession, and assurances of pardon.

Honestly, what you do or don't do during Lent isn't nearly as important as WHY we do Lent. Just as the Israelites spent 40 years in the desert and just as Jesus spent 40 days being tempted in the desert, we spend 40 days each year in Lent. This is a time to look at our discipleship. Really examine it. It's a time to think. It's a time to repent and be forgiven. It's a time to prepare ourselves for the Passion and the Resurrection. We are disciples of Jesus, and we live in a broken world where our sin keeps us from God.

Now, some of us don't like to admit we're sinful. I certainly don't... and then the minister of the Chapel here at PTS goes and challenges with with this: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:8-9). Oftentimes people associate Lent with punishing ourselves because of our sin. I'm not of that camp. God loved us so much that he decided he would rather die than be separated from us. The Incarnation changed everything. "We are dead to sin. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11). In Lent we choose to be more alive in Christ. We choose to somehow take one step closer to living a life like Christ did by changing something in our lives and taking the time to attend special services dedicated to the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We cannot have Easter (the resurrection) morning without first going through Good Friday (the death).

Furthermore, while Lent is a fixed time period on our liturgical period, we all go through Lents at other times in our lives... times of immense grief or suffering or exile or illness or loneliness. Because we walk together as a faith community during our yearly Lent, I believe we help each other through those times in our lives. We can better sit with people during their grief if we have been through grief before and have seen God on the other side. Today my New Testament professor asked us this question about Jesus' crucifixion: "What is faith? Is is when the lights are on and all's right with the world and God's smiling down on us? Or is is when you're beaten up and hanging on by a thread and praying to a God who you're not sure is there anymore?"

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
       Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?"

Psalm 22:1

Jesus turns to the Psalms while on the cross because they give us the words when we are so down and out that we don't even have the words to describe what we're feeling. There have been times in my life where I have wondered if God had forsaken me. I have had Lents, and I have walked through our liturgical Lent several times. I am here at Princeton Seminary today because of the Psalms and because of the community of faith that has surrounded me since the time I was small. They helped guide me to seeing God working in my life in ways I hadn't seen during my Lent. I am very, very blessed this Lent to be walking only through the liturgical Lent. I prayed Psalm 13 so often. Now I pray Psalm 107. Thanks be to God.

That's part of my Lenten story. I urge you this Ash Wednesday to start your own Lenten story. Go out and figure out what Lent means to you and in your community. You might be surprised what you find.

Who says first year seminary students can't preach?