Another Kind of Lent
What is your favorite symbol(s) of Lent? Our family started a count on Wednesday, and we listed over fifty symbols. Each has a special meaning to each of us. One of the most common symbols shared is Ashes. Perhaps because Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, and each of us remembered the familiar words while growing up in Liberia in the United Methodist Church, “Remember that you are dust and unto dust, you will return.”
Knowing that we are dust and that we will return to dust should remind us of several things. First, it should remind us about our mortality. In the book Candide, Voltaire writes, “‘But for what end, then, has this world been formed?’ said Candide. In other words, what is the reason for creation? We believe that God’s dual purposes for creating the world are to reveal God’s character and nature, and to provide for what God has made. The above statement means that humanity’s use of creation must promote, not compromise, the ability of creation to reveal God and to provide for humans and other creatures on the earth now and in the future.
God brought the world into existence and as the capstone of this excellent work, God created us in God’s image so that we could share in God’s overflowing love, grace, and goodness through our relationships with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and with each other. God doesn’t need the world nor does God need us. The reason is that God has no lack (Acts 17:25; 2 Kings 14:23-29). It is humanity that lacks everything. Yet, we destroy what God gave us to have oversight for.
We see the growing lack of global oversight and political instability in the world today, which leads us to the second point. Knowing that we are dust and that we will return to dust should remind us about what it means to embody humility. The growing instability around the world and especially in Ukraine today is a direct threat to global peace. Where is our humanity? Where is our humility? Consider the fate of a small state caught up in the territorial ambitions of a superpower. Another Kind of Lent must summon us to not just abstain from food during Lent, but it must cause us to return to our humanity and humility, as we pray for global peace and stability.
Unless we embody humility, we will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to repent, which is the last point. Knowing that we are dust and that we will return to dust should cause us to repent. Dust denotes dirt. If we are dirt, what power do we have to destroy God’s creation? We believe that the destruction of God's gift to us in creation is a form of disobedience. Therefore, we need to repent. Repentance is a genuine and sincere expression of regret or remorse about one’s wrongdoing. Another Kind of Lent must cause us to search and find those areas in our lives where we have grieved God’s Spirit, and repent.
From a theological and biblical perspective, not only must we repent by leaving behind and ignoring what God prohibits, but we must return to what God commands. God commands us to be faithful. The imposition of the ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday is a constant reminder of a faithful journey to Easter. May Another Kind of Lent be for us a reminder of faithful stewardship to God. May it be for us a time to remember our mortality. May it be for us a time to embody humility. May it be for us a time of repentance. May it also be for us a time to reflect on God’s creation of the first man, Adam, from the dust of the earth to which our bodies will return to death one day.
May Another Kind of Lent remind us that our lives will not go on forever. Let us prepare to meet our Lord and savior. May we remember that everything in this world is ashes; only love lasts forever. May we demonstrate expressions of love each moment of the day. May we be in constant prayer for our fellow sisters and brothers across the globe that are in danger. May this Lent be Another Kind of Lent.
Blessings to you,
Charles
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