Let’s face it. Lent is in trouble.”¨
Let me explain. Most of us have favorite holiday seasons. For some it’s Christmas, with the family get-togethers and presents. For others it’s the Fourth of July and summer, filled by a sense of national pride and beach vacations to boot. But each year at just about this time, it strikes me that very few of us would pick Lent, a season that seems to most of us as grim as the weather that usually attends it.
Think about it: crossing off days on the calendar until Ash Wednesday; leaving work just a little early, saying “I’ve got to get my Lenten shopping done;” advertisements on billboards and television reading “only 12 more days ’til the day of Ashes;” or little kids going to bed, asking their parents, “How much longer ’till Lent is here?” It just doesn’t happen.”¨
Wouldn’t I love to have this turned in to me as a paper that was going to correct and grade. Someone needs to tell the writer that he does not have IT, that Hemingway is not trembling in his tevas. I don’t know why, but you give some people a pencil and a piece of paper and then BOOM, horror vacui sets in and they start to scribble. L
LOL Larry.
I dunno. In our local newspaper, we’ve been having articles about a resurgent interest in Lent. Perhaps we should invite the writer to our Wednesday evening Lenten suppers (since he doesn’t think they exist) and study sessions.
We seem to attract a lot of people who are curious about Lent. Last Ash Wednesday, a contingent of Church of Christ youth joined us. Tonight, we had a group from an evangelical Christian high school and they were warmly welcomed. Our rector invited all of the guests to journey with us throughout these 40 days, join us especially on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, to share Easter alleluias and a jubilant Pentecost.
It seems that more Protestant denominations are paying attention to Lent and seeing its great value.
Teatime, this is a very pleasant report indeed. There’s nothing like a little good news. Larry
Yesterday we had an above average count for worshippers at Ash Wednesday……with tornadic weather on hand no less!
This year we will offer Evening Prayer (Rite I) and Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings in Lent. The interest exceeds what we were hoping for.
I think the church has a grand oppty to say a lot about life in the Season of Lent, and in our current economic times where people realize “more stuff” is not the path toward happiness, let alone salvation, what the church has to say just might strike a strong chord.