With less than two weeks to go to the end of Lent and less
than a week to the Christo crescendo that is Holy Week, I have a confession to
make: I have had possibly the most mediocre Lent ever. In years past, I have
gone full throttle, prayed, fasted, sung psalms, albeit badly and generally got into
the zone of preparing for Easter with its central story of life anew. So what
happened this year and how does one get one’s mojo back pronto in time for Palm
Sunday cross waving and general merriment the Sunday after?
It is often considered seriously bad form to admit to
feelings of lassitude in one’s faith walk. Everything, particularly in the
modern Christian scene is very much geared to the ‘it is well’ and ‘JC gives a
gold-star’ way of speaking and feeling. In Lent, we are meant to be
strengthening our spiritual muscles, contemplating all that God has done for
us, reviewing all of the stuff that we might do well to put aside or stop doing.
The inventory of thought life, home life and work life is meant to have been
taken with items carefully checked off, if not all, at least some. But what
happens when it hasn’t been that way? When life’s myriad of distractions,
desires or even disasters have landed slap bang in the middle of this season
and rendered attendance at church or even a mumbled prayer at the beginning and
close of the day as good as it gets? Perhaps, the best place to head is to the
words of Jesus himself:
“Come to me, all you who
are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
As always, it all begins and ends and begins again with
Jesus. When things whether spiritual, physical, emotional or financial start to
feel like an enormous weight that is not getting any lighter, it is time to
stumble to the Lord and hand it all over. The invitation is not only to those
who are ‘heavily burdened’ but also open to those who are ‘weary’; whether from
circumstances or anything else. What is interesting to note is that there is no
further qualifier in Jesus’ statement. He doesn’t say ‘Come to me, all you who are
always shiny-happy believers’ or ‘all who have never had moments of doubt, fear,
frustration or anger’ or ‘all you who are front and centre doing good works’.
Also worth noting is that sometimes we and not God are the impediment. I for
one, realise my insistence on rating my Lent experience is endemic of the age
we live in where every experience can be ‘Liked’ or ‘Unliked’.
Whilst admission that Lent 2015 has so far not
been a sparkling Christian affair, it does not mean that all is lost, or that
there cannot be a grand turnaround every bit as dramatic as that of Easter Sunday.
So roll on the last few days, and in the interim, perhaps more time spent
unloading the burdens and having a good long nap in bosom of the Lord is the way
forward.
