It feels like we have been in the season of Lent for a year. Lent is the 40+ day season in the Christian year we journey with Jesus in his last days. Lent ends with Holy Week, which remembers his death. This year, Lent begins on February 17 and ends on April 3.
It was Lent when COVID-19 shut everything down last year. The church was reading the New Testament together as we wanted to do something to stretch our faith. Now, that seems like a lifetime ago.
No one knew how long things would last or how bad things would get. No one thought we’d be doing online worship without much in-person worship for a year. Yet, this is where we have been. For. A. Year.
Do we really need Lent in 2021 if we had a full year of it in 2020? Not sure. Right now, it feels normal enough. It feels like the changing of the seasons and the progress through winter to spring. But as I look toward tomorrow, I am starting to wonder.
And yet, it ***almost lines up perfectly. Things are getting better (a bit), and people are starting to talk about going back to school and work. We are a bit like Punxsutawney Phil, coming into the light and measuring how much longer the darkness will continue.
When I was a younger pastor, I wished that Christmas only happened every four years but that Easter happened every year. Now that I have made peace with Christmas’ chaos (so much so that I haven’t yet put away my Christmas decorations in my office), I have room for both. Lent and Easter remind us of our mortality, and that death is not the final word.
So, I get ready for Ash Wednesday, socially distanced (of course), and look toward what God will do as we enter into this holy season of Lent. Join me.