Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994 TAG: 9402170074
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cody Lowe
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I blame my Southern Baptist upbringing for that.
Don't get me wrong. I'm delighted with most of what that tradition instilled in me, it's just that an appreciation for Lent wasn't part of it.
Way too Catholic, you understand, in a little town where the one Roman congregation was surrounded by about 1,000 Protestant churches.
We liked Catholics OK as neighbors, though. My dad's boss - a good man who treated my father like a son - was Catholic. And the enrollment of even one Catholic kid in my public school meant we had the ever-popular fish-stick lunch every Friday, up until Vatican II.
Baptists, though, are pretty skittish about getting involved theologically in anything that is too "pope-ish." So Lent was out.
That, of course, meant we also didn't recognize Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, which fell this past week. It just didn't occur to us that we needed to prepare for Easter.
There is a logic to the lack of emphasis.
Catholics, and some "high-church" Protestants, tended to initiate new converts and often delay baptisms until Easter weekend. Our minister made clear that every Sunday was a commemoration of Easter, and you shouldn't wait another second to sign up to be fully immersed.
A harsh judgment of eternal damnation awaited those who deliberately put off making a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
It seemed like every weekend up until I took that long walk down the aisle when I was 15, I was targeted by dire predictions of bizarre accidents that would cut me down in the flower of youth before I could get back into church for another chance at salvation.
And then, there I'd be, stuck at the Pearly Gates, locked away from Jesus, who'd sadly be shaking his head and silently pointing his finger downward.
No appeal, no penance.
I guess that's what appeals to me now about Lent - a chance to say, "Oh, God, I know I didn't get that right, but I really am trying."
Even though a few places have a big bacchanal before the season begins, in most towns there is no Mardi Gras - no special occasion to get in a last sin before the crackdown. There is only Ash Wednesday and a 40-day - not counting Sundays - penitential season.
Carving out a month and a half to spend in special reflection on the most significant event in Christianity feels right. It is hard to be as introspective as we ought to be about our faith, and this is a good motivator for Christians to look hard at ours.
In Roanoke, hundreds - maybe thousands - of people took time away from work at noon Wednesday to make a pilgrimage to church, where priest or minister marked their foreheads with an ashen cross.
Though some removed the gray symbol before returning to the office, many left it alone - a public sign of that peculiar mixture of pride and shame that Christians find in the cross.
Some of them will keep alive the tradition of sacrifice for the entire Lenten season - giving up a vice or a pleasure to commemorate the sacrifice of the founder of our faith. This is not so much a test of faith as it is a reminder of the necessity of commitment to receive the full blessings of faith.
Finally, they begin focusing on the coming of Easter, an exercise that can only intensify the impact of the holiday.
If nothing else, just setting aside some time to be conscious of our personal religious beliefs should make better Christians.
So, despite my inexperience and lack of a track record, I'm going to try to make something of Lent again this year.
Lord knows, there are plenty of things I could give up. But I think a better idea will be to add something - a few minutes to my daily routine evaluating my expectations, my commitments and my examples.
by CNB