ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702140090
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The Back Pew
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
Here we are, in Lent again, and me no closer to finding just the right formula for observing the season.
I have to admit that I once thought Lent was primarily an excuse to have Mardi Gras. I don't have much trouble comprehending that. Any pretext for a big ol' party will do. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.
When I really think about it, though, the contrast between a New Orleans- or Buenos Aires-style Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday is a bit too sharp for comfort for me.
Understandable though the tradition may be, a premeditated orgy of gluttony, drunkenness, lasciviousness and assorted other of the "seven deadly sins" really is no longer justified by the observance - or lack of observance - of Lent.
Perhaps there remain a few ascetics for whom Lent is truly a time of rigorous self-deprivation. But for most of us who try to observe the season, it is something more moderate, and not even particularly inconvenient.
The idea that we must pack more than a month's worth of the normal pleasures of life into "Fat Tuesday" because we are about to deprive ourselves of all pleasure during Lent just doesn't wash.
Giving up chocolate until the Easter Bunny arrives can't possibly warrant the general bacchanalia now commonly associated with Mardi Gras.
The 40-day (not counting Sundays) period before Easter traditionally was a time for preparing new converts for baptism. That continues to be the case in some branches of Christianity.
But in many churches that recognize Lent, the season has become primarily a time for those who already bear the name Christian to reflect on the central doctrine of their faith: Christ's resurrection.
The Lenten practice of abstaining from some of the routine pleasures of life to enhance our understanding and appreciation of them, and to help us focus on spiritual matters, is reflected in other religions as well.
In Judaism, the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is such a penitential period. For Muslims, Ramadan is the monthlong daylight fast in which the faithful focus on their faith.
In Christianity, however, the practice of Lent is not as universally accepted as those Jewish and Islamic holy days, though it may be spreading into places it would never have been considered not so long ago. Some Baptist churches, for instance, are now acknowledging the tradition, even if they don't make as big a deal of it as their Catholic neighbors.
Now, if the practice continues to spread, I wonder what form it will take? Will it be merely an excuse for Mardi Gras? Or will it be a period for reflection, penance and preparation?
Even in churches where some sort of voluntary abstinence is encouraged, some adults may take little more notice of it than they would have been asked to do as children. Giving up chocolate - which I'm sure many of us do consider a major expression of religious devotion - might not be all that Lent demands.
Giving up anything - chocolate, or meat, or alcohol, or any other pleasure - traditionally was not enough by itself. Lenten observance also included the addition of some spiritual dimension to one's life. Abstinence would have been linked to increased prayer, additional acts of charity, more time in church, intensified spiritual introspection.
In an age in which many who call themselves Christians apparently are searching for spiritual nourishment, those elements of this season of abstinence may be more attractive than ever.
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