FIRST, WELCOME TO Lent, the most somber of the seasons of the Christian Church, which we kicked off on Wednesday.
I am here today to discuss exactly the right way to observe Lent.
Here it is, in its entirety:
[ … ]
That’s right. There is no right way to observe Lent.
Let me repeat that: there is no right way. What works for you is what’s right.
Having established that, let me note that there are, however, as I know from my years and years and years of listening to sermons on the subject, and a lifelong pursuit of good spiritual practices, three major approaches:
1. What I give up
2. What I add on
3. What I decide on Ash Wednesday and then fail to do the rest of Lent.
Let’s take these in order— first, “What I give up.”
This is numerically, the first option that most people think of, even people who don’t, in fact, give up anything for Lent. When I followed this approach, I thought, “How hard can it be?”
“Let’s give up chocolate,” I said, one particularly trying year, both for myself and for those who tried to love me during those long weeks of that Lent. Turns out chocolate is a major emotional need of mine. It’s necessary, it’s needful and not having it, not even once a week, makes me grumpy. And I am not pretty when grumpy. Ask my hubbie. He usually says, in his gentle and infuriating way, “Sometimes you can be difficult.” Yeah, I bet I can be.
Result: Not recommended.
Second option: “What I add on.”
This, I can now scientifically report to you after repeated iterations, works for about five weeks.
However, in fairness, I must also note that Lent lasts seven weeks. But it worked well for those five weeks. I might, for instance, take a daily walk rather than think about taking a daily walk. Sometimes this option fails immediately. (“I will cook at least one meal every day” was surprisingly counter-productive. I cooked less in Lent than how much I cooked before Lent. Nobody is gonna tell me what to do, not even me.)
Or sometimes I did better. I started volunteering at the food shelter when I was back in Lafayette (I come from Louisiana, y’all, and still say “y’all.” I will never give it up.)
That lasted all the time from Lent 2020 till I moved here in May. That worked well for me and for those I helped feed.
And finally, Option 3: “What I decide on Ash Wednesday and then fail to do the rest of Lent.”
Oh, well, the spirit is willing and all that. Also see Options 1 and 2, especially Option 1. And New Year’s resolutions, the secular equivalent to Lenten promises, report useful yet tragic data as well.
The fact is, though, most of us have busy lives.
COVID has triggered a double phenomenon: the Great Resignation of young people, now matched by the Great Retirement of older people.
As Alexandre Tanzi has noted in Bloomberg Equality, “The so-called Great Retirement trend that saw workers leave the labor market — whether forced or by choice — was driven by baby boomers aged 65 and older…”
In other words, people at the two far ends of the labor spectrum are just saying no to working as hard as we Americans do.
So, here’s the one and only true way to do Lent.
Breathe.
Just slow down.
Buy some candy early so that’s done and then, maybe once a day, maybe once a week, slow down and pray.
Take a nap.
Say no.
And, if you’re so minded, think of Christ’s love so rich that he would die for us.
But take time. You need it, and deserve it.
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Issues of Faith is a rotating column by religious leaders on the North Olympic Peninsula. The Rev. Dr. Keith Dorwick is a Deacon at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Port Angeles/St. Swithin’s Episcopal Church, Forks.
