On the Threshold of Lent.

By David Poultney. in All Sorts

A call this lent to embrace life itself. Let the memory of your incomplete humanity awaken you to the wonders, joys, sorrows, pain and wonders of life.

On the Threshold of Lent
On this last Sunday after Epiphany, we stand at the threshold of Lent. A season we might feel ambiguous about. We know it’s there but for much of our history as Methodists the liturgical calendar has sat lightly with us for much of our history an even now Lent only “gets real” with Palm Sunday and then Good Friday. As a Liturgist – and as a “Recovering Catholic” I might wish we made more of Lent, but we are where we are.
To be fair Lent carries some difficult associations. It can come with a preoccupation with sin, or as sin as something deeply individualised with no societal dimension. With the supposed sacrifice of” giving things up.” How might we engage with it, how can we enter into it in ways which are coherent and meaningful to us?
I find in Lent a call to the truth of our humanity. It traditionally begins with just that, with the imposition of ashes with these words “remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.” Our ancestors in the faith, entered into a morose season of Lent via this awesome reminder that they came from dust and soon they shall return to the dust. Lent was a season of lament and repentance based on a particular understanding of what it means to be human. Since the 11th century most of Christianity has understood the human condition as that of those who have fallen from grace. But we live in a post-modern world. We no longer believe that Adam and Eve were the first humans. We read Genesis not as history but as myth, a story which while not a factual account tells us deep truths. We understand that humans evolved over millions of years. There was no perfect human condition for us to fall from. What happens when you reject the theological construct of original sin? What happens when you embrace the idea that we are fiercely and wonderfully made? What happens when you see humanity as originally blessed?
Once you open up Pandora’s box you can’t just walk back out of the room and pretend that the theory of evolution doesn’t have something to teach us about what it means to be human. If we see ourselves as incomplete creations rather than fallen sinful creatures, how then do we deal with our mortality? Perhaps we can begin to express what it means to be human in terms that reflect our need to evolve into all that we were created to be. Perhaps the brevity and uncertainty of life can begin to wake us up so that we can seize each and every moment of this incredible mystery that we call life. All that we love and care for is mortal and transitory, but mortality is the very reality that can become the inspiration for celebrate life and to love. Lent calls us oto be mindful of our mortality. But we should also remember the reality of creation itself is transformed by death and is constantly renewing itself. Let us embrace the promise that in death we are transformed into a new way of living on within the MYSTERY that is the LOVE we call God. Trusting that here and now we are living in the MYSTERY, we delight in the knowledge that in this MYSTERY that is God, we share in eternity; eternity – that which has no beginning and no end. We are constantly dying, but we are also constantly living as we give particular expression to an aspect of the LOVE that is God.
Yes, we are dust, but we are earthly dust, springing forth from a multi-billion- year holy adventure. Dust is the stuff of life. Dust it is the place of fecundity, of moist dark soil, and perhaps we are as various scientists are suggesting: “stardust” evolving creatures emerging from Divinity’s intergalactic creativity. We are frail, but we are also part of a holy adventure reflecting the love that is God over billions of years and in billions of galaxies. Lent is our wake-up call to this truth. This Lent “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Let the memory of your incomplete humanity awaken you to the wonders, joys, sorrows, pain and wonders of life. This lent embrace life itself.
David Poultney