This has been a weird week in the calendar. Wednesday, February 14th, in most peoples’ minds was Valentine’s Day! In the Christian liturgical calendar, it was also Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent.
It’s rare that Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday coincide (the concurrence will happen only one more time this century in 2029). It’s also hard to synthesize these two days thematically. “Won’t you be my Valentine?” and “From dust you have come and to dust you shall return” doesn’t go well together. It’s socially awkward to take your Valentine out for dinner with black ashes smudged on your face.
The season of Lent comes early this year. It’s what’s called a “moveable feast.” Like the Jewish Passover holiday, the date is linked to the lunar calendar. Lent starts 40 days (not counting Sundays) before the Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox… Wow! Who can even keep track of this stuff, anyway?
I love the season of Lent and commend it to people of differing faiths or no faith tradition at all. It’s a season for spiritual Spring-cleaning, to remember the sobering truth that “from dust you have come and to dust you shall return,” but also to be inspired to make each day count. Lent is a time to create space in our cluttered inner lives for restoration and renewal, for healing and making whole again.
German sociologist Hartmut Rosa suggests acceleration is the defining feature of our time. Technology, social change, and life itself is accelerating faster than in any previous time in history. Thomas Eriksen twenty years ago put it simply, “Modernity is speed.” Due to the speed of life, and that for many of us it’s going quickly in the wrong direction, many feel overwhelmed, even out of control. Lent can be a counter-cultural season to put the brakes on our culture of acceleration. Lent invites us to create “Oasis moments” where we can stop, breathe, and reorient through spiritual disciplines.
In the Christian tradition, Lent is a time for practicing again the traditional spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, reading Scripture (slowly), and giving alms to the poor. In fact, fasting by Monastic communities was designed to generate extra income to buy food for the poor. By not eating a normal ration, they could save money and or food to give to those with greater needs. This is a reminder that any of the “spiritual disciplines” may be good for us personally, but even better if it inspires us to be more loving and compassionate toward our neighbors and those with special needs in our community.
When most people think of Lent the first question that pops into their mind is “What will I give up for Lent?” Giving up chocolate or alcohol is cliché, as good as it may be for our physical health. My grandmother was from the Hershey family, so we never gave up chocolate for Lent. The point, however, of denying oneself anything during Lent was originally meant to make space for something else. You have to say “No” to something so that you can say “Yes” to something else. Lent is a time when we open ourselves to new life, and the traditional spiritual disciplines have always been intended to create space for God to do a new thing in and through us. If we subtract something negative from our lives, it’s only so that we can add something positive. Too often we don’t take the time to remember what Lent is supposed to be about: to open ourselves to that which is life-giving. New life, growth, is the main purpose of Lent. It is supposed to be a “Holy Spring,” as the name Lent comes from the Old English, lencten, or lengthening of days (Spring)!
Part of the new life God desires for us according to the Christian tradition, is to know that we are beloved, and to be empowered to share that love with others. And strangely, there is at least a poetic connection with Ash Wednesday and St. Valentine’s Day. Did you know there’s a connection with St. Valentine and Honey Bees? Won’t you Bee my Valentine?
Seriously, honeybees have been associated with love for thousands of years. In Egypt, Ra, the Sun God’s tears were thought to become bees to help him win back his lost love. In Greece, cupid would dip his arrows in honey. In many cultures honey is thought to be a “love potion.” There are over 60 references to bees or honey in the Bible!
The name of Deborah, the only woman to lead Israel during the time of the Judges, means “bee.” In the Roman Catholic tradition, bees are symbols of purity and industry, and beeswax is used to make the Paschal candle. Two years ago I started keeping bees, and have come to love these industrious insects as they produce a wonderful harvest of honey. I hope to continue caring for bees and have a lot to learn to keep my bee hives healthy. I recently learned that St. Valentine was made the patron saint of Beekeepers in 496, CE. He was a beekeeper himself as he had a great love for nature and the fruitfulness of these wonderful little creatures. Amazing!
As we move toward Spring, I encourage us all to take time to slow down and “pay attention” (still my favorite definition of prayer). I love T. S. Eliot’s poem Ash Wednesday, especially:
Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place…
It reminds me that each moment is precious and unique. And if we simply run through each day, we miss a lot. Life can be sacred, if we slow down and truly are present to one another and to the world around us.
Consider how you can take traditional Lenten spiritual disciplines like prayer, fasting, reading Scripture and giving alms to the poor and make them more life-giving for you. Silence. Walking a Labyrinth. Walking the Land Trust trails. Hiking in the woods. Practicing breathing and becoming more aware of how your body responds to slowing down. Recite a life-giving verse or mantra as you breathe… Offering your time in service to others. Be more generous. Do less “screen time,” and talk with your family and friends, or read, pray, and/or write letters! Or, consider “fasting” from anger, or swearing, or whatever is negative in your life. You get the idea… It’s a weird and wonderful time we’re in. May it be a life-giving time to decelerate and remember we are beloved and called to be more loving!
Scott is one of the pastors of the First Presbyterian Church of New Canaan.
