Preparing for the Absurd
I don’t always give stuff up for Lent, but when I do, I make sure I’m not too uncomfortable. But, think about having to live without clean water for a bath in your home. Bottled water is great – a blessing in some cases – but it’s hard to bath with. I was not thinking about Flint when I decided to participate in the tradition of Lent this season, but I’ve though a little about it recently.
My decision for “sacrifice” this season was to eat only one regular meal per day, and that meal must be taken in the company of others. The rest of the day, other than on Sundays, I limited my drinking and eating to bread and water. This has not been difficult, and I have lost a few pounds because I ain’t eatin’ so much sugar. I hope I don’t go back to that. Also, my wife makes great bread. I need to remind myself, however, that lent is not about my sacrifices, and again. Limiting my food consumption could be more of a health necessity than a sacrifice of any kind. Lent is more about preparation.
As it turns out, I find myself preparing today for a new leg of a long journey. This weekend, I will go to Kansas to participate in some denominational courses sponsored by the Church of the Brethren Academy. Then, I am home for a day to spend with my wife and kids. Then, it is off to Flint, God willing. I tend to set goals instead of making plans. Old crackheads like me know planning usually doesn’t work out as planned. Also, I am working on a book for a publisher, something that intimidates me to no end.
Lent is preparing for retelling the story of an execution of a dissident, which is followed by the resurrection of the accused – a vindication of this dissidents faithfulness to the Creator God over the religious and political establishment. As I think of it right now, I cannot help but think of Lent as a time of reflecting on ethics as well, or, as preparation in general as an ethic. Lent as an ethic understand the act preparation as an ethic.
When Jesus prepared in the wilderness for his ministry, the challenges posed to him by the satan were related to sustenance, identity, and power and control. Jesus refused the offers of power and control, instead preparing himself for a ministry of self-sacrifice and community building. Jesus refused power, instead choosing to serve those who had spent a lifetimI e experiencing exclusion from community by those who had power. The themes of sacrifice, sustenance, healing and deliverance from the margins are indicative of the Kingdom that Jesus was preparing.
As we use Lent as a season of preparation to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, I pray that you will consider this. Jesus’ death on the cross was indeed sacrificial, a practice in self-sacrifice made by the fully human One. But just as importantly, Jesus preparation for the cross is a study in preparation as an ethic. We only understand what God deems faithful by looking closely at the life lived by Jesus – the nature of a ministry that was mostly concerned with feeding, clothing, and housing the poor and not the things that a faithful person ought not to do. As we prepare for the sacrifices of Easter, and the exhortation by Jesus that we must learn to carry our own cross, let us identify the season of Lent, not as a season of remembering Jesus on the cross so much as remembering that preparation is an ethic that intended to show the world what carrying one’s cross on behalf of others looks like.
