40 Days of Self Loathing! Or How About…Not.

The Rio Grande Gorge outside of Taos, New Mexico is a 1200 foot wide 600 foot deep gorge.  This gigantic gorge is cut into a very flat part of New Mexico by the Rio Grande river and if you found yourself on one side wanting to get to the other side, you would be looking at quite a thing to try to get across.  (if you weren't by the bridge of course)

If Saint Paul had seen this gorge he might have found it a good illustration of how far he felt from being the person God was calling him to be.  He said we always seem to do the things we know that we shouldn't do and don't ever seem to be able to do the things we should.  St. Paul not only knew that about humans but admitted to that human weakness himself.  Martin Luther was always a good one too for pointing out how far he felt from the place he understood God wanted him to be.  He referred to himself as a "bag of maggots" once since he felt that horribly rotten about himself when he looked at where he was and where he thought God wanted him to be.  

It seems like Lent has become a time set aside every year to spend forty days looking into the gorge between where we are and where God wants us to be and then feeling horrible about it.  Forty days of self loathing!  Yeah!  To help with that self abuse, you might want to fast because someone that far from God doesn’t really deserve good food, do they?  You might want to suffer through extra worship services to have an extra opportunity to be reminded that you are not just a bag of maggots, but a huge, squirming bag of maggots.  You may want to read the long genealogies in the Bible in an effort to take on some holy, Biblical kind of mind-numbing hurt.  You could do all of that during the season of Lent…  it is sort of tradition after all (although not that old of a tradition really)… but does any of that help you to narrow the gap between the place you are now and the place God is calling you to be?  Do you believe that spending the next six weeks of Lent staring into the canyon that separates you from God will do anything to get you closer to God, or are you just abusing yourself for forty days because it will just feel so dang good to stop on Easter Sunday? 

I'm not sure how we got to this place where Lent is a time of suffering because it really doesn't make any sense.  If you think you are going to suffer for the sins of the world, you have a LOT more suffering to do than anything you can fit into the next forty days.  The same is true if you think you are going to suffer like Jesus did on the cross.  No amount of missed beer, candy or Facebook is going to equal crucifixion.  In the early Church, Lent wasn't a time of suffering but a time to prepare candidates for Baptism.  The disciplines of Lent were meant to intentionally grow faith, to bring you closer to others and to God, not to tear apart your humanity.  

So, instead of being a season to stare with teary, sorrowful eyes into the gorge between how our lives are now and the abundant, meaning filled lives God wants for us, how about if we take the next forty days to work on constructing a bridge and get a little closer to God, our neighbors and that abundant life!  Building a bridge is really what the disciplines of Lent should be about.  I will be the first to admit that building up is harder than tearing down and beating yourself up for six weeks.  It will be harder to work actively on connecting more deeply with God and with your neighbors than it would be to spend the next six weeks looking in the mirror and doing daily, mental, self-mutilations.  However, I think it's past time for us all to give it a try.

There have been a number of Lenten Discipline Lists going around the internet this year.  Some are good and some are terrible.  In the end, whatever you decide to do, ask yourself that particular discipline will move you closer to God, your neighbors and the meaning filled life God created you to live.  If you think it might, then do that.  By the way, the traditional things like fasting, prayer, giving to the poor and extra worship are not bad ideas, as long as the "why" you are doing them is to bridge the gap and build relationships and not stare with self-loathing in the hole.  Here's a couple other ideas…

• Post three things you are thankful for each day on Facebook.
• Every time you turn on your car pray for a new person (a list on the visor helps in the early morning hours!)  
• Tip 50%… at least! every time you eat out in Lent.  
• Pay the bill for the car two behind yours in the drive through.  
• Buy one item (tuna and peanut butter are good choices) for the food bank EVERY time you go into the grocery store during Lent, even if it's just for milk.
• Add one minute of silence to your day each day during Lent.  (Yup, that means 40 minutes at the end)  
• Bring cookies to the neighbors you have never met before.  
• Babysit your friend's kids for free so they can have a night out.
• Make homeless gift bags with travel toothpaste, tooth brush, clean socks, comb, soap, candy miniatures and a note that says, "I care" then keep them in your car and give them out throughout Lent.  
• Send a hand written card to someone each day in Lent.
• Eat a bowl of ice cream each evening in the quiet and remember the sweetness of the friendship of one specific person with each spoonful.  Taste the ice cream, picture their face, thank God for them being in your life.  (This is my favorite one!)