Although nowadays Easter eggs are widely on sale well before Easter, as a Christian penitential season, Lent has not suffered the full fate of its sister, Advent. Society at large, as well as in many a church context, has simply come to see Advent as part of Christmas-time.
Perhaps the fact that the penitential character of Lent still attracts public engagement is due to a general interest in spirituality – which in the case of Advent does not sit easily with the frequent partying, the ubiquitous presence of Santa Claus and the human need for a cheery mood in what are invariably dark, midwinter days.
Lent comes as the days lengthen and as the coming to life again of nature after its winter slumber evokes a certain fascination with life itself, thereby bringing an openness to deeper thoughts, perhaps even of death and resurrection.
Nature has its own unique way of prompting profound spiritual thoughts. While the church does not teach that one can worship God just as well in one’s garden as in the worshipping assembly with its fellowship and time-honoured liturgical traditions, nature’s ability to create an awareness of the sacred mysteries of creation and of life itself is worthy of respect. Lent continues to strike a certain chord in the public consciousness, which often starts with explanations in the media of just why there is such a thing as Pancake Tuesday.
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Penitence, which is sorrow for sin because it offends God, and which is quite different from any regret of wrongdoing due to a fear of divine wrath, is a prerequisite of spiritual growth. Sorrow for sin precisely because it is sin excludes any self-interest, any sorrow for oneself. Penitence is therefore not so much about working one’s way back to God, but is first and foremost the result of seeing one’s sin against the clear and undefiled light of God, and resolving to change oneself by God’s grace.
Penitential works may help to reinforce such resolve, but they must not be confused with the real thing: the change of heart and the heartfelt resolve.
Thomas à Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ: “There is no real liberty and true joy, save in the fear of God with a quiet conscience.”
This fear, of course, is properly understood as utter reverence. It inspires devotion and fidelity and draws the individual ever closer to God. Unlike fear in the more common sense, it results in the desire to be in God’s presence, not in the desire to flee in terror. The fear of God is, as the Book of Proverbs puts it, the beginning of wisdom. Once the individual recognises the complete holiness of God, the journey to God begins.
It begins, unsurprisingly, with a recognition of one’s own spiritual poverty, because we human beings, although created in the image of God, have somehow come to be so much less than God intended. We are not what we are supposed to be. The recognition of God’s absolute holiness and righteousness demands the response of penitence. Yet, the scriptural call to repentance and faith can only be acted on after a moment of conversion, a moment of change of perception of life, a moment of new sight.
Indeed, these things are all there in St Paul’s experience on the Damascus road, but in truth it can also be a daily miracle, conversion and reconversion drawing the believer deeper and deeper into the life of God.
So, Lent, with its focus on the interior life, brings a special opportunity, but first must come that recognising of God, the contemplation of God to the exclusion of all else: God, and God alone. From such a contemplation, such a drinking of spiritual water, springs penitence and the reconciliation that God longs for in each and every soul.
The words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well convey the profound truth that is for every person to lay hold of – namely, that the water he gives will become in every person who drinks it “a well of water springing up to eternal life”.
Canon Ian Ellis is a former editor of the Church of Ireland Gazette.
