Moana can’t create the wind and the waves, but her sail-canoe enables her to catch the energy provided by the ocean. Lent is a lot like that.
by Gary David Stratton
“Don’t you think it’s a little odd to give up something for Lent in order to worship a Savior who told us to remember him by eating carbs and drinking alcohol?”
That’s the question a brilliant young writer confronted me with after an intense conversation covering Ash Wednesday, Lent, fasting, and dieting. (There is a difference, right?)
To her, fasting made about as much sense as the head-bonking monks in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” whose unspoken motto appears to be: “Painfulness is next to godliness.”
She had a point. We find the head-bonking monks so funny precisely because we know that the extreme asceticism of the Middle ages, no matter how sincere, was profoundly flawed.
But are all ascetic practices flawed? She suspected they were. I desperately tried to offer an alternative perspective.
After talking it through for nearly an hour, I finally gave her the best answer I could: fasting is more like Moana than Monty Python.
Let me explain…
A Brief History of Lent
For centuries the imposition of ashes on “Ash Wednesday” has served as a symbolic entrance into the Lenten season of repentance
Fasting 40 days before Easter was originally established as a time of spiritual preparation for new converts to Christianity before they were all baptized together each Easter. However, in 325 AD, The Council of Nicea made Lent an official season of fasting for the entire church to prepare to receive the new members.
This was normally practiced as eating only one meal per day for the entire 40 days.[1] In the ensuing centuries, many Christ-followers found Lent a helpful practice in their walk with God. Fasting is often connected with repentance in Scripture. Using fasting and repentance to help “Prepare the way” for the Lord” in one’s heart for the celebration of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection can be a very helpful and instructive practice.
Entering this season of repentance through the imposition of ashes on one’s forehead on “Ash Wednesday” can create a strong connection to the Biblical practice of repenting in sackcloth and ashes. (Traditionally, the ashes are made from palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday to remind us of how quickly our cries of, “Hosanna” can turn to “Crucify him!”) Skipping a meal, a favorite food, or favorite activity can help underscore our words of repentance with our bodies. Our “hunger” allows us to more closely identify with Jesus’ missional commitments, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34).
Lenten Warfare
Unfortunately, the practice of Lent took on a darker tone during the middle ages. As the human tendency toward hyper-control began to infiltrate the church, the practice of Lent became more and more prescribed and restrictive with each passing year. For many, the compulsory practice of Lent became genuinely oppressive, not unlike Monty Python’s head-bonking monks. So much so that Reformation leaders began to distance themselves from the practice.
Martin Luther feared that most Lenten fasting had become dead compulsory religious ritual aimed at earning God’s favor that amounted to “fasting to Satan instead of a fasting unto holiness.” Ulrich Zwingli and later John Calvin were just as rough. They all but outlawed what they called the “gross delusion” of the “superstitious observance of Lent.”
John Wesley helped advance a balanced perspective on Lent
Lent-keeping soon became a shibboleth for determining which side of the Reformation you favored. Take the ashes and the “Anti-Lent” crowd called you an enemy of the gospel. Refuse them, and the “Pro-Lent” gang condemned you to hell.
John Wesley changed that equation. The founder of Methodism swung the pendulum back toward a more balanced approach. Wesley broke with the Church of England’s ban on Lent by listing it among his approved fast days of the Church. In fact, he thought it was “deplorable” that many Methodists neglected such fasting.
Wesleyan Methodist churches eventually reinstated Lent as an official church practice. Anglicans, Lutherans, and later Presbyterians also eventually reinstated Lent as well (which probably caused Zwingli and Calvin to roll over their graves.)
Dallas Willard and the Modern Spiritual Formation Movement
Lent has enjoyed something of a revival among younger Christians, in recent years. Especially among those influenced by the contemporary spiritual formation movement. Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, James Houston, and a growing chorus of “Willard for Dummies”[2] have helped contemporary Christians recapture the positive elements of “spiritual discipline” in general, and Lent in particular.
We indirectly participate in our own transformation through the spiritual disciplines.
Willard warns that Protestant interpretations of grace often lead believers into the heresy of passivism. A proper understanding of grace rightly emphasizes our inability to earn salvation. However, passivism so emphasizes God’s role in changing us that we stop participating in our own transformation with an “I’ll wait around for God to change me,” approach to faith. Fasting in general, and Lenten fasting, in particular, can help counteract this kind of passivism. (The Renovation of the Heart, p. 82).
While we are saved by faith through grace alone (Eph. 2:8-9), we are transformed by the “interactive presence” of the Holy Spirit in our lives (p. 23). God could transform us instantly and unilaterally, but he has chosen to transform us largely by working with us (p. 10). We participate in our own transformation indirectly by shaping of our thoughts and feelings through the rigorous and skillful application of spiritual discipline (p. 248).
In other words, while we cannot instantly or immediately transform our character by sheer force of will, we can practice the kind of disciplines that put us in a place where God’s grace can transform us into the image of Christ.
This is why Lent can be both used and abused. To practice Lent out of a sense of compulsion—say, fearing that God will smite me if I eat chocolate—or in hopes of earning brownie points with God for my good behavior, are both anathema to the gospel of Christ and the true spirit of the disciplines.
However, to give up something for Lent in hopes of using your body (your whole being) to express your prayer of repentance can be very powerful. It can put you in a position to better cooperate with the movements of the Spirit in your own soul. And, of course, if we also “take up” a spiritual discipline for Lent—say, Scripture meditation or centering prayer—then we are in a position to catch even more of God’s grace.
Catch the Wave
Just as her sail canoe helps Moana catch the power of the wind and waves, Lent can help us catch the grace of God.
This is where Moana comes in. Moana can’t create the wind and the waves, but her sail canoe enables her to catch the energy provided by the ocean. In the same way, spiritual disciplines (such as a Lenten fast) don’t create the transforming power of God. They help us to catch it.
The spiritual discipline of fasting creates a space of faith that God is only too glad to fill. When practiced in this way, the spiritual discipline of Lent helps people “catch the wave” of God’s ever-available power.
A Personal Note
That’s the way it has worked for me. As a young Christ-follower, Lent just seemed like a good idea to prepare my heart for Easter. Since I wanted my fast to be to Christ and not just from something, I decided to give up television and use the extra time for prayer and bible reading.
It turned out to be a profound spiritual experience. I discovered that God’s power and presence had been fully available to me, but night after night I had not been available to him. Once I began using the time previously devoted to mindless entertainment to seek him, I began to catch the supernatural resources that had always been at my disposal. [3] The spiritual discipline of Lent became a surfboard God used to propel me forward in my faith. I’ve since witnessed corporate Lenten fasts impact entire churches and academic communities.
Alcohol, Carbs, and the Presence of God
And that is why Lent is more like Moana’s majestic wave riding than the Monty Python monk’s pointless head-bonking.
So, Arielle, there’s my answer. Enjoy the blessings of God found in food, drink, carbs, and the arts. “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1Cor 10:31). But sometimes an intense season of spiritual discipline such as Lent is just what we need to re-examine our hearts and catch the wave of Christ’s ever-present help.
No one knows how far you’ll go!
See also
Connecting to God in Hollywood, the Ivy League, and Beyond, by Gary David Stratton
What is Spiritual Formation? by Dallas Willard
Sabbath as Spiritual Warfare, by Richard Beck
The Spiritual Lives of Christian College Students, by Todd W. Hall
[1] Okay, the official Lenten season from Ash Wednesday to Easter is actually 46 days. Why? Because Medieval church leaders decided that fasting on Sunday (a Christian ‘feast’ day) was hypocritical. They deducted the six Sundays of Lent from the season of repentance, making Lent an awkward 46 days long. This has always seemed more like a loophole than an actual spiritual discipline to me. I normally just fast the whole 46 days, but having a break once a week can be nice and even help prevent legalism from creeping in. (Note: While many modern Catholics give up something for Lent, the Vatican only prescribes Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as official fast days.)
[2] John Ortberg’s self-professed job description.
[3] Don’t take this as a slam on TV viewing in general. I still love television and many of my friends and students work in the TV industry. I think moderate viewing of excellent shows can be a very helpful spiritual discipline. In fact, my DVR and streaming services have helped me nearly eliminate the kind of mindless channel-surfing that often thwarted my early spiritual development. Since then I have given up Facebook or Social Media, as these tend to be my major time wasters in my current lifestyle. For other Lenten ideas, see The Lent Project, sponsored by Biola University’s Institute for Spiritual Formation.
Appreciate your answer. Grew up Catholic but spent adult life as an Evangelical who jettisoned
lent. Recently have been drawn back to the idea. of the discipline. Thank you.