A few weeks ago I was standing in the check-out line of our village market. The selection of cards by the cash register had just made their changeover from Valentine's Day to Easter, despite the fact Lent had not yet even begun. That's not a huge surprise, of course. The Easter candy has been out for weeks now.
But on this day, one of the cards struck my eye. The front read "The best part about Easter is the Lent is over." They lost the theologian in me right there because, oddly enough, I've always thought that the best part of Easter was the whole Resurrection thing. But I opened the card anyway and found this in the center: "I really hate giving up stuff I love."
My first thought was, "then you're really going to hate Christianity." I say that because, as Bonhoeffer and others have reminded us, discipleship is costly. Jesus wasn't kidding around when he told his disciples to sell all they owned and follow him. Sacrifice is woven into the very fabric of Christian faith.
But my second thought was about how so many people believe that "giving something up" is what Lent is all about. If you are around church folks at all the week before Lent you'll hear the question "What are you giving up for Lent?" more than a few times. And you're likely to also hear a list of everyday items: meat, sugar, soda, tobacco, alcohol, chocolate, or even Facebook.
And, if that works for you, go for it. If giving up some sort of indulgence deepens your spiritual walk during these 40 days, then no one should tell you not to do it. But, if you're like most people I know, giving something up for forty days feels more like running a marathon. For that reason too often people of faith approach Lent with the dread with which most people approach the dentist. By the time they get to Easter Sunday they can't wait to tear into a Snickers bar or sign back on to Facebook again. And sometimes they have a sense that they've run a long race, but nothing has really changed.
Again, maybe it's different for you, and that separation from potato chips or red meat has deepened your spiritual life in a meaningful way. But, if it hasn't, I want to suggest that maybe "giving up" is not the only way to observe a holy Lent.
What if instead of giving up you took something on? What if you added dedicated prayer time each morning? Or, what if you committed to reading a couple of chapters of Scripture each day? What if you took on the challenge of going to worship every week during Lent, with no excuses?
And, what if you took something on that could, in some small way, change the world? What if you gave an hour each week to volunteering at the food bank? Or what if you gave up using plastic bottles in order to help the environment? What if you drove less and walked more?
Of course all of these things still require some degree of "giving up". If you pray or read Scripture, you may have to "give up" some time you'd normally spend online or watching television. If you volunteer some extra hours you may have to give up a few hours of downtime. If you make an environmentally conscious choice you may have to give up the convenience of driving somewhere quickly or grabbing a bottled water.
All of those can be pretty incredible things to give up for Lent. But you may find you're giving up other things too. You may find you're giving up your feelings of hopelessness. You may find you're giving up your feelings of helplessness. Your feelings of isolation. Your feelings of disconnection. Your feelings of insignificance.
In the end, Lent is not about a 40-day marathon of deprivation. It's about looking inside, finding the places where we feel disconnected to God, and taking up the challenge of going deeper. It's about walking with Jesus for forty days because we are so overwhelmed by his love for us. And, it's about preparing for what is next. Because the empty tomb is not the finish line. It's just the start of a long and wonderful journey. And Lent is a time to get ready.