The arrival of the Lenten season is invitation to ponder how one provides nourishment for body, spirit and community. At the Ash Wednesday service at St. Catherine’s in Kapa‘a this past week the sermon revolved around the three pillars of
The arrival of the Lenten season is invitation to ponder how one provides nourishment for body, spirit and community. At the Ash Wednesday service at St. Catherine’s in Kapa‘a this past week the sermon revolved around the three pillars of the Lenten season: Prayer, fasting and to do good works to help others.
The mystical aspect of fasting, grounded in thousands of years of spiritual tradition, is used as a means of purification and a way to connect more deeply with God. Fasting at Lent becomes a form of prayer.
“Fasting and abstaining — in and of themselves don’t create awareness,” said Kahu Alpha Goto of Wai‘oli Hui‘ia Church in Hanalei. “It’s all about the significance of the choice you make. By laying one thing aside for another you are intending to be more aware of your choices.”
According to Christian beliefs, it was our relationship with food —that tempting apple that brought about humankind’s exile from the Garden of Eden. So it’s no wonder our relationship with food is a vehicle used to put us back in touch with perfection.
“Simply put, (Lent) is all of us admitting that we are perfectly imperfect,” said Pastor Glenn Frazier of the Church of the Pacific United Church of Christ in an e-mail. “For the next six weeks many Christians will review life as we live it and consider a better way. The six weeks of Lent is based on the story of Jesus spending 40 days alone in the wilderness. Tradition tells us during this time, He was tempted with situations that would lead to rejecting what He knew was right.”
Spiritualists who recognize Lent do not all fast in the same way Jesus did though. Literally defined the Lenten fast is to eat two snacks and one meal a day and to abstain from eating red meat altogether on Friday. That said, abstaining from food is not the only method spiritual leaders on Kaua‘i consider as a way to raise awareness.
“This year I’m going to be doing a lot of walking,” said Jeannie Thompson, pastor of Kapa‘a United Church of Christ.
Kapa‘a United Church of Christ with sister churches Hanapepe United Church of Christ and Hanapepe Hawaiian Congregational Church will “Walk to Jerusalem.” The journey began yesterday. Between now and Easter participants hope to walk a combined total of 8,700 miles, the distance from Kapa‘a to Jerusalem. The community at large is invited to donate miles by e-mailing the church at kucc@hawaiiantel.net.
Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent. At his Wednesday sermon Father Bill Miller of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church reflected on the theme, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
“I find that a powerful and reflective image as we begin the season,” he said in an e-mail. “It reminds us of our occasional need for silence and solitude (in the desert, whether literal or not)… and our connection to the earth.”
“The ashes on the forehead is a long standing Christian tradition,” added Kahu James Fung of Lihu‘e Christian Church. “It has to do with people asking God for the motivation and discipline to do something better with their lives. The ashes represent how fragile our lives are and remind us that we don’t want to waste our life on petty things.”
Lent is the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, the Christian observance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a time of prayer, penance and helping others.
“So each year we come to Lenten Season and try to slow down enough so we can, maybe, in some small way share and experience the world a little better by some acts of kindness,” Frazier said.
Both Thompson and Miller see the season as one critical in today’s rapidly accelerating world.
“It is a chance to take a deep breath, find some spiritual solitude and reflect deeply on the truth — about ourselves and our world,” Miller said.
“The desert itself has many connotations,” added Thompson. “A place where Christians get away to divest themselves of all the trappings of the city.”
The Lenten Season encourages humankind to intentionally create space for God in daily life.
“Lent is sort of an interruption in our daily routine,” Fung said. “Lent creates a space for God. We are using the six weeks to work on our own stuff.”
The question is how to put oneself in the context of spiritual growth.
“Lent is not passive. It’s proactive,” Goto warned. “It could be as simple as not speaking for an hour on Saturday or turning off the T.V. It needs to be a significant choice. If it doesn’t jog your status quo, it’s not worthwhile. You don’t want to be doing the same old things. You need to intentionally find a higher purpose or a new insight.”
Lent seems to be the balance of denial and affirmation.
“Lent reminds us of the struggle we must engage to find resurrection and new birth,” Miller said. “… Those who want a quick spiritual fix and some sort of “secret” to find wholeness won’t find it. Only those who really engage the difficult process of renewal can, in fact, be renewed. That may require some time in the desert, some face to face encounters with truth in the form of wild beasts, even within ourselves.”
“Most of us, when we think of a spiritual discipline, think of contemplative prayer, or meditation — quiet, sedentary practices,” Thompson said. “However, there are many spiritual disciplines that involve physical activity. In fact, almost any activity in which we participate can be a spiritual discipline that will build-up our spirits. The greatest, most necessary requirement is that it should be engaged in thoughtfully, prayerfully. That’s what the walk to Jerusalem is — it joins physical activity with the quest for spiritual well-being.”
Over the next six weeks, Kaua‘i residents will unite in their effort to create a closer and kinder community.
“I believe it was the rabbi Hillel who said: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me. But if I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, when?’” Quotes Miller. “That seems to capture the spirit of Lent for me. It really is about me and an honest look at the truth about myself. But it doesn’t stop there — for my transformation will make a difference in the lives of others or it is meaningless. And now is a good time to begin the process of transformation.”
