This Wednesday, March 5th, is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the season of Lent. In the liturgical calendar, Lent is a season where the Church takes time to prepare for the events of Holy Week and Easter. Christians will focus on prayer, reflecting on their faith lives, participating in acts of charity, and fasting from things that impact their spiritual lives. Oftentimes, our world’s obsession with health, wellness, and diet culture heavily influences the focus on fasting. Instead of Lent being a season of deep reflection on our faith lives, it becomes another surface-level fad diet.
I have memories from my teenage years where church friends and I would consult each other on what food or beverage we’d give up for Lent. For some, it was carbonated or sugary drinks; for others, it was a specific sweet treat or dessert altogether. Even in my early adult years, it became just another external factor to pressure me to go to the gym, cut out carbs, or stick to counting calories. Most of the time, I’d forget that the purpose of fasting from foods or activities other than working out was to build and strengthen my relationship with God. In fact, I’d often find myself angry at myself if I had a cheat day, and I felt like God would be disappointed in me for giving into temptation during that 40-day stretch.
It wasn’t until I’d gone to seminary, healed my relationship with food and my body, and processed how harmful diet culture had been for me that I was able to see the season of Lent for what it could be. I finally recognized that Lent had the potential to be a spiritually transformative experience. Through conversations with mentors, professors, friends, and colleagues, I concluded that Lent wasn’t just a time to let go of things for the sake of letting them go. I didn’t have to stop doing something just for the sake of stopping. It was no longer just a box that got checked off on my to-do list. Lent instead became a season where I intentionally added something into my life. I’d take on spiritual practices; I’d make time to build up the relationships in my life; I’d find ways to give of my time and talents to make the world around me better. Once I started adding things into my daily or weekly routines, rather than thinking about everything I had to stop doing or give up, my spiritual life transformed itself into something new and beautiful.
That’s why this upcoming Lenten series resonates so profoundly with me. During the season of Lent, the Youth Ministries will follow the big church’s sermon series: Let Go. In this series, we’re not just looking at things to let go of. We will spend time considering what we need to let go of in order to make space for newer, better, and more beautiful things. We’ll ask students to let go of anxiety to make space for hope. We’ll learn how to let go of control to make space for vulnerability. We’ll think about how to let go of judgment to make space for humility. We’ll spend time understanding apathy and how to let go of it to make space for perseverance. We’ll consider what it looks like to forgive rather than hold onto resentment. I’m excited for the opportunity to walk alongside our students as they explore their faith through this lens of letting go to make space for something new, something better, something more beautiful.
What will you make space for this Lenten season?
Rebekah Davis
Youth Ministry Program Staff
