“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19).
Those are the words many of us heard this past week on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the church season called Lent.
Whether you went to an Ash Wednesday service, or were just startled by the sight of all the dirtier than usual foreheads in the city, this season is rich with food for thought, much of it misunderstood. I think some of the words associated with this season are meant to be both savored and wrestled with. To wit:
“Lent” itself. The word comes from an old English word for “spring,” a time of rooting in the ground, digging, loosening up the soil. So in part Lent invites us to think about the places in our lives where things are a little too packed, too tight, and to wonder about the loosening and sifting required to make our ground ready for something new.
And speaking of dirt and soil, enter “humility.” Often thrown at people by way of shame, as we think of ways we humiliated ourselves, this word comes from “humus,” meaning earth, ground. So the invitation here is towards humility, not away from it. As in, what are the people, experiences, places, etc., that return you to the ground of your being, that are core, basic to you? Are you spending enough time in these places that are real, for you?
If not, then maybe a little repentance is called for. Not repentance in the sense of flogging yourself with all the ways you are bad, or wrong, or just plain confused (welcome to the club), but repentance that stems from the glorious invitation lurking in this word: To “repent” means to “turn around.” A turn of a few degrees… a look to the side… a reconsideration of something or someone you had given up on. Hmmm…
Where does this tilting toward possibility beckon you? Where does it scare or excite you? Lent is a time of turning back to God, and that is a good litmus test for the “repentances” that may be yours this season: which turn you towards God… and which do not?
There. A small Lenten vocabulary. Just three words. And in them lurk a lifetime of surprises. Blessings on your Lenten journey.