Dear friends,

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, when the liturgical color turns from green to purple. At Christ Church, the altar frontals have been removed, and you will notice other changes when you come to church. 

The most obvious change is the emphasis on repentance. In the vivid language of the Rite I liturgy, in Lent “we knowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed by thought, word, and deed.” Repentance is one of the key elements of our faith.

Over the centuries the Church has decided on requirements for penitents and how they should behave. The practice of the past is often different to our own today. Nonetheless, it is instructive to see how seriously our ancestors took the whole business. 

In the 7th century, for instance, those who confessed their sins on Ash Wednesday were expelled from the congregation, in imitation of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. They lived apart from their families and from the rest of the parish for the forty days of Lent (this is where we get the word “quarantine”). Dressed in sackcloth and ashes, they were identified as penitents in the congregation and sometimes on the steps of the church. Common penances required that these penitents abstain from meat, alcohol, bathing, haircuts, shaves, marital relations and business transactions.

I doubt there will be many takers today for this type of penitence, (especially the “no bathing” rule.) However, I wonder if people today take Ash Wednesday and Lent with enough seriousness? Do you change your life significantly because of Lent or do you carry on as before? Lent actually offers an opportunity for real change, where you examine your life and relationships and resolve to listen more attentively to the word of God.

The most effective way to do this is to make Lent personal. By making Lent personal I am saying, “God, I need you.” I need God who forgives my sins and rescues me from death. I need God to set me on a right path and lead me into life. 

This surrender to God is actually a kind of liberation. It means accepting God into the heart of your life. The personal aspect is relational: who am I relying on? The more you know God, the more you can allow God to influence your thinking, speaking and acting. By doing so, you are bringing God not only into your own life but, by example, into the lives of others.

The beginning of Lent is like standing at the edge of a large pool of water. You are about to jump in but the pool is dark and you cannot see the bottom. It is tempting to turn away, but if you do then you will never know how deep the pool is, nor how it feels. Are you ready?

Have a blessed and fruitful Lent.

Father David