Everything Old is Still Old

But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's all bad.

For those of you who might not be aware, the traditional Church calendar has recently entered into a very particular time. Known as Lent, it is a period of fasting from certain things for the purpose of reflecting and relating to Jesus' time of fasting in the desert (I'm a bit spotty on the liturgy here, so if I'm wrong feel free to call me on it). This time is special not just because of what it calls us to reflect on, or even what it leads up to (that being Easter). Rather, I think this is one of the very few times in which we modern drum-playing laser-using Christians let high Church liturgy have something to do with our faith.

I find I generally have a fairly negative attitude towards liturgy. I find it to be something which is difficult to understand, and I feel it inhibits people from engaging in worship. I won't claim that my opinion is the same as everyone's (the world would be terrifying if everyone's brain worked like mine), but in this particular instance I feel I have a lot in common with a decent chunk of at least the American culture, be it Christian or otherwise.

So why do I let Lent sneak in the back door? If I'm so opposed to liturgy, an opposition which I communicate fairly readily, why am I not playing video games or buying things from vending machines for the next month or so?

In some people's opinions, I was right to begin with. I'm hearing more and more that some more nascent movements within the Church are arguing that the practice of Lent, and in some cases fasting in general, is no longer necessary. Fasting and other liturgical practices are seen as being distractions from the grace which God has shown us, and thus need to be abandoned, lest we be caught up in a faith which is too focused on works and not focused enough on God.

I've heard a theory presented recently, though, that challenges the above idea in what I think is a pretty profound way. As articulated in a recent Relevant magazine article relating to Lent, the author asserts that Lent can be a way of "loving God in unnecessary, unrequired ways." To him, "that's good religion."

Thinking on this article, I feel that the whole notion of fasting being an unnecessary display begs an important question. Why does something being "necessary" matter? Faith in Christ was never meant to be some list of things to be checked off so that we can consider ourselves "done" in the great metaphysical sense. Our spiritual lives aren't some proverbial tofurducken; they can't be over-seasoned, in my opinion.

I think it is a very good thing to identify essential doctrines of Christianity, such as grace. I don't think it is ever a bad thing to delve deeper into this particular world-changing aspect of God's love. However, when we start axing everything that isn't sitting around thinking on how great God's grace is, we miss out on a lot of great ways in which we can respond to God's love creatively. In light of this, I say we begin exploring some of those weird old things that are generally lumped into the term "liturgy". Sure, they might be old, and they might not make sense, but professors tend to be the same way a lot of the time. The key thing that both of these have in common is that they almost always have something to teach us.

With His love and grace,

Taylor