Lenten #3: A Warning Label.

Beware of practicing your piety before others...

(Matthew 6:1)

The invitation to participate in the sufferings of Christ, comes to us “in the name of the Church.” It’s not the Gospel itself, but an invitation to enter into the gospel of our suffering through the church’s ancient Lenten tradition. In my evangelical tradition, we tend to ignore the 40 days of Lent. Too much Catholic rigmarole, we protest. Maybe so. Nonetheless, we are always free to fiddle with the ancient tradition and see if we can’t make it our own.

I suppose, of all the seasons, Lent is most susceptible to fabricated piety. We probably should put the Apostolic Warning Label on our Lenten Season:

Do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths. These are shadows, but reality belongs to Christ. So do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking. … They are simply human traditions and teachings. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence (Col 2:16-23).

It’s a warning label we need to place on every religious claim and activity. Let’s see if we can participate in Lent without falling into self-indulgent piety. Jesus teaches us how to go about Lenten practices like fasting and alms giving in an unpretentious Jesus sort of way (Sermon on the Mount).