Ash Wednesday - the City of Lent

 Recently I was at a retreat where the presenter, Rev. Matthew Anderson, described the Bible as an alien text, meaning foreign to present day ears. He further went on to describe the Bible as a city – this captured my imagination, not only about scripture, but also applying to the Season of Lent.

 

Consider a city – Cities are densely inhabited places. There are tens of thousands of people living, working, playing, moving about, and sharing services within a city. Each city has distinct areas for shopping, attractions, cultural venues; parks and recreational spaces. There are distinct neighbourhoods and communities – low income housing; high-end condos; home-dwellers and apartment livers; student/university neighbourhoods; -the Northend, the Southend, Mulgrave Park, Bedford, Sackville, Dartmouth, Preston – there are ethnic neighbourhoods; there are tourist places; there are places that locals frequent; there are areas considered unsafe, less traveled, even avoided.

We know too that in cities each neighbourhood has its own character, that sometimes neighbourhoods bleed into the next and at some corners there is an abrupt shift of character. Each city has its nooks, crannies, and secret passage-ways; along with oddities, uniqueness, pop-up surprises, public art, folklore tales, and mysteries.

The older the city the more stories the city has to tell – stones and planks – building materials both tangible and intangible move around as buildings are fixed, torn down, repurposed, reused; for instance granite ballasts from early ships end up as road pavers.  These materials can be found centuries later doing something completely different than their original purpose.

Cities are alive and ever changing as people live, grow, and die – continually.

 

The Bible is like an old city. It is full of neighbourhoods that abut each other. It is full of different architecture, cultures – often foreign or alien to other groups in the city. There are passages and passage ways – some of the passages are longer thoroughfares, well-used and continually under construction and interpretation; while others are entirely forgotten. There are cul-de-sacs, dead ends, closes where the locals gather at favourite drinking holes; there is the rough, the avoid, the disreputable, the macabre, the intriguing, the gems, the favoured, the mysterious.

 

Traditionally the Season of Lent is advertised as a forty day journey that begins tonight, Ash Wednesday. Let us consider Lent with the image of a city.

 

The city of Lent is a journey that is not for the faint of heart. You can do Lent as a tourist, but tourists do the pancake suppers of last night and avoid the imposition of ashes tonight. You are here because you are open to seeing the city – with all its nooks and crannies, the highs and lows, interested in the depth of the city and in discovering the mysteries buried inside.

 

The passages (the scripture texts) that move us from ritual to ritual – from the imposition of ashes, to communion, to the waving of palm branches, to an empty altar, a darkened sanctuary – are passage ways through intriguing neighbourhoods; and the walking through will jar us to deeper places, uncomfortable places in ourselves.

Through an encounter with a serpent and garden dwelling humans we will wrestle with knowledge, truth, disobedience, obedience; as we visit a people in desperation for water in the desert we confront what it means to be tested and offered provision; there is a sideshow of an anointing of an unlikely king; and a dangerous walk in a valley of dry bones. There will be wilderness temptation; a secret meeting under cover of night; a forbidden conversation by a well.

Sight is restored to one blind amid hostile reaction and we will face the death of a friend with a mysterious twist to the story - resurrection in an alley way. 

In the cul-de-sac of a persecuted church community the shadows watch as we dare to approach them and we sit on a park bench to converse with sin, death, evil, liberation, life; speaking of righteousness, reward, trust, values, ethics, faith.

 

When I visit a new city, I do the tourist thing – visiting the museums, highlighted areas, and points of interest. I also like to step off the beaten path, find the less traveled; the watering holes and neighbourhoods where the locals live and hang out. I like to go for a run  - sometimes following another runner- just to get a sense of the spirit of the place; staying far enough not to be creepy, close enough to feel safe. 

This is what Lent is to me too. A when a community gathers together for in a time and a place to explore more deeply and get to know themes -not as a tourist- but as a traveler seeking deeper connection and intimacy with the spirit of the city. To wander through Bible and Lent passages, breathing in the savory and not so savory, to wrestle with the sights and sounds, to pick out the trash and carry only what is needed, to be present and end the journey with a more intimate relationship with neighbours, neighbourhoods: with creation, God, others, and myself.

 

Thank you for joining me on a journey into the city of Lent.

God go with us.