There is a lot of reckoning to be done throughout a Christian's life, and especially during Lent. Just as at the beginning of the season – Ash Wednesday – we acknowledge that we are from ashes and to ashes we will return, throughout the 40 days of Lent, Christians engage in self-examination. The purpose is to come to healing, to being made whole again and to restore the relationship with God.
It was a point made clear by The Rev. Joanna Leiserson, Canon for Christian Formation at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati, during the first presentation in the 2012 Lenten Series.
Every year Christ Church Cathedral offers lecture series during Lent and Advent. Occupy Yourself: Doing Lent in an Unre-Lenting World is the theme of this year's Lenten Series. As posted in The (February 2012 ) Cathedral Tower, the aim is to “explore the traditional Lenten disciplines in a very un-Lenten society, offering tools and perspectives to live Lent with integrity, with joy and even humor – all with the clever and counter-cultural use of popular culture”.
All those were plentiful in Canon Joanna's presentation on Wednesday, February 29.
As we explore the traditional Lenten disciplines, we reckon with the fact that, today, we are a society of driven individuals but also stressed and frustrated. We are diverse, but also polarized. We are more connected than ever before – Facebook, Twitter, text devices – but also more isolated.
These are just some of the realities we have to reckon.
Christians are to remember, during this self-examination, that we have to be defined by God and not by society. Indeed, we live in a materialistic society driven by consumerism. It is a society that sets us into competition with one another.
Lent is a time to pause.
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