Lent Approaches

Well, here we go again.  Lent approaches, sometimes like an old friend, sometimes like an out-of-control truck heading into your lane.   I either want to embrace it, or run back to Protestantism.  Services, over and over again, pulling me out of my usual routine, and into the embrace of the liturgy.  The singing of the Psalms, the chanting, the hymnody, they all tug at me.  Asking me to stop the racing of my life,  the constant avoidance of self-searching, the constant ignoring of prayer in my life.  Lent is supposed to be the time of year that you self-inspect, spend time weeding out junk, and getting closer to God.  Well, maybe I like my junk, maybe it will hurt to much to weed it out.  I am comfortable with my anger, self-righteousness, hautiness, and laziness.  Why should I change?  Why should this time of year be any different? 

Lent approaches.   I rearrange the refrigerator, eliminating meat, dairy, all the good stuff.  I rearrange my menus and my shopping. Fasting seems to be an overwhelming part of Lent in the Orthodox Church.  I try to justify not fasting, not involving food, "because it's not really about what's going in , it's about what's coming out of you", as in your words and actions, and prayers.  I fool myself into thinking I'm "doing" Lent right by following the calendar "menu" daily.  I can fool myself into thinking I'm doing it right when I cook "right."   I can cook lentils into anything you want, man!  Soup? I can make veggie soup out of any three ingredients in my fridge and like it.  Why, I even buy organic, whole wheat noodles, transported in eco-friendly trucks, so there.

Lent approaches.  I wonder what turmoil Satan has planned for our church family this year.  Someone is losing a job this week,  someone else will ______________ (fill in the blank).  It never fails.  He sits on our roof, peering in through the windows in the cupola, his eyes raking through the communicants, searching for an open space, a spot where  he can whittle through and then destroy.  Every year something happens that stretches our belief, flattens our spirits, makes us question why we do all this.  
Satan, get thee behind me.

Lent approaches.  Am I ready for it?

Psalm 85(86):1-7
Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear me,
for I am poor and needy.
Guard my soul,
for I am holy;
O my God, save Your servant,
who hopes in You.
Have mercy on me, O lord.
for all the day long I will cry to You.
Gladden the soul of Your servant,
O Lord.
For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For You, O Lord, are kind and good,
And very merciful to all who call upon You.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer,
And heed the voice of my supplication.
In the day of my affliction I cried to You,
For You heard me.

Dianne, a sinner