My husband Aaron and I are partaking in Lent this year. While we are members of a Presbyterian church (and most Presbyterians don't participate in Lent), I think that every Christian would find meaning, and a beautiful sacrament of sacrifice in this season, and I sincerely wish that more Christian denominations focused on the lead-up to Easter like they focus on the lead-up to Christmas. After all, Easter is actually the most important Christian holiday - and even in most (southern) churches, it is merely the signal of when to switch to seersucker and white dresses.
One of the things I discovered when I first participated in Lent in 2019 (we were attending an Anglican church at the time), was that Sundays are excluded from Lenten fasts. Each Sunday is a mini celebration of the Resurrection, and should therefore be a day of feasting and rejoicing, rather than fasting. The Anglican church tradition also celebrates saints feast days as a day to fast from fasting, and there are a few sprinkled throughout the Lenten season - like welcome rays of sunshine on a cloudy day.
Sacrifice is antithetical to most non-Christians, yet it lies at the very heart of Christianity. One man who epitomized sacrifice in many ways, was the 17th century poet and pastor, George Herbert. Today, February 27th, is his feast day. Herbert was born in Wales in 1593, and grew up alongside some other famous poets, most notably John Donne. Donne was actually Herbert's godfather, and the two were quite close. After a brilliant academic career, Herbert turned aside from potential political fame and glory and instead chose to be a pastor at a small, rural church in Wiltshire, England. There he quietly pastored, wrote, and lived out a life of sacrifice, kindness, and self-denial. Ironically enough, he now is one of the most famous men of the time because of his wonderful, meditative, beautiful verse. He also has written several books on pastoring, but I have no experience with them. If they're half as good as his poetry, then I assume every pastor should read them!
While Herbert wrote many poems, I want to share two of my favorites. The fist is called "Bitter-Sweet" and is a wonderful tribute to the paradox of God's goodness and righteous anger (note also the 17th century spelling in this version):
Bitter-sweet
AH my deare angrie Lord,
Since thou dost love, yet strike;
Cast down, yet help afford;
Sure I will do the like.
I will complain, yet praise;
I will bewail, approve:
And all my sowre-sweet dayes
I will lament, and love.
My second favorite of Herbert's poems is "Love III." He wrote several poems with the same name (really good when read together!), which is why he added the numerals to the end of the poem's name to tell it apart.
Love (III)
BY GEORGE HERBERT
Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.
Poetry can be a powerful way of reconciling the truths and paradoxes of religion. In fact, I read an article today about how an atheist journalist read Herbert and was converted to Christianity. Like Lent, poetry can be a method of reconciling the paradoxes of our world - a way to sit in silence and yet to have your mind and soul filled with the divine Word.
(All facts and poems come from Poetryarchive.org)