By Devin Strong, Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church

Many Christians observed Ash Wednesday last night and the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. Lent is a rich and varied season that means different things to different believers. 

Perhaps most well known is that many Roman Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays during Lent. Many protestants give up something— like alcohol or desserts— for Lent. Such practices are meant to teach us about sacrifice and give us some, albeit meager, understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. Other believers add a new spiritual discipline— like morning prayer or Bible study—during Lent meant to encourage spiritual growth. In one congregation that I served, they had a tradition of “burying the alleluia” during Lent. We sang no song or liturgy that included that word for 40 days to keep Lenten worship more somber. In the early church, Lent was a season of education, the time when new converts to Christianity did rigorous learning about the faith in preparation for Baptism on Easter Sunday.

Each of these practices has merit, but I want to suggest something more basic this Lent. What if you and I used these days to get honest, really honest, with God and ourselves? Children blame their siblings or the dog for their misdeeds. Politicians of every stripe spin the facts to their advantage. Corporations and medical personnel are told by their lawyers never to apologize for a mistake for fear of opening the door to a lawsuit. Can’t we Jesus-followers do better?

What if, in our own minds and hearts, we told the whole truth about our sins, all those things that we want to keep hidden from public view? What if we admitted that regardless of the excuses and mitigating factors, regardless of the role that others may have played in our screwups, or the real trauma that we may have experienced as children, we are sinners in need of God? Our Lutheran Ash Wednesday liturgy has a line in the confession that reads, “I have sinned by my fault, my own fault, and my own most grievous fault.” Such a confession is bold and harsh, but it is also freeing.

This possibly apocryphal story from G. K. Chesterton hits me right between the eyes. The venerable New York Times once asked the question in print, “What is wrong with the world today?” and invited responses. Academics and ordinary citizens alike wrote in with their prescriptions. Some of the responses were long and blaming. The author, poet, and social critic also answered the newspaper’s question, but Chesterton’s response was as succinct as it is powerful. He wrote simply, “Dear sirs, I am.”

I know that real honesty, especially about dark things, is excruciating. It is also hopeful. God does not call for our confession on any Sunday of the year to watch us sweat, but so we can name the truth about our past behavior and leave it behind. We can’t resist a demon that we say is not real or drop baggage that we don’t admit to carrying. Honesty is the only way through.

Here’s the Good News. You and I can do this because Lent is not an end in itself. It leads us to Easter, where we celebrate that Jesus broke out of the grave to defeat sin, death, and the Devil, and write a new ending to our stories.

God Loves You, and So Do I!