Why Does Ash Wednesday Matter?

The parties of Mardi Gras are over. The beads have come out of the air, and all of the King Cake is eaten. Most people could not tell you why there was a party in the first place, but the celebration Fat Tuesday leads into what I believe is the most meaningful time period of the Christian calendar.

Following the bravado and somewhat brashness of Mardi Gras is the more somber, yet powerful, Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent for Western Christian calendar. The Eastern Orthodox tradition begins Lent on "Clean Monday" (because doesn't every good diet start on Monday?). The Ash Wednesday service is a ceremony in which Christians begin the process of waiting, purification for the return of the Lord by preparing their hearts for the 46 days until Easter.

Traditionally, this service is one of the four most solemn moments of the church year (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday being the other three), as the magnitude of what we as humans did to God's son, and preparation for Maundy Thursday sets in.

Mardi Gras is popular for obvious reasons, but its lesser-known cousin Ash Wednesday kicks of
 Lent. These 40 days of fasting are more renowned outside of church because it leads to "he or she gave up (insert vice) for Lent." Jokes are made about giving up exercise, eating healthy, or being on time. If you're clever enough like devout Catholic Stephen Colbert you come up with things like this:

It's Ash Wednesday-- and we all know what the pope gave up for Lent!
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) February 14, 2013

We must remain wary to view Lent as simply the time, or even more of a reason, to forfeit your Facebook or candy addiction. Your carbonated drink or french fry obsession should not be given up for Lent because that is what you do; nor is a vice simply given up "for Lent"'s sake. A sacrifice is made as a reminder of what was given up for us on Good Friday. It is not given up on behalf of the season.

I am not calling for a change in the common vernacular, just its understanding. The fact that a season in the church calendar has become somewhat "common" is remarkable. On the other hand, the term "giving (it) up for Lent"'s common implication? That the world and Christians alike see it as someone giving up something because it is a simply a church thing or it is that time of year again does need attention.

It is time to refine the colloquial so that Christians--and eventually those outside of the church--see "giving (it) up for Lent" as an act of sacrifice, a worshipful action toward God, instead of a popular action among church friends or action because it is a certain time of year.

"You are dust and to dust you shall return." -Genesis 3:19

Here is a more historical view of Lent and its origins from last year's "No More Radio" post.
Two years ago, I gave up Facebook

Passport 2012: Life Together

Some people say they can feel the presence of God the most at the beach, in the mountains or in a church. One of the most important places for me and the transformation of my own faith is located in at a small university in Wingate, North Carolina.

I got to go back to the same kids mission site I worked in 2009,
where some of the children even remembered me.

Passport Inc. has a youth camp that meets each year at Wingate University during the summer. I have had the chance to attend as a camper, bible study leader and chaperone at Passport's Wingate location.

I told a version of this what this place means to me and its importance to my own walk with God to the FBC Gainesville Youth on Thursday night last week at camp.

In the summer of 2009 I had the opportunity to work for Passport as a bible study leader (BSL). For those of you who know me and know the role of a BSL at camp, know that taking on this adventure was taking a step outside of my comfort zone.

On our way to one of the nightly parties.

For those of you who have never been to Passport and seen a BSL in action, they are the ones on stage leading games, dances and all-around acting a fool to keep campers laughing and spirits high, along with leading bible studies and directing mission sites for campers, the latter of which is much more up my alley.

Looking back, I can assure you it was the best summer I had in college. Not only did I learn a tremendous amount about my own faith, but relationships were formed that would last and pay dividends down the road.

That summer I met Chris Burns, the youth minister from First Baptist Church Gainesville and a good friend of my own youth minister, John Uldrick in my hometown of Rome, Georgia.

It was a brief meeting, as was all of my free time that summer. We talked for a few minutes and I did not think about it again for another two years, when I moved to Gainesville to attend Brenau University for my Masters in Occupational Therapy.

Burns leading church group devotions

To make a two-year-long story short, Burns asked me to go with the FBC Gainesville group as a chaperone last year. It was an introduction to the youth group of sorts, a chance to meet some of the students before I would work as a youth intern over the next school year. 

I shared on the last night of camp last year how I felt I was well on my way to becoming a part of this family.

Fast forward 365 days and I found myself back in the same room, with much of the same group, on the last night. I told the group how they, over the past year, have exemplified this year's theme and followed Jesus' call to live 'Life Together.'

I have attended everything from ballet concerts to basketball games as many of these youth and their families have welcomed me into their homes, and ultimately their lives.

Eating oranges... with the peel.

Because of these experiences -- and the fact that I am a male in an all-women's cohort at Brenau -- I would much rather spend a weekend with these youth than most others in Gainesville.

I am beyond thankful for my church family at FBC Gainesville and for the good fortune brought about because of a camp at a small university 30 miles east of Charlotte.

Another bonus to my week is I as able to take a old college friend, Kris Roberts, to camp for the first time as a chaperone with me. For an account of his experience here is the link to his blog.

FBC Gainesville chaperones

Kris and I got to drive the "Dale" bus all week long.

Demonstrating my low aptitude for double dutch.

No More Radio (for at least 40 days...)

The Christian church is now five days into my favorite season on the church calendar, Lent. I have expressed my love for the Lenten season before on this blog and what I gave up last year. Here is a quick history...

Though it has its roots in the Catholic Church, it is not strictly a "Catholic" thing, as so many protestants might believe, nor is it the stuff that sticks to your clothes when they come out of the dryer, as so many of the sixth graders in my Sunday School class guessed. Lent, or some form of preparation for Easter Sunday, dates back to the second century. After the legalization of the Christian church in 313 A.D., the Council of Nicea wrote in 325 A.D. that Lent should be observed during the 40 days before Easter. The number "40" has great significance to Christians (The  number of days Noah spent on the ark and the number of years the Israelites wandered in the dessert). Three characters from the Bible also went through a period of testing during 40 day fasts: Moses, Elijah, and Jesus before starting his ministry. 

All of this to say we as Christians use these 40 days to prepare our hearts for the resurrection of God's son. During Jesus' stay in the dessert, the Bible says he was tempted by Satan three times. The church encourages its members to give up or add something to their everyday life for 40 days to, like Jesus was, be challenged. In doing so, Lent becomes a time of introspection in which we take a closer look at how we can be more like the man who came to save the world from sin. Similar to how the season of Advent prepares us for the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day, Lent prepares our hearts for Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

That brings me to the title of this post. I have decided to give up listening to the radio in my truck for Lent. For those of you who know me, you know I like to listen to sports talk radio just a little bit. When I am not filling my ears with arguments and commentary, the country music is usually turned up. Without the soundwaves flowing, I have a couple of quiet minutes in every day to myself to be in silence with God (minus the MagnaFlows rumbling under the truck). So if you see me on the roads and it appears that I may be talking to myself, more than likely I am trying to pray more like my mother or singing hymns--the only songs I know all the words to thanks to my old man, who is a music minister. Side note: I have great examples in my life.

Since the ban of AM-FM transmission in my truck, I have been belting out my own acapella version of Fernando Ortega's Give Me Jesus. The lyrics are my theme through the Lenten season.

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus, 
You can have all this world, 
But give me Jesus.

Christmas 2011: A New Beginning

"It is, after all, the most important moment in human history, the birth of Jesus Christ, son of Mary, son of God, in a shelter for animals, a cave in the hills outside of Bethlehem. This is the heart of it all, the point." -Brother Matthew Kelty, a monk from the Abbey of Gethsemani

First Baptist Rome on Christmas Day

Once again the Christmas and Advent seasons have come and gone, as well as the concerts and themed parties. The Christ candle has been lit. My old man sang "Ten Thousand Joys" at the Christmas Eve service. Our church congregation has raised their candles during an a capella verse of 'Silent Night.' A family picture was taken, and the Christ Child has been born.

We look forward to Christmas Day traditions every year: running into the den to see what Santa brought, opening the rest of our gifts, stuffing ourselves with food, a 9-hour drive to Arkansas (or a Christmas light tour through Rome) and playing with our new gadgets, assuming our parents already had batteries. Oh the misery of having to wait another 24 hours if they did not.

We put up the decorations, throw out the tree, take down the wreath outside on the chimney and start on a list of New Years resolutions. Some of us are not quite ready for the celebration to be over so we wait until the Wise Men have come from the East and Epiphany is over to start these processes. The wait for the next Christmas inevitably ensues. Back to normal, right? Not hardly.

Christmas is the celebration of a birth, the beginning of our Savior's life and a reminder of the sacrifice God gave to the world when He sent His begotten son. In itself Christmas is the remembrance of a start, something anew.

Now that the season of Christmas has passed and we return to the real world, let us try and do as Ebenezer Scrooge said he would in Charles Dickens' famed A Christmas Carol, "I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year long."

First Baptist Rome on Christmas Eve

Maundy Thursday

On Thursday, I rode home with Ellen and was back just in time to see the Braves come from behind to take the lead in the ninth inning. Then, they blew the lead and we had to leave and head to the church for one of my favorite services of the year. I never feel quite ready without a Maundy Thursday service, and for the first time in a while I was able to be in Rome for the Thursday before Easter.

This year the Sanctuary Choir sang Dubois's Seven Last Words of Christ. Dubois's work uses scripture as lyrics to tell the story from the time Jesus is put to trial until he utters his final words. If you have never heard the work I suggest looking up a performance online.

Beginning with a powerful and frightening piece, the choir painted a picture during The First Word of what it must have been like to be Jesus on Good Friday. Singing from Matthew 27:22,25, "He is death guilty! He is death guilty! Take him! Let us crucify Him!" The Second through the Sixth words give insight to Jesus's thoughts as he prays in the garden and realizes the task he has before himself. The Seventh Word is the ending of His life. At the end of the work, a prayer is given in the form of a beautiful chorale.

"Christ, we do all adore the, and we do praise thee forever. For on the holy cross hast thou the world from sin redeemed. Christ we do all adore thee and we do praise thee forever."

As the chorale was being sung, three members of the audience came up to extinguish the Christ candle (explained in an earlier post) and covered the serving plates on Lord's Supper table. Once the table was covered, the crown of thorns, which had been around the Christ Candle, was placed at the head of the table and the candle was taken out of the Sanctuary. The picture below was taken after the service so you all could kind of get the idea of the end product, the image of a buried Christ.

My words can not do justice the meaningfulness of this service. I know I would have been in the middle of the masses on Palm Sunday praising our new king. And it pains me to know I would have been in the masses on Good Friday, too. To know Jesus still loves us after he was turned on so quickly during Holy week, and still  loves us today makes me ready for Easter Sunday.

Ash Wednesday

Today at our table during the break between Neuroscience and Pedatrics Process we did not talk about wedding plans. Instead we discussed the troubles going on at The Ohio State University and Head Football Coach's current two game suspension, $250,000 fine, and whether or not knowing his star players were receiving benefits and lying about it to the NCAA is or is not a fireable offense. Maybe the sarcasm was laid on a little too thickly.

On a little different note, today was an important day in the life of the Christian church, Ash Wednesday. There was some discussion during some of our breaks about Ash Wednesday and Lent means. I was talking with a Catholic girl about the upcoming season, and a couple of other people overheard and did not understand why I, a Baptist, would have anything to do with Lent. For me, Lent is to Easter what Advent is to Christmas. You can not really appreciate one without the other. I explained to the small crowd beginning to gather around Ash Wednesday and Lent are not "Catholic holidays," but instead means by which we all can prepare our hearts for what comes after the forty days, the greatest of all Christian holidays, Easter.

For Lent I have decided to give up Facebook. It is not that I have become compulsive, as some of my friends have, about checking it, but that I know there are better ways to spend my time. Instead of concentrating my efforts to my communication with God. First Baptist Church of Gainesville is putting an emphasis on prayer,. I think by giving up Facebook it will give me a few extra minutes a day to work on my communication skills with God. I want to be more adamant in doing so. I want to be more of someone who is comfortable with praying with and for someone.

The above picture was taken from my home church First Baptist Church Rome. My Dad explained it to me like this, "One candle will be extinguished each week leading up to Holy Week. The Christ Candle will be  extinguished at the close of the Maundy Thursday service. It is sort of like a reverse Advent but is supposed to portray the darkness that is gathering around us as Lent progresses."