The Privilege of Lent

For Christians, Lent is a time of self-examination, confession, and re-orientation. When we're genuine about it, we take on practices like fasting, prayer, and self-denial, not as self-help techniques, but a vulnerable surrender to God and to others. When we're genuine, we are trying to restore practices that help us love as Christ loved and serve as Christ served. So I want to confess, as I begin this 40-day season of Lent, that my ability to even reflect and write in this way is a sign of privilege which I have neither entirely earned, nor entirely deserve. My security, my education, my comforts, the fact that I don't live in constant fear for my safety, and the fact that my identity doesn't make me a target for hate, are all privileges I have not earned. I am part of a cultural system which has given me advantages, and access to opportunity, which not everyone is afforded.

The very fact that I have the time to sit and write this is sheer privilege. I confess I entered Lent struggling with that cliched mid-life reality of what Dr. Suess calls "The Waiting Place." Vocationally, like so many others, I am not where I thought I would be, and I'm not sure what lies ahead. Like so many others, I entered this season of Lent with a typical consumer mindset. My self-examination was really more of a happiness assessment. My re-orientation promised to be some greater personal fulfillment. I think most of us, with time to spend on Facebook, are in a similar place. We are part of a consumer, need-fulfillment culture which tells us that we deserve: financial security/peace of mind/to maximize our potential/to provide everything our children could want/to have vacations...you know the drill. But the truth is that, as Christians, we are not entitled to all that. And sometimes the pursuit of all of those things comes at great cost to our relationships, friendships, dignity, integrity, health, and the welfare of those not as privileged as we are. I like to think that I'm a good steward of my privilege, but I know that I am caught up in this culture. I know that it effects me when people talk about the best zip code to live in, the relative merits of the different schools here in Johnson County, the vacations their families have taken, the investment portfolio they have curated, or the personal success they have achieved.
So, this Lent, I am examining those consumerist, self-centered, tendencies in myself. I will confess, as often as I can, when my privilege is showing. I will have faith that, with God's help, I can become less a servant of my own needs, and more an advocate for those whose basic needs go unmet, and whose voices go unheard. In this Waiting Place of mine, I will hold in my heart all others who wait, but without hope, without help, and without rest and reflection. Each of us experiences this time of vulnerable surrender differently, but I hope that, for all of us, it invites us more deeply into the awareness that we are loved, cherished, held, and sent out to be instruments of hope and reconciliation for others. Blessings on your Holy Lent, or on whatever faithful journey you travel this season. May your life be a blessing.