On Tuesday, at St. Bart’s and all around the world, Christians (and others!) will enjoy one last party before the penitential season of Lent. In England, competitors will don chef hats and sprint against one another while flipping pancakes. In New Orleans, revelers will deck themselves with bead necklaces and down copious amounts of alcohol. In Rio de Janeiro, elaborate floats will parade through the streets.
These popular observances of the transition into Lent also have liturgical counterparts. For hundreds of years, Christians have made an effort to squeeze as many Alleluias as possible into the Sunday before Lent, knowing that no Alleluias would be sung again until Easter. A medieval hymn still sung today mediates on the power of the word “Alleluia” while acknowledging that now “for a while” we will “give [it] o’er.” One Roman Catholic parish in Chicago sings the hymn during a formal “burial of the Alleluias” complete with full orchestra accompaniment.
While I’m in full support of these expressions of exuberance, both liturgical and popular, I also worry that we have lost a healthy sense of balance between times of joy and times of lament. Using up all of your fat, sugar, and alcohol only makes sense if you’re actually going to spend a prolonged period of time without fat, sugar, and alcohol. How many people really do that these days? Periods of all-out celebration and fervor cannot be sustained indefinitely; they must be counterbalanced with times of sorrow and restraint.
Lent has not disappeared entirely from the average Christian’s consciousness. I’m always stunned by just how many people come to receive ashes each year, and I know many, including me, still spend a considerable time thinking about what they are going to “give up” and/or “take on” for Lent.
But I wonder what would happen if we intentionally moved away from thinking of Lent as a helpful opportunity for practical self-improvement or brief moment of Instagram-able piety. What if our fasting became more deliberate, more extensive, and more all-encompassing? What if in the days to come we took a more holistic and more complete step back from all the partying and all the hubbub?
Not only might our 40 days of penitence be deeper and more meaningful, but our Easter celebration might be even sweeter.
