And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. [Mark 1:13 (ESV)]
As I pondered my goals for this year’s Lenten practice, I remembered Alica Britt Chole’s suggestion to “consider Lent as less of a project and more of a sojourn.” While we often encounter the word ”sojourn” in Scripture, it’s not a word typically used today. Although the basic meaning of gûr, the Hebrew word translated at sojourn, is to “live, settle, dwell,” gûr usually included the sense of it being a temporary or transient stay. Typically, a sojourner was someone living outside their clan or a noncitizen in a strange place. Because of famine, Israel sojourned in Egypt for 430 years and, because of their disobedience, they sojourned forty years in the desert before entering the Promised Land. It is Jesus’ 40-day sojourn in the wilderness before entering His public ministry that is remembered in Lent.
The usual question prior to Ash Wednesday is, “What are you giving up for Lent?” and the question following Easter is, “How did you do?” If someone else doesn’t ask it, we ask it of ourselves. Were we successful in refraining from sweets, social media, criticism, shopping, or whatever we gave up? Did we meet our goal of reading the four gospels or memorizing 40 Bible verses? Was our commitment to a daily random act of kindness kept? With its clear start and end dates, Lent easily can turn into an assigned forty-day project. It’s tempting to look at our Lenten practice as we might a New Year’s resolution—we set an objective, create a plan, track our progress, and evaluate our success or failure. God, however, is a relationship, not an obligation or duty! With their thinking that salvation lay in strict observance of the oral and written Law, the Pharisees turned God into a job; we mustn’t make the same mistake with Lent.
If, however, we view Lent as a sojourn rather than an assignment, it becomes an experience instead of a chore. Rather than an objective that must be completed successfully on the 40th day, Lent becomes a temporary journey in the wilderness with God. Rather than 40 days of trying to meet goals, it becomes a blessed season of retreat—a time to hear God’s voice in the silence of the wilderness—a time to feel His presence in the stunning colors of the desert sunset, the stark contrast between sun and shadow, the enormous saguaros cactus with its upturned arms, and the wildflowers determined to grow in this parched and barren land. Without a timeline, we can pause to taste the nopales and fruit of the prickly pear and look for road runners and Gila monsters. Unhindered by city lights, we see God’s majesty in the spectacular view of the stars. Granted, we probably won’t be retreating to the desert but, when we think of Lent as a sojourn with God in the wilderness, it can become a close encounter with Him rather than a job for Him!
Describing Lent as a journey of “bright sadness,” Orthodox Reverend Alexander Schmemann says, “The purpose of Lent is not to force on us a few formal obligations, but to ‘soften’ our heart so that it may open itself to the realities of the spirit, to experience the hidden ‘thirst and hunger’ for communion with God.” Through fasting, prayer, study, and reflection, may we grow closer to God as we sojourn through the wilderness of this Lenten season into the joy of the Resurrection!
Devotions of the Heart 