Soulful Being: Let’s Talk Faith and Lent

our own sin and experience the heights of God’s love.”

With Easter fast approaching, the season of Lent is on the minds of many who observe various Christian traditions. Knowing there is crossover among religions in so many areas of faith, I wondered if there was in this particular season of the religious cycle, so I decided to ask some friends on different faith journeys than mine. I love to learn more about other faiths as I continue to grow myself.

Lent is the time period that begins with Ash Wednesday, which is Feb. 22 this year, and leads up to Easter Sunday. Its significance parallels the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert while being tempted by Satan. This is why many people give up food items during Lent.

Chuck Colson, author and founder of Prison Fellowship, says, “Lent affords us the opportunity to search the depths of

The Catholic church is the most wellknown for stricter guidelines during the Lenten season, with most meats being forbidden during the week, beginning Ash Wednesday through Holy Thursday. Today, not eating meat is generally just an observance on the Fridays during Lent. The reasoning of the church for the sacrifice is the biblical stories of Jesus’ 40-day fast told in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke, which also all outline his temptation.

While other Christian churches do not follow the fasting principles as closely, many still consider this a time of reflection that can also include a sacrifice to parallel that shown in scripture. Pastor Leon Veazey of First United Methodist Church says, “My understanding of the Lenten season is that it is a season for self-reflection, repentance and renewal of confessional faith and sacrificial service. So, I try to focus on giving up something that is either detrimental to my health (spiritual, mental, emotional and/ or physical) and take on something that is beneficial to my life in those aspects. I see it as an equation with two sides to it.”

I love the idea of balance found in Pastor Veazey’s explanation. Some years back, I had what I would consider successful Lenten sacrifices, but looking at them now, they were very superficial in regard to my spiritual being. I remember in graduate school giving up television. Now, had I replaced it with reading devotionals or writing something for my spirit, that might be different, but I had a very logical goal in mind – my Master’s thesis. No television meant a singular focus every evening and weekend on writing and editing that thesis to fruition, and the chunk of time certainly helped. So, success! Not really what I’d consider a spiritual quest, but a success all the same.

In a visit with a Muslim friend of mine, a former student, Lubna Suied, who moved to the United States at 8 years old from Iraq (after living in Syria with her family for two years while waiting for their visas), we discussed the similarities of Lent to the Holy month of Ramadan. Suied is very devout and loves to discuss her faith, so I enjoy our visits greatly.

Suied says, “During this month, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset to help us get closer with our creator and work on our spiritual connection. This includes extra prayer, extra donations and studying the Quran as much as possible.”

She explained that her understanding is that Lent is a season to help Christians work on increasing their religious acts and stay away from certain temptations while

Of course, Suied explained that Muslims don’t celebrate Easter because they do not believe Jesus died on the cross. Instead, the Quran teaches that God raised Jesus to Heaven.

Suied explains, “A lot of people have the wrong idea about Islam when it comes to Jesus and Mohammed. We follow the teaching of Mohammed, and we believe in Jesus. We have stories that teach us about Jesus and Mary. We believe God didn’t allow for the enemies to hurt Jesus, which is why he was sent to God and will return later during the final hours.”

Another person I visited with about this time of the year is Dr. John Michael Sefel, a Jewish friend who can easily trace his ancestry into the concentration camps of the Holocaust. He is one of the most interesting and intelligent people I know. I miss working with him. He is now Professor of Theatre at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan, after completing his doctorate at Ohio State University. I’ve always enjoyed discussing faith with John. While he does not celebrate Lent or Easter, Sefel mentioned there are traditions they do have that are relevant during this season, and as always, I love learning from this man.

Sefel explains that Pesach, also known as Passover, often overlaps with Good Friday and Easter, and that what many Christians refer to as the Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder. Furthermore, the reason the Catholic communion “bread” is unleavened is a Passover tradition based on a “prohibition of ‘risen’ bread in recognition of God’s miracles allowing the Exodus from Egypt, with the story that the Jews fled so quickly that they didn’t have time to allow their bread to rise, leaving them with only something approximating the matzo crackers we have now.” Passover and Good Friday are eternally linked.

I love seeing how faiths are intermingled in different ways, and one of the most interesting to me has been realizing that Buddhism is more of a way of life than a religion. My friend Britton Gildersleeve, a writer and now retired Oklahoma State University professor living in Virginia, used to blog on BuddhismforBelief. net. She says, “I would describe Buddhism as more an approach to life than a true ‘faith.’ There is no belief that the Buddha was a god. In fact, the appeal of the Buddhist path is that a human took it and achieved enlightenment.”

Gildersleeve has a vast experience with various religions from growing up and living in numerous countries and allowing herself to truly experience the differences: “We all [her and her three sisters] were raised in an ecumenical Christian home, but also overseas, where Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and more were common among our friends and their families. I went to Jewish temple, to Buddhist temple, fed the monks each morning, took catechism with a girlfriend and celebrated Tết, as well as several other holidays that are almost certainly remnants of very early belief systems.”

Gildersleeve finds the “congruencies between Muslim Ramadan and Christian Lent fascinating,” and she does practice Lent as far as giving up something important to her, such as social media, which is how she communicates with friends and family from across the globe, even though she does not believe Christianity is the only way to an afterlife (she admits to remaining agnostic on that point).

When even my Buddhist friend with agnostic leanings in some areas of faith gives up important items for Lent and focuses on looking inward, it might mean I should consider something more substantial. I still love the idea of balance posed by Pastor Veasey. One year I took on the idea of doing something rather than sacrificing, and it was my only other productive time of Lent.

When trying to decide on something to give up, I realized that I always posted where we were eating, or what theatre production we were attending, and so on. Then, I thought, what a positive statement it would be if I posted worship. So, instead of giving up something, Lent was a time I instead posted when I was at worship service or other activities at church. It was a way to show that side of Me without any lecture or preaching to anyone, just a social media message. This is the one Lent promise I made that has stuck. I still do this today, and it was made several years ago.

However, this year, I believe I’m going to go with the idea of balance – a sacrifice and a commitment. Pastor Veazey says, “I will give up those diet sodas and give the money I saved to the Circle of Care initiate of the First United Methodist Church.” He is also giving up lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays, and using the time to read books to his son that a church member had given him. Balance.

Texas-based author and inspirational speaker Wendy Speake, explains of Lent, “Exchange what can never satisfy you for the only thing that can.”

Will you sacrifice anything this year? Take on a commitment that is new and rejuvenating to your spirit? At the writing of this, I’m still deciding, but these individuals of all different faith walks and beliefs have given me inspiration in my own. I love my friends, I love my life, and I look forward to this journey – whatever it may bring.