Defying Gravity: A Wicked Good Lent

We’ve just made it through the Grammy Awards ceremony and the Super Bowl a week later, with its showcase of talent both on the field (the game and the halftime show, and not always in that order for some viewers) and off (the overpriced, overhyped, clever and bizarre commercials). In many years, this would mean that we were nearing the climax of the Mardi Gras season and preparing to eat pancakes in churches all over the community on Shrove Tuesday.

Alas, we’ll have to hold off on the pancakes until March this time around the sun. And that’s all because Easter falls about as late as it can this year on April 20 for all but the Eastern Orthodox churches. As one of the “moveable feasts” of the church, unlike Christmas, which is always December 25 in the west, Easter is tied to the lunar calendar and “floats” with the vernal equinox.

And all of this means we’ll have to wait for Lent a little longer this year, too – itself already a season of intentional waiting and preparation for the great Easter feast. And who doesn’t get excited about 40 days of penitence and fasting? Well, maybe not everybody.

But as a United Methodist pastor for almost 40 years, I have always looked forward to the season of Lent as a time for personal and communal renewal in all the congregations I have served. Every year, there are some common goals and elements: helping people to focus on prayer and self-discipline; a reordering of priorities and reorientation away from self-absorption toward greater love of our neighbors; and a recommitment to living into the story of Jesus’ life, teachings, death and resurrection.

Precisely because it comes every year, though, Lent runs the risk of becoming too routine or overly familiar. Been there, done that. And for that reason, it tends to get my creative juices flowing so that we can invite people into six-plus weeks that have the potential to open us up to new life. I’ve worked really hard with my colleagues and teams to come up with imaginative ways to frame the season that invites a fresh hearing and authentic engagement from members and friends of my churches.

One of my personal favorites was a “Broadway Journey Through Lent,” which paired scripture texts with Broadway songs from “Rent,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “The Lion King,” “Les Misérables” and others. We’ve done “Lent and Other Four-Letter Words,” and flipping the pejorative use of that phrase, we instead considered life-giving words like turn, risk, care, wash (as in feet) and rise (our Easter culmination). Some years, we’ve focused on a particular gospel (“Living the Questions”/Luke or “Reading John for Dear Life”), and other years we’ve gotten very earthy (“Grounded”) or ethereal (“Holy Conversations,” a series on prayer).

This year, given the enormous popularity and box office success of the movie “Wicked,” I’m excited to offer a Bible study at my church called “Defying Gravity: A Wicked Good Lent.” We’ll turn to the powerful music first popularized by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth and now revoiced by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and use it to explore spiritual themes and texts about the nature of human beings, the allure of being popular, and the power of love and relationships to change us for good.

So, I’m giving you a month’s head start to begin thinking about how you plan to observe the season of Lent on your own and/or as part of a faith community. However and wherever you do, I hope it’s wicked good!

The Rev. Ron Foster is the lead pastor of Severna Park United Methodist Church, where he has served since July 2014.