Saturday, March 19, 2022

Sandra Pagel

A Lenten Gift

Renew, rejuvenate, regather, these are words of Spring. In the church calendar, it’s the time of Lent. This year as I emerge from my two-year cocoon, I don’t feel like Lent. Wednesday and Friday meals are light and meatless as the have been since childhood but dark chocolate and pinot grigio are not put away in a forgotten corner of the cabinet. I didn’t look for anything to take on or to give up. The season would just be.

On the first Sunday evening of Lent in the still quiet warmth of my living room, I listened to Compline virtually. The choir, an image of the congregation and the candle are visible. The chanting, prayers and footsteps to light the candles and later to extinguish them echo through the Church. As that week went on, I found the need for refuge from the distressing nightly news broadcasts and once again streamed Compline - that night, and the next and next. Each evening this ancient service flows around me and then I am humming the chants and reciting the prayers and responses. I am no longer just watching and listening, I am participating, it has become a part of me. I didn’t search out this Lenten Gift; it found me and will stay with me long after these forty days.