Lent

Quakers don’t really honor Sunday the way other Christians do. They use the phrase “first day” instead. Their conviction is that every day is holy. No need to be singling one day out as better than the rest. This is similar to the way I think about Lent.

Lent, as I understand it, is a time of repentence which is feeling bad for something you’ve done. We called it sin. If you can’t think of something to feel bad about, giving something up that you really like helps. That sure worked for me because I could never make the sacrifice last for the whole forty days and that made me feel bad.

But I’ve come to realize that feeling repentant has nothing to do with the time of year. It has more to do with what happened this morning or last Tuesday. I have also learned that I don’t have to sit in my bad feelings for forty days. I can make an amends lickity-split by saying I am sorry to someone I might have offended. Then I can get back to the rest of my life which is one long sabbath.