The church needs to be Bi-Polar. Not to the extreme that we think of with that term. Everyone should have emotions, up days and down days, it only becomes unhealthy when the emotions are out of control. But it can also be unhealthy when you just have the same emotions day in and day out. I grew up in a church where every service was upbeat, trying to bring joy and excitement week after week. I came to feel inadequate, because I could not be emotionally up for every service. Sometimes I was up and sometimes I was down. I converted to the Catholic church because I felt that it did such a good job of expressing different emotions. The liturgies were designed around seasons of penitence, joy and ordinary time, with the services following the emotions of the season. But lately, it seems like we just go for average and day to day, rather than cycles.
The church should be an important part of our everyday lives. There are times when the church should be in line with our emotions. Funerals, weddings, anniversaries and illness are times when our emotions should be reflected by the church. At other times, the church has celebrations that we should match our emotions along with the church in order for us to fully appreciate them. Christmas and Easter are some of the high emotions. Advent and Lent are special times for repentance and preparation. The sorrowful preparation allows for full joy that follows with celebration of the birth and resurrection of Christ. The church should help us be in the emotion of the celebration. I sometimes hear of conflict between those who refer to themselves as charismatic and those who call themselves contemplatives. However, as with many divisions we create for ourselves, these are artificial divisions. We should all at times be charismatic, and at other times be contemplative.
But lately, it seems the church is less willing to set tone for us. When we have funerals, we want to celebrate. Sure we want to emphasize that there is hope, but there is also great sadness at the loss of a loved one. We need to be able to express that sadness, those tears. And share that sadness with the family, letting them know they are not alone. Advent and Lent seem to get the biggest short changing. These are times of penitence, as well as sadness. The music, wording and pace of these services should emphasize that this is a different time. But we do not. It can be difficult to tell that the church is in Lent or Advent. And how can we truly be excited at Christmas and Easter, without the solemnity before. The Hallelujah of Easter is much more pronounced when it has been gone for weeks before.
It seems that the church is afraid of sorrow, penance and discipline. We get too caught up in pleasing the congregation. And our idea of pleasing the congregation is to emulate society. We become more like the world, and convince ourselves that is what God wants, rather than being more like God, and convincing the world that is what they need. While this trend has been going on for several years, we have followed society so much more these last 2 years. Instead of leading the people and pointing them to the strength of Christ, the church has chosen to lead the people towards fear, supporting the bad actions of the leaders of society.
I write this just before Lent of 2022. I find it odd that my church has decided that Ash Wednesday, the day that begins a season of fasting, penance and discipline, is the very day they are lifting the mask mandate for church services, an event that is likely to bring joy. This could have been changed earlier, allowing for joy before Lent, and helping to keep the church year flow, but they did not. And this lent is going to be harder than many. In some ways, it seems like we have been in Lent since 2020, due to the COVID restrictions.
As this Lent is coming I ask you to first off, find some way to celebrate Mardi Gras. Give yourself a bit of joy before we go into the season of Lent. Then, make sure you work to have a good Lent. I know it is hard this year. Take time and pray for those who lead the church. Pray that they will find the strength of Christ to boldly lead the church to follow Christ, not man. Pray also for those in the world that are not seeing the joy that we may be seeing. We hear about Ukraine, and we need to pray for the people of Ukraine and Russia, that they might have strength during this time of difficulty caused by man. But we must also remember that there are many other problems that we may not hear about. Remember to pray for all who are facing natural or man-made challenges, that they will be blessed with the strength of Christ. Make it a true time of preparation so that when Hallelujah and Glory to God ring out at Easter, you are overwhelmed with the joy of Jesus resurrection and the promise of eternal life.