It is Ash Wednesday today, the beginning of the Christian season of Lent. Nigerian Christians are joining millions across the world to observe this ritual season of intensified prayer, fasting and abstinence, with alms giving and sundry works of penance. The Lenten season for Christians marks the forty-day period of Jesus' desert experience of fasting and prayer. During the period, Christians seek to identify more closely with, and to participate more worthily in the celebration of the core mystery of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which is commemorated at Easter.
The desert is the land of austerity, withdrawal, detachment, discipline and self-control. The desert is the place of utter vulnerability and surrender. But in Judeo Christian religion, it is in the desert that some of the most profound encounters with God were recorded. It is in the desert that God called out Moses and prepared him for the ministry of taking the children of Israel out of Egypt, into the Promised Land. It is in the desert that Elijah and John the Baptist honed the preparation for their outstanding prophetic ministries. It does happen that the very austere and Spartan environment of the desert helps the individual to acquire the right disposition to respond with concentration to God's call to a life of holiness and virtue.
Therefore the Lenten season which marks Jesus' own desert experience, is the auspicious time to challenge Christians and indeed all believers in God to come to the recognition that the way to true greatness is marked by discipline, self-denial, selfless service, humility and generosity, and not the rat race for more and more power, wealth and fame, which often results in distress, conflict and violence, but to which many of our country men and women are today so religiously devoted.
The author goes on to describe the consequences of a society who ignores a commitment to virtue:
In a country overwhelmed with the runaway passion for wealth and power; in a country subsumed under the crippling culture of corruption; and in a country largely governed by disorder and impunity, Lent is here to challenge Nigerian Christians to confront the evil forces within themselves and to claim their victory over the three-fold "concupiscences" identified by traditional Christian spirituality as: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Nigerian believers need to go along with Jesus Christ in his desert experience in order to conquer the inordinate desires, the evil inclinations and the unruly passions that have conspired to make our motherland such a sick nation.
Our dire economic circumstances, the decay in our social infrastructure, the monumental fraud in our political arrangements, and the widespread insecurity in the land, are not God's design but the cumulative consequence of the free rein of the disordered instincts of our countrymen and women, which must be arrested and put in check if we truly desire to overcome our present predicament. Lent is the time to make a definite break with our destructive past. It is the time to reject a lifestyle of corruption and indiscipline. And yes, it is the time to pray for true healing and restoration.
As the previous blog post on "The Virtue of Godlessness" points out, it doesn't really matter how many people in a society overtly identify themselves as religious, but how many of those are living a life that reflects their words:
Our social discourse is often saturated with God-talk. What is missing is the discipline, the austerity, the truthfulness, the self-control and the sacrificial love that are traditionally associated with genuinely religious people. So we need to tie up our piety with the sterling virtues that the Lenten season patently highlights.
Happy Lent! Regardless of faith and/or denomination, may this be a time to decide to be the best possible versions of ourselves.
Philippians 4: 8 - Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
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