Lent and The Possible

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

-A. C. Clarke's First Law


I can't tell you how many times I've seen the impossible happen. I don't even think I can count the number of times I've helped make the impossible happen. People have a far too limiting view on what's possible.

I think it all comes down to bad theology. There's this belief these days that God is stingy, even miserly. There's just not enough to go around, we hear. When the stock market sinks, or church donations falter, or whatever, we go around wringing our hands, looking at the red ink. God's holding out on us again.

This confusion of the Lord of Hosts with Ebenezer Scrooge (before Christmas morning) shows up in so many more ways: God doles out blessings only on the most deserving, they say. God reserves heaven only for those who've jumped through the right hoops, they say.

Once, I was talking to a man who was convinced that his parents were burning in Hell. They weren't proper Christians, you see, and now they were dead. I told him that I'm sure God's love wasn't bounded by our religious labels, but he responded that he just couldn't believe in a God who would just save anybody.

I think my mourning friend is wrong. I think the Bible says, again and again, that God is generous, bountifully generous, even generous to the point of going against God's own best interest.

This is Lent, and I've always hated Lent. I tried hard for most of my life to get it, but all this fasting and wailing and giving up things which are important just seemed to go 180 degrees away from the God of the Gospel, the Way of Christ. It's weird because I've always liked Good Friday, and that's about as dark as it gets. It's probably gotten to be a mental block for me.

Stil, there's a couple of things I've discovered about Lent. It's the only Christian season with holes. Count the 40 days from Ash Wednesday and you won't get to Easter. You've got to skip the Sundays. The Sundays aren't in the 40 days of Lent. They're holes. It's as if there are cracks in the very calendar, and God's abundance and generosity are poking through.

It's also interesting that Lent is supposed to be a time of self-reflection, presumably so that I can see what a sinner I am, as opposed to the rest of the year, when I'm supposed to focus on what a sinner you are. But the more I reflect on myself, and the closer I look, I see that I am a forgiven sinner. And the more I look at this world, and the people I know (even those who never darken the door of a church), I see that they are forgiven sinners as well. It's frustrating sometimes.

So the point is that this year, I find myself looking at the cracks in Lent. I see in this economic downturn (and all the real suffering that is causing), some great light. See for example a phenomenal series of interviews call "Repossessing Virtue" here.

I am a scientist, but I am probably not distinguished, and certainly not elderly. Still, I'm going with the Jesus on this one: Matthew 19:26, With God, all things are possible.

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