Lent Reflections on Embodiment

Like many, I did not grow up observing Lent, and if I’m honest there used to be a lot about it that was very strange to me. Kind of ironic, since it’s been something the Church has observed for millennia. Pastor Kurt wrote a blog about the origins and practice of lent at the beginning of this current Lenten Season. For the sake of not rehearsing the same information, you can find that blog post using this link. My introduction to practicing Lent came seven years ago when my wife and I began attending Missio Dei. It’s hard to believe it’s been seven years, but time keeps marching on, doesn’t it? That first Lenten Season was very strange for us and there were a lot of new things we learned! For instance, I don’t believe I had ever attended an Ash Wednesday gathering and know that I’ve never had ashes imposed on my forehead. Additionally, I had never participated in a Passover (Seder) meal up until that point.

Over these seven years (still can’t believe it’s been 7 years) I’ve grown a deep appreciation and affection for this season of Lent. For the many things that come up on the Church calendar throughout a year's time, the Lenten Season places a high priority on embodiment. It’s a season in the Church that seems to invite our bodies into the practicing of our faith. I’ve observed this in the Ash Wednesday practices and in the overall theme of fasting represented in this season. It is an invitation to pause and pay attention to the indulgences that serve as distractions to our pursuit of Jesus and forgo them for a short time in hopes that their absence turns us toward Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction of our souls.

Typically the Ash Wednesday text of choice is the Temptation of Jesus following His baptism. You can find this in the Gospel of Matthew (4:1-11) and the Gospel of Luke (4:1-11). In these texts, we learn of Jesus fasting for the first time recorded in the gospels as he spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. It’s always been interesting to me that it was the Holy Spirit that invited Jesus into the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted, as Scripture records. I’ve also found it ironic that fasting was Christ’s means of preparation for this interaction with Satan. Fasting seems to provide spiritual energy that is much more powerful than the physical nourishment food would provide.

I’m not sure about you, but fasting hasn’t played a very prominent role in my apprenticeship to Jesus, and I wonder how my spirituality has suffered. I wonder how that plays into my spiritual weaknesses and the distractions of the enemy that I encounter on a daily basis. I grew up in a faith environment that did very little if anything at all to honor desire as a part of life generally, but a deep aspect of our faith more specifically. The temptation of Jesus was often a passage used to challenge me to deny myself or to crucify my flesh. The mode of doing such seems to have the intent to put an end to all my desires, and I spent lots of my early years developing my faith by denying all desires, even the good ones. I think we’re missing something here though. Desire isn’t the problem, where my desires were being directed at the behaviors that accompanied my disordered desires were the problem. 

In the temptation of Jesus, I believe that we see his desire for spiritual strength overpowering the good but lesser desire for physical nourishment. For me, this is what Lent is all about. Wrestling with the disordered desires of my heart that often lead me away from Christ in pursuit of significance, satisfaction, and security apart from Christ. Forgoing these distractions in favor of pursuing Jesus during these 40 days of intentional focus and fasting has become a much-anticipated rhythm of my journey with Jesus. Each year, deepening my desire to be with Jesus, to become like Jesus, and to do what Jesus did. The Lenten Season provides a regular rhythm to reflect on the ways that I’m living my life, consider the ways I am being invited to return to my humanity and to be renewed in Christ. 

The simple act of fasting, going without food and using the time, energy, and resources typically used in preparing and eating to connect with Jesus reminds me of just how vulnerable I am. Food is a necessity, I literally need it for survival and so do you. Removing it for the purpose of reflection upon my dependence invites my body to feel the vulnerability and experience my need for Jesus in very tangible ways. It reminds me of my need for Jesus and His availability to me in my body. 

For some of us, talking about the body is deeply uncomfortable and for a plethora of reasons can be very painful but I invite you during this Lenten Season to return to your body on your path of becoming a more whole and integrated follower of Jesus. At our essence, you and I are embodied souls and oftentimes we engage our spirituality purely in a way that disintegrates us from our bodies. We are not heads on sticks and we can’t think our way to becoming like Jesus. When was the last time you thought your way into changing something in your life? It doesn’t work, we have to think about it, we have to feel it, we have to move our bodies towards whatever change we desire. Following Jesus, as whole people requires us to think like Jesus, feel the way Jesus feels, and do the things that Jesus did. We can not do this without our bodies.

This Lenten Season, how might you engage your body in your practice? This could happen through fasting, which is the normative practice of Jesus that the Church historically participates in during this season. Even if you aren’t quite ready to begin the practice of fasting I invite you to slow down this season, pay attention to your body. Your body is a way of knowing, what does it know? What is it communicating? Pay attention to the way your body responds when you are intentionally being with Jesus, with other people, gathering with the Church. Pay attention to and be curious about the headache, the lump in the throat, the sweaty palms, the compulsions to move, and the inability to sit still. Pay attention to your response in worship, what are your crossed arms about? What are your lifted hands or open palms telling you about the posture of your heart?

I invite you to embrace your body, to pay attention to it, to be curious about it as you journey through this Lenten Season. May doing so be grounding for you in your humanity and may doing so lead you to a deepened dependence on Jesus this Lenten Season. 

Submitted by: Matt Korte