Great Lent: Journey to Pascha

This is the second year I have read this book. I am a bit of a hands-on, visual, experience it learner. When I read this book last year, I flew through and really understood Chapter 1 (about 30 pages). Then I began to struggle, not with the individual ideas the author was writing about, but with visualizing the big picture.

From a comment by DebD on this blog:

I would love to know what you thought about Schmemann's chapter on Presanctified though. I remember when I first read it I was so confused.

I guess I will I am less confused then last year. I don't think I can experience Lent in the same way as my Orthodox friends do, but I found as I read Great Lent: Journey to Pascha, my mind kept picking up parallels between what I do in my home and what I was reading in the book. My thinking has advanced from learning facts about Lent to seeing application.

During Lent, the Orthodox church reads the entire books of Genesis, Isaiah, and Proverbs. Because our family celebrates Passover, I generally study Exodus and contemplate the freedom we have because the Lamb of God was slain. Isaiah portrays the Messiah as a suffering servant; it contains prophecies of Christ's crucifixion. Genesis would also be a good choice. Not only does Genesis tell the story of God's good creation, the fall, the promise of a Savior and the story of sin's repercussions, Genesis is the story of a bride -- the perfect story for studying while preparing to remember Christ's passion! At Calvary, Christ paid the bride price for the church. When we drink the wine and eat the bread of communion, we accept Christ's offer of marriage. We begin the process of cleansing ourselves during unleavened bread. At Pentecost our engagement is sealed. We become betrothed to Christ. Finally, the fall festival speaks of the marriage of the Lamb. Perfect!

My mother heart responded to this quote about the Prodigal Son:

"A man who has never had that experience, be it only very briefly, who had never felt that he is exiled from God and from real life, will never understand what Christianity is about." (page 21)

How often do I interfere with my children's ability to understand Christianity because I hold on too tightly to the reigns? Since becoming a mom, I have had to expand my understanding of what it means to sin. I had always understood sin to be a list of bad behaviors a person engages in. I have come to know that very good things can be done from wrong motivations. I cannot judge a man's heart. I have come to know that behavior doesn't trump motives. Still, my children are not developmentally where I am; they haven't been following Christ as long. They haven't had my life experiences. They gain an experiential knowledge of sin the same way Adam and Eve did -- by choosing sin. Sometimes the limits I set are too controlling. I worry about the financial and emotional costs and the just plain inconvenience of their sinful choices. But, the focus of my worry is rarely eternal. If I had an eternal focus, I think I would leave more wiggle room for sin. I would allow my children the freedom to make bad choices so that I could give them the gift of learning how to deal with sin in their life. Most importantly, I would allow them to experience God's forgiveness.

The church very often, if not always transposes the past into present. Thus on Christmas Day, we sing, "Today the Virgin gives birth..."; on Good Friday, "Today stands Jesus before Pilate..."; on Palm Sunday, "Today He comes into Jerusalem..." (page 80)

This is very similar to what is done during a Passover Seder:

• Why is this night different from all other nights?
• Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either bread or matzoh, but on this night we eat only matzoh?
• Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only bitter herbs?
• Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip our herbs even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
• Why is it that on all other nights we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night we eat in a reclining position?

The Passover Seder is not supposed to be celebrated as a memory of a past event. It is actually a re-creation of a living event. Each person at the Seder should understand that they personally came out of slavery. This is why I understand that when I celebrate and recreate the Last Supper, I am with the apostles on the night before Jesus died. I eat the afikomen, the broken body of Christ, and drink the Cup of Redemption in the real presence of Christ. Schmemann calls this the "presence of the absent." (page 82)

Perhaps, it is easier to understand transposing the past into the present, by observing Rembrandt's The Raising of the Cross. Rembrandt understood what so many have forgotten, he was there when they crucified Christ. He painted his own face on the soldier who was lifting the cross. Christ's defeat of death means that we are victorious too. In a way it seems a little sad that we need to put so much physical and spiritual work into the season of Lent. Every year, I have strayed and need to be called back to the cross -- reminded of my own victory.