Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  Every since I began going to church again as an adult, after a long time of not going to church, Lent has had great personal meaning for me.  It was during Lent about a dozen years ago that I first realized I needed God in my life.  I had been denying him for several years.  I didn't consider myself an atheist during those years, just not a Christian.  But during Lent I began to rediscover the faith I had learned as a youth, and which now had a much deeper resonance for me as an adult.  Since that time, Lent has been my favorite time of year.

There is so much in modern Christian culture that focuses on the "lighter side" of the faith.  We feel warm and fuzzy during Christmas season; every Sunday is a time to be with friends and feel good about being in the Church.  But during Lent, we began to focus on the more difficult side of our faith.  We talk about carrying a cross as our Lord did, we deny ourselves little pleasures to remind us of the hardships He endured. (This Lent I am giving up coffee, and though I know it can't come even a little close to the pain Christ endured, it will be difficult enough in its own small way.)  Through all of Lent, we are journeying through a dark passage that we know will end at the hill of Calvary.  Yes, we also know that the Resurrection quickly follows, but during Lent, the cross almost blots out that joyous light to come.

During Lent I usually tend to focus on music that is more minor-key, more reflective and repentant.  I have talked to people who don't understand why anyone would want to sing hymns that aren't joyous and upbeat.  But some of the most beautiful hymns of the past are Lent and Easter hymns in a minor key: "O Sacred Head Now Wounded," "Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands," "What Wondrous Love Is This."  Even "Were You There," though not in a minor key, is a more somber and contemplative hymn.  And it's beautiful in a simple way.  Minor key hymns force me to focus on something that doesn't make me happy, but makes me look inside myself and face what I find honestly.

Lent is a great contrast to much of the feel-good "pop" Christianity one encounters so often these days.  To watch much of the preaching that actually makes it onto television, you would think that following Christ was basically about finding yourself a good church with good music, and learning how to enjoy you life.  St Paul, on the other hand, said, "We preach Christ crucified; unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness." (1 Cor. 1:23)  About a million miles away from the health-and-wealth gospel...