Lenten Devotional Series
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Working Out the Math
by Lydia Murray
“I love you,” my Granddad said to my brother.
“I love you too,” my seven-year old brother said back.
“I love you four,” my Granddad replied. And the game began.
“I love you six.” “I love you eight.” “I love you ten.” And the numbers grew. “I love you one hundred.” “I love you one hundred and one.” “I love you a million.” “I love you a million and one.” “I love you a trillion.” …And my brother demonstrating even at seven the attorney that he would one day become, wins the argument.
“Granddad, I love you beyond the last number.”
We do lots of counting during Lent. It’s the 40 days of fasting and mindfulness in preparation for Easter. But 40 days of Lent is fuzzy math. If you actually count the days between Ash Wednesday - the official kick off of Lent - to its conclusion of Easter, it is a total of 46 days. When the early Church expanded the number of days to prepare for Easter, leaders wanted Lent to cover 40 days to mirror Christ’s time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. But the early Church didn’t count Sundays in the math because all Sundays – not just Easter - were days to celebrate Christ rising from the cross and not days where you could fast or do other forms of penance.
So for those of you keeping score, the 40 days of Lent is really 46.
For people who are giving up their favorite indulgences, the difference between 40 days and 46 days matters. This includes my six-year-old son who is grappling with what Lent means.
As I listen my children talk with their Grandparents about questions of God, faith and love, there is a generational echo ringing my ears with the memory of similar discussions with my Grandparents.
“Is God going to be mad at Grandma if she eats Dairy Queen?” my youngest son asks at bedtime. Every Tuesdays is “Grandma Day” for the boys where she picks them up after school and spends time with them before we arrive home from work. Grandma Day usually involves the grandsons talking her into a trip to Dairy Queen. (Although it doesn’t take too much arm twisting.)
Grandma has given up sweets for Lent this year and told the boys they wouldn’t be visiting DQ until after Easter so she wouldn’t be tempted. She has been doing her best to explain Lent and the meaning of symbolic sacrifice. But it is a challenge to combat six-year-old logic: “I don’t understand why God doesn’t want Grandma to eat Dairy Queen during Lent. It is not going to hurt anybody.”
Fortunately for my son and his Grandma, the 46 days of Lent counting are soon coming to an end. They both look forward to Easter and the symbolic sharing of a Dilly Bar.
I look forward to Easter as a day where we are reminded that God loves us beyond life itself and beyond the last number.
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