At the risk of
proving my limitations, this weekend’s and next week’s events deserve
reflection. Not only is Chinese New Year a major celebration, but for many
Christians the week will be marked by Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the
Season of Lent, which leads to Easter. The fine thing about these two events –
one cultural, one religious – is that they both draw on the notions of
something starting anew, something cultivating hope, something that celebrates
a cycle of life that lies ahead.
Chinese New Year is
largely a mystery to me because it lies entirely outside of my cultural
experience, visits to San Francisco’s Chinatown non-withstanding. But in my
short time here in Singapore, I’ve learned a bit about the significance of the
lunar New Year in Chinese culture. Just today I was told that the reason for
the gifts of oranges is because they are sweet and are colored like gold,
symbolizing prosperity and success. And it’s very clear to anyone walking
around on Orchard Road or anywhere else that the colors of red and gold are
colors of celebration. Family, food, and festivities are the order of the day.
One person even tried to be helpful to me by comparing CNY to Thanksgiving in
the U.S. It’s not the same thing, but I appreciate the reference.
What stands out to me
is that Chinese New Year embodies and lives out the real priorities of our lives.
As people go to their reunion dinners, whether at home (7-11 advertised some 88
dishes available for catering) or in a restaurant (nothing can now be booked
from coast to coast), with batch-mates or friends or family, they reconnect with
the people and the food that shouts “home” with fire-cracker clarity. As the
American poet, Robert Frost, wrote: “Home is the place where,
when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” We might add, “especially
on Chinese New Year.”
Lent
should be a similar experience of newness, of recollection of the importance
things, of the coming spring. In Dutch, the word “lente” means the season of spring.
It’s a time of personal renewal, an anticipation of the good things to come, a
season of hope. In this case, it is something directed to the specific
religious celebration of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, which is seen as
the best darn thing to ever hope for. In very deep and significant ways, Lent
and Chinese New Year both share in the life and potential life that are part of
the season of spring.
One of my favorite
writers highlights the positive aspects of Lent: “Contrary to what many think
or feel, Lent is a time of joy. It is a time when we come back to life. It is a
time when we shake off what is bad and dead in us in order to become able to
live, to live with all the vastness, all the depth, and all the intensity to
which we are called. Unless we understand this quality of joy in Lent, we will
make of it a monstrous caricature, a time when in God's own name we make our
life a misery.” (Anthony Bloom)
For those of you who
will go to church next Wednesday in order to have ashes placed on your
forehead, reminded that no one of us gets out of this world alive, know that Lent
is a season of hope, not despair; of life, not death. It is a time that invites
prayer, penitence, and almsgiving. This simply means that it is an opportunity
to pay a little more attention to God, to pay a little more attention to things
we could do better, and to pay a little more attention to others. Also note
that fasting during Lent is a not a dieting plan. There’s more going on.
And if you find
oranges in the church, or if you discover that the color red is rather
ubiquitous around the building, consider it all as part of the general
festivities. Life abounds.
