Lent can be a time for celebration: Faith Matters clergy column for the Rev. Robert Sichta for Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016

Last Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent.

Sunday is Valentine's Day.

We are now bookended by a 40-day period of loving self-reflection.

Some would say it is a time for suffering and denial.

If that's your theology, don't send roses and chocolates to your sweetheart today, and don't accept them, either. (Unless, in your counter-intuitive definition of things, denial is only a river in Egypt.)

I say it is a time for celebration! We are in Florida, after all. Where sunshine, barbecues and beaches abound along with spring breakers with fake IDs, tourists who made wrong turns and missed Disney World and, most important of all, those folks whose spending we can't live without: our beloved seasonal folk.

If any of those people came down here to fast and suffer, we wouldn't have built a new mall. So kill the fatted calf and let the party begin.

It's what Jesus would do. And he would use it as a teaching moment.

"Love," I'll bet he'd say, during happy hour at Clancy's as he overtipped the wait staff before heading off to the Lazy Lobster for some stuffed shrimp Norma out on Longboat Key, where he'd take time to watch the sun set in the Gulf.

"Love," he'd repeat. "When I see people share, I see love."

Then he'd ask: "Why are so many of you hungry? Why are so many of you in need of housing, jobs, education and medical care? Why are some in prison while others go free simply because they have different colored skin, live in different neighborhoods and can afford better lawyers? Why are you so afraid of each other -- particularly people who come from different places, speak different languages and worship God in different ways?

"Didn't you hear my story about the Good Samaritan? Or the one about the loaves and the fishes? Did someone give you permission not to share? Or is it that you just don't care?"

I don't think he'd be angry, though. I think he'd be confused. About whether his words had dented our skulls.

Then, he'd say: "Be on guard against indifference. It's OK to have a good time. Just don't get so caught up in yourselves so much that there's no room for anybody else -- particularly no room for the poor.

"If you do that," he'd caution, "you might no longer hear God's voice, or feel God's love. If that happened, your desire to do good might fade. That would be a tragedy. Not just for the poor who need your compassion, or for those who need you to share their pain.

"But for you, because, having decided that those less fortunate are no longer your responsibility, and you would lose one of the most precious gifts God provides: the quiet peace that comes from feeling God's love.

"So feast!" he would say. "Give up indifference, and feast on love! Feast on love by offering love! Like me, descend down to bring others up. Like me, exclude no one, include everyone. For by your feasting, you will make room in yourselves to experience a love that can make everyone whole and set everyone free."

Oh, and then he'd say: "Be my Valentine."

The Rev. Dr. Robert Sichta, Congregational United Church of Christ, 3700 26th St. W., Bradenton, can be reached by calling 941-756-1018 or e-mailing PBKAlpha1@gmail.com. Faith Matters is a regular feature of Saturday's Herald, written by local clergy members.

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Lent can be a time for celebration: Faith Matters clergy column for the Rev. Robert Sichta for Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016 ."