Before You Sing This Song…

By Dr jalarth Uche Opara

Another Lenten season is upon us. Once again, we are invited into the familiar rhythm of fasting, prayer, abstinence, and almsgiving.

These practices are good and necessary , but one must ask: what could be done differently this time?
For many, Lent has become a well-rehearsed circle we go through every year, yet a circle that never quite goes through us.

By Ash Wednesday, the hymn “Lord of Mercy and Compassion”… will once again rent the air, especially during the Stations of the Cross. It will be sung reverently, loudly, and repeatedly for forty days. But how many have truly listened to its words?

Hidden in that hymn are solemn recognition of God’s power, love, mercy, compassion and the weighty commitments in the chorus that many of us have never kept and may not even intend to keep.
We sing them beautifully, yet unconsciously.

We profess them publicly, yet contradict them privately. Let me be clear: I have no problem with fasting. It is good for the body and disciplines the soul.

I have no problem with almsgiving; it bears both physical and spiritual fruits.

Prayer is inevitable in the Christian journey, and abstinence trains self-control and attentiveness to God.

But under normal circumstances, none of these should be viewed exclusively through the lens of Lent. They are not seasonal obligations; they are meant to be daily habits.

They should form the lifestyle of any serious Christian, not just a forty-day experiment.

I do not know when you first sang that song, or how many times you have sung it since. But have you ever sung it meditatively—with a conscious mind and an honest conscience, allowing its words to interrogate your life?
Try it.

You may be shocked by how many lies you have told without realizing it, and how many promises you have made to God that were never kept by singing passionately the chorus of God of Mercy….

This year, consider weaving your Lenten observances around keeping the promises in that song. Until those words become flesh in our lives, abstaining from favorite foods, fasting, or giving alms may remain perfunctory, rituals performed without their full spiritual power.

For me, in this Lent, the chorus of that hymn—“God of Mercy…”and the sincere, deliberate effort to live out its promises will be at the heart of my Lenten journey, alongside the other activities.

Before you sing the refrain of that song again, listen to the wordings. Until you are convinced of keeping those promises, you may afterall refrain from singing the refrain of the song.

Happy ash Wednesday in advance..

Jarlathuche@gmail.com