When I was just starting campus ministry, a colleague warned me, “Christmas will be disappointing, because all the students go home!” In a parish, Christmas Eve services are packed, though often with people you see only once a year. The college chapel hosts one Christmas Eve service, sparsely attended. The same sense of occasion isn't present. It isn't a time to connect with those who call themselves Christian. Instead, at Renison, that opportunity seems to be most present at the start of Lent.
It starts sometime in February. A common conversation starter in the cafeteria becomes, “What are you giving up for Lent?” The first year I was on campus, I thought this was an anomaly. “We must have a particular group of very religious students,” I thought. But each year it has continued, and many of the students who seek so strenuously to observe Lent are nominal Christians, from families who rarely attend church.
I suspect that some of this emphasis on Lent is a result of the publicly funded Catholic school system in Ontario. Lots of students graduated from Catholic high schools, even though for many that was their only real contact with church. Lent was taught and observed at school, and the students bring that with them to university.
The popularity of Lenten disciplines also owes something to the diverse student population, especially the Muslim population. Orientation Week generally falls during the observance of Ramadan. Students move in, and are immediately aware that their roommate, or the person down the hall, is not eating at the regular hours in the cafeteria, because they are fasting between sunrise and sunset. Later in the month, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur take place, and the Jewish students also fast. There is some relief when Lent rolls around and students who identify as Christian have a chance to say “Our turn!”
Students give up a variety of things. Dessert or french fries are popular items to deny themselves. A Facebook fast is also common, though many rely on the fact that Sundays are “mini-Easters” in order to survive the six weeks. At Renison, there's a fair bit of social pressure to give up something. One enterprising student added one more item each year, creating a cumulative list of foods he couldn't eat, until he realized that left him almost no choices in the cafeteria.
Some students understand the meaning behind the Lenten discipline. They listened in religion class, or were taught well in Sunday School. They ponder their strongest attachments, and consider what they might give up in order to remember what they truly need. They put money aside as a way of sharing their abundance.
Other students are responding to the social pressure, or are attracted to something that seems similar to the “purging” espoused by celebrities. My challenge is to help deepen this engagement with a spiritual practice, and then encourage students to reflect further.
Last year, an engineering student arrived in my office on Shrove Tuesday. “Help! It's Ash Wednesday tomorrow, and I don't know what to give up for Lent!” He ran through the list of what he had given up in previous years. I suggested he might want to take on something instead.
When he looked at me blankly, I explained, “Lent is about examining your life. It means asking, is this how I should be living? It's about getting your priorities straight, putting your life in order.” There was silence while he processed this. Then excitement and relief showed on his face.
“I have been thinking I do nothing but schoolwork. So maybe Lent means I should pull out my trombone more often and play?”
“Exactly!” I responded, “And maybe that's part of how God intends us to live.”
I have no idea whether this emphasis on Lent will remain with students as they move into the rest of their lives. But it has been a gift to me, made me ponder unexpected connections. I am keenly aware that we have a wealth of traditions, based on the observance of the church year. These include the Daily Office, Advent wreaths, bell-ringing at New Year's, the colour red for Pentecost, candles to remember the dead. How do we share these with a new generation? And what are you going to give up for Lent this year?
