Meditating in the Minor Key: Why We Need Lent

I didn’t grow up with a liturgical background, but the older I get, the more I appreciate ancient spiritual rhythms that are tested and proven. It doesn’t take a long look at the news or at our lives to understand life is not always celebration and sunshine—which is why we need lent. We need a time to reflect on the suffering and one who is familiar with suffering.

Are we there yet? No, we literally just started driving. Are we there yet? No, close your eyes. Are we there yet? No and please stop, FOR THE LOVE. Are we there yet? No, but we’re close. Let’s just listen to some music.

I slip in something calm, something I want to hear, probably some Bob Dylan or John Mark McMillan. But seconds into the intro, all three kids yell, “no daddy music! It’s boring.” In our family, we don’t talk about Bruno and we don’t listen to daddy music.

What we do listen to is Kidz Bop. For the unaware, Kidz Bop is a rotating group of kids, who are great dancers and OK singers (with the help of a LOT of auto-tune.) They curate the latest pop hits and recreate kid-friendly versions of them. We listen to them more than I’m comfortable admitting.

All the songs are fun, danceable, and carefree. Nothing like daddy music. They are in the major key and have little complexity. It’s cheerful music. Kid music.

One song my kids love is called “Levitating.” It contains the lyric, “glitter in the sky, glitter in my eyes.” It’s catchy. I won’t lie. I join my kids in singing it at the top of my lungs.

Kidz Bop is fine. So is pop music. But here’s the problem: this music doesn’t represent the full emotional spectrum. It feels fake. Because we know that is not how real life works.

Real life doesn’t make you to levitate in bliss. Real life makes you buy a 10 pound Costco container of cheese balls and binge watch a season of Yellowstone, longing to numb-away the pain.

Real life is not always glitter in the sky and glitter in my eyes.

Real Life and the Minor Key

What is real life?

• Ukrainians are fleeing their cities, escaping and fighting off another egotistical leader more concerned with power than humanity.
  
• A loved one betrays you and breaks the bond you thought you had.
  
• You move to a new city and are more isolated and lonely than you will ever admit.
  
• You had big dreams, but they all fell through, one after another.
  
• People still don’t have access to clean water or the ability to defend against malaria.
  

Middle school was my first dose of real life. I learned people can be mean (is anyone meaner than a middle school bully?) Days can be brutally long (every time you look at the second hand; it was doing its best slug impression.) I wasn’t as cool as my mom told me I was (when’s the last time you looked at your middle school picture?)

But thankfully, I found Radiohead. When I first heard the haunting bridge of “Paranoid Android” in D minor, I melted. As Thom Yorke’s squealing voice sang, “Rain down on me… from a great height,” my soul resonated deep inside. I didn’t even know why, but I needed it.

It made me sad, but I liked it.

This is the power of art—it is an external expression of an inner reality.

Minor keys, and minor chords give expression to our pain. They become flesh and blood to the pain we feel inside.

Familiar With Suffering

For a week, I stayed in a monastery in South Africa. Crucifixes hung on every open wall space. By my bed, in the bathroom, by the mirror, in the hallway, on the stairs. It was creepy.

But I get it now. More than ever.

One of my favorite phrases about Jesus comes from the prophecy of Isaiah, which says the Messiah would be “familiar with suffering.”

The Messiah wasn’t a king who levitated on a tier above us messed up humans. He was a king that entered the full spectrum of humanity. Not just the glory or the joy, but the suffering, too.

Jesus gives flesh and blood to our pain. He is the expression of our suffering. The cross becomes a powerful symbol, reminding us that our pain is legitimate and we are not alone.

Why We Need Lent

Lent is the season of meditating in the minor key. It’s the journey to the cross. The journey of suffering and pain. A remembrance of a king who fasted in the barren desert.

• As we meditate on the mocking of Jesus—we remember how cruel humans can be to one another.
  
• As we meditate on the betrayal of Peter—we remember those who have abandoned us and times we have abandoned others.
  
• As we meditate on Jesus, walking the road to death—we remember the inevitable, harsh reality that we are on that same road. Sooner than we know.
  
• As we mediate on his intense prayer in the garden—we remember our desperation for changed circumstances, while understanding they may not come.
  

We need lent because it is true. This is the full human experience we all know—it’s not always glitter in the sky, glitter in my eyes. It’s a bitter road marked with pain and suffering.

Longing for Resolution

The minor key and minor chords create a tension and dissonance, making us long for resolution. We can’t stay in the minor key forever. As much as I love moody, dark music—I long for vibey-jams and good beats and something I can bob my head to (I’m a white dude who grew up Southern Baptist, bobbing my head is the best dancing I can muster.)

During lent, the tension builds, creating a desperation for release. Because we’re not just on a journey to the cross—we’re on a journey to Easter. A journey to resurrection and life. Yes, this king is familiar with suffering, but he’s also a king who says death does not have the last word.

So, as we fast, we remember absence and darkness—which creates a deep hunger for fulfillment. The fasting produces deep longings:

• For the hungry and poor to find a land of plenty.
  
• For people of opposite political parties to gather around a table and laugh together, letting go of their agendas.
  
• For egotistical wars to cease and shalom to reign.
  
• For a reunion with the loved ones we’ve lost.
  
• For restoration and redemption and renewal.
  

Are we there yet? No, not yet. We just started our journey.

Are we there yet? No, there are bombs in Kyiv.

Are we there yet? No, I know many friends crippled with anxiety and depression.

Are we there yet? No, opioid deaths continue to rise each year.

Are we there yet? No, people are still judged by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character.

Are we there yet? No, but we will be soon.

And what a day of rejoicing that will be. We’ll sing the Hallelujah chorus in the majorest of major keys. We’ll sing and shout for victory. We’ll be levitating and there will be glitter in the sky and glitter in our eyes.

But for now,

We listen to some boring daddy music.

We remember the darkness of life and the absence of shalom.

We walk the road to the cross, with a king familiar with suffering.

We cover our face with ashes and pray for those in pain.

We meditate in the minor key.

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LENT RESOURCES:

My church has some great resources, including a devotional and discussion videos. We’re doing a fun riff on the fasting, by including feasts as well: https://menlo.church/lent-resources

Renovare has a free lent guide that is great if you’ve never participated in this practice: https://renovare.org/books/less-is-more