The Barrington-Edwards-Retemeyer Lenten Journey

My nephews (Al and Devawn) and I spend a fair amount of time investigating the contents of wine bottles. Our favorite locale for this pastime is Vineyard Wine Company in Heathrow's Colonial Town Plaza. A little over a month ago, we were fully engaged when Dev dropped a bombshell. The Lenten season was fast approaching and he wanted to do a meaningful abstention over the period to honor the Lord's sacrifice. I thought that was honorable; and said so. I was very encouraging. That is, until he mentioned what was on his mind. He proposed giving up wine for the 40 days that comprised Lent. I thought, he surely had to be kidding. Such an action would have impacts far beyond him. Why should Al and I have to give up our sloshy lunches for 40 days just because he wanted to be Holy. We were not signing up for this yet we were being punished. This could not be the path forward. Drastic measures were called for.

After some reflection I offered him another path which, I thought, would allow him to sacrifice something (else) while retaining our family bonding activities. I told him that I would enlist family members to join him in a daily early morning (5:00 am) prayer session on Zoom for the duration of the Lenten season. He would be sacrificing sleep at the sweetest part of the cycle but, in addition, he would be accompanied on this journey by an-as-yet-to-be-determined number of family members. He thought about it and then nodded affirmatively. Waves of relief flooded over Al and I. We had dodged a bullet.

I went home and crafted an announcement on our family chat line. My Mom and youngest sister are both ordained Ministers so I knew that the Lord would not allow them to pass on this opportunity. Devawn had to show because this was an attempt to "rescue" him. Al of course had to show because ... My cousin Jenny in Virginia would also show because she does not miss an opportunity to compensate for living so far away from us. 

I got a few acknowledgments but people were not breaking down the doors trying to get in. A day or two before we were set to launch  Dev called me up and said that folks would be a lot more enthusiastic if I started at 6:00 am rather than 5. I thought that would be reducing the sacrificial quotient but I went along. I communicated that revised start time on the family chat line. Somewhere along the way he also communicated that he was going to be sacrificing the wine anyway. I was too far in. I had to move forward.

On the first morning we were eight strong. This included the folks I have mentioned plus my other two sisters and my brother-in-law Pat. I welcomed everyone, thanked them for coming, and then laid out the meeting order. We were operating in a Basic Zoom Meeting Room so we had 40 minutes (I told them 30) for each session. I told them that my younger sister (Kim) would lead the sessions and that everyone would be expected to read a self-selected Bible passage and then follow with a prayer. With everyone on board, I turned the proceedings over to Kim. 

We actually completed the first meeting in 30 minutes which left us a little time to chit chat about personal/family matters. I was very surprised as my Mom and Sis are not known for their brevity when it comes to Church-related stuff. But Devawn goes to work early and, I guess, everyone wanted to ensure that he continued putting food on his family's table. Prior to closing out the session, Kim asked my Mom for a word-of-the-day. My Mom offered up "Committed" and related it to what we would all have to do/be in order for this exercise to be successful. And that became a practice, with my Mom issuing a word-of-the-day at the end of every session. The full list is presented below.

Words-of-the Day

And so it went over the next 40 days. We were businesslike in that we did not meet on weekends. I would open the Meeting Room at 5:58 and Grace would be sitting their patiently awaiting entry. On many a morning Hazel and Pat would be there also. Or they would join shortly after. Devawn was consistently late; and it was always the same excuse. He was up but fell asleep 5 minutes before the meeting started. The group did not play. If you were not there two minutes after the start time, someone was deputized to reach out and bring you back into the fold. I messed up one day and did a Devawn and so they had to sub my sister's room and start without me. When they finally woke me up and patched me in, my Mom asked if I had been taught how to set the alarm on these new iPhones. Ouch. When I tried to ditch one meeting because of an early flight out, she chastised me that it was like inviting people into your home and then running off leaving them uncomfortably sitting in your space.

These sessions were inspirational and bond-reaffirming. We tightened our bonds both spiritually and as a family unit. Karen joined us in the final week. We prayed for each other's health and success and used the few minutes after the end of the session  to laugh and jest and revel in the glow of famil-iality. And, of course, Mom did not miss the opportunity to point out actions that could be taken to positively impact family outcomes and upcoming events.

We concluded the meetings with our last session on Good Friday. I had us meet in a Pro Room for this session so that Mom's time would be less constrained. Everyone mentioned how impactful these sessions had been and how elevating for their lives. They had grown from questioning participants to full-throated advocates. The love flowed freely.