Friday arrives with expectations.
Somewhere deep in the collective Christian memory is the idea that Fridays in Lent should feel different. Quieter. Leaner. Perhaps involving less bacon. What we are less clear about is how exactly this difference is meant to show itself — beyond mild hunger and a vague sense of virtue.
But Lent, if it is honest, is not so much about subtraction as it is about pace.
The modern world is very good at speed. We rush through meals, through conversations, through prayer. We read headlines but not paragraphs, prayers but not silence. Even repentance, we prefer to do efficiently. We would like to confess our sins, receive absolution, and move briskly on to improved behaviour by Tuesday at the latest.
Lent, stubbornly, refuses to cooperate.
Friday invites us into a slower rhythm — not because slowness is morally superior, but because it is spiritually honest. You cannot rush your way into repentance any more than you can rush your way into love. Both take time. Both require attention. Both involve stopping long enough to notice what is actually happening inside us.
The Gospel suggests, again and again, that Jesus was never in a hurry. He walked everywhere. He stopped for interruptions. He listened to long stories. He allowed people to take their time coming to faith — and sometimes to take their time walking away.
This is deeply inconvenient for those of us with calendars.
Friday in Lent is not an invitation to austerity for its own sake. It is an invitation to walk more slowly through the day. To eat with awareness. To speak with intention. To pray without checking the time. To discover that God does not shout instructions from ahead, but walks beside us, content with the pace of companionship.
We rush because we are afraid of falling behind. Lent gently suggests that perhaps we are afraid of stopping long enough to see what we are carrying.
Learning to walk slower is not laziness. It is trust. Trust that the world will not collapse if we pause. Trust that God is not impressed by speed. Trust that the long road of faith is best travelled one attentive step at a time.
On this Friday, Lent does not ask you to do more. It simply asks you to stop sprinting.
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Companion Prayer
Unhurried God,
You walk with us at the pace of love,
not the speed of our schedules.
Slow us down when we rush past grace.
Teach us to notice the weight we carry
and the gifts we overlook.
Give us patience for the journey,
attention for the present moment,
and trust that you are not far ahead
but faithfully beside us.
Help us walk this day in your company.
Amen.