Why Lent? Why, every year, must we spend 40 days thinking about things like sin and suffering and repentance and death and renewal? Why can’t we do that on our own when we’re in the mood; when we have time; when experiences around us force us to confront the realities of sin and death? Why do we have to force ourselves into dealing with these thoughts when they don’t square with our feelings? Some have wondered aloud about these things. Others have said, “I hate Lent, just give me Easter?” Maybe that is why so much of U. S. Christianity …