Do You Lent?
Recently, everyone around the blog world is talking about Lent and to be quite honest, I had to read about it (again) to fully understand the purpose and procedures of participating in Lent. Now, I’ve seen people talking about giving up Twitter for Lent, Coffee for Lent, TV for lent, and all sorts of other things that they consider a sacrifice.
Me? I’ve never participated in Lent. I don’t know why. I didn’t grow up doing it, and I’ve never really dug into it enough to feel convicted to do it. Not to mention, somehow I don’t think giving up Twitter would have the same spiritual affect on me as forty days in the desert had on Jesus. And that’s not even bringing up the whole ‘dying for our sins’ thing.
Now, I’m not knocking Lent at all. In fact, I’m a little fascinated by the whole thing, and I’m certainly curious about your thoughts. Do you participate? If so, what are you giving up for forty days?
Ready? Go.
I did once..a long time ago, just to see if I could do it. It’s like anything else, you need to do it for the right reason, and not just a traditional experience.
Grew up observing – it was about giving something up, “suffering” a bit in preparation for Easter. College years – the mainline Protestant church I was attending said to ADD something worthwhile instead of taking away. So, I observed with added Bible studies, added service opportunities, that kind of thing. Now that I’ve married the son of a Pentecostal preacher, our church home does not observe it at all.
I miss the idea of “preparation” before Easter – kind of like Advent before Christmas. I miss the discipline to be honest – a daily reminder of what Christ did. However, I guess I don’t need the church calendar to tell me I need more spiritual discipline to daily remember Christ’s sufferings for me. To steal a line from Nike, I just need to do it! LOL
You really said it all for me in your 2nd paragraph. Never even knew anybody that gave up something during Lent, until I went to a Catholic college my freshman year. Had never been around Catholics before. The ashes on the forehead thing and sacrifices didn’t make a connection in my brain. I just observed. I still just observe.
Could I give something up? Probably. The only thing is, if I had that much discipline, I wouldn’t be overweight! Do I want to give up twitter? Don’t think I can. It has become my new addiction. Don’t want to miss anything. One of your friends has given up twitter & blogging while he decides where God really wants him. Didn’t think I would miss his constant twittering during certain TV shows. But, I do. Those little glimpses into someone else’s life. He delivers a powerful message & I know when he comes back it will be awesome. I pray I will someday have that kind of conviction. I don’t ever want to be less than what God expects.
I didn’t grow up celebrating Lent either but as I got older and learned a little more about it, I started participating. I spent years giving up things, like coffee, chocolate, etc… but they didn’t really impact me. In fact, it just made me cranky – I didn’t have the right focus at all, and dang it, I NEED my coffee to make it through the day, God!
So, last year I started a new thing for Lent and I’m doing it again this year. Basically, I came up with this idea to incorporate something new into my day specifically to get me to spend time with God and really focus on Him. Sure, this is something I should be doing every day, but I figured start small – like dedicating the 40 days of Lent to it. I went through a concordance and picked out 40 (kinda random – but spritual in nature) words and spent each day of Lent focusing on those words… the definition, scriptures containing those words, what those words mean to me and praying over them. I write the word on my arm so I see it all day and remember to reflect on it and I blog about it of course. Last year’s Lenten Journey was amazing, I learned so much about myself, God and others who commented and joined in on the journey. It was just a really neat experience that I really got a lot out of (much more than if I had just given up coffee for the season).
So, I’m excited about doing it again this year. Hey, day two’s word: assurance! You can check out my blogs on this if you’d like and see what I mean and how it’s going.
No. The last time I lent somebody something I didn’t get it back. I don’t lent anymore.
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well put.
On a serious note. I’ve not done lent before either. Didn’t grow up doing it. It was seen as a ‘catholic’ practice. Protestants did not really take part in it.
I have friends who fast things – like chocolate or coffee. I’ve never really seen that as a big deal or a big sacrifice. Oh, I can’t drink coffee – so I’ll have tea instead. All a bit silly if you ask me.
Do for the right reasons and fast something that’s going to miss badly. So bad you’ll need to focus on God each time for the strength to get you through it.
Yeah, something like Email. Or Twitter. Or the current fad – The Blog. Now we’re talking.
Brody,
I’m only cool with fasting for Lent if you don’t tell anyone what you gave up – per Jesus’ instructions in Mt 6:16-18.
I grew up in the Lutheran church where it’s tradition to whine everyday, to everyone you meet, for 40 days straight that you can’t each chocolate because it’s Lent.
It’s kinda like a game where more you whine the more Lent points you get. You also lose Lent points if you sing any songs/hymns with “Hallelujah” in them.
The winner with the most points get to Acolyte at the Easter sun-rise service.
Haha… I think it’s interesting how we can write about the same exact thing, yet both posts are so different.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the whole Lent thing lately. I’ve never practiced before mostly because I’ve never really felt led to. Until recently, the only people I knew who practiced Lent did it half-heartedly and complained about it the entire time. Definitly not what Jesus wants to prepare our hearts for Easter.
What gets me interested in Lent is that idea of preparation. I feel like sometimes I completely miss the joy of Easter simply because I haven’t taken time to reflect (aside from reading through the Easter passage a few times). I get the same sense with Christmas and advent. Yeah, I understand that we live everyday in celebration of ressurection, but I feel like Easter ought to be the biggest Sunday of the year… It’s our independence day! Lately I’ve just felt like it’s another Sunday.
So… all that to say I’m intersted in Lent.
Billy– LOL I agree.
Blogged my ideas about it last night, funny
When I was a kid, I used to give up ice cream for lent. When you’re seven years old, that’s a really big sacrifice.
Now that I’m older, my family and I don’t participate in it—we aren’t catholic anymore. Our non-denominational church does a fasting for thirty days at the beginning of each year.
To tell you the truth, I never really understood the whole concept of it (lent) as a kid. I just knew that after lent came Easter and that meant candy…lots of candy. Jesus dying on the cross never really entered my mental picture. Sad, isn’t it?
must admit … clicked into the comments, because I was curious what everyone would say
I grew up catholic and my Mom used to make us give up something but I think I was really too young to understand WHY. It was more of a give up something and if you do it, you’ll get lots of candy when Easter comes around. That’s not what I was told was the reason … but as a kid, that was what it really came down to.
I heard last night that Father Mahoney (not sure if the spelling is correct) said in an interview that since everyone was already doing without during this tough economic time, that he thought people should do for others instead. I heard it on talk radio late last night and haven’t found a link to the story yet, but I my initial thought was … can he really do that? I mean it’s a catholic tradition done for a specific reason. Nonetheless, it piqued my interest.
I don’t generally participate in Lent, although I did last year. I found that the biggest sacrifice for me with Lent was the amount of time it took for me to prepare/think about how to accomplish the giving up of things. With all that thinking about what to give up, how to give it up, and how to go about my day without that stuff, I probably would have wasted less time if I hadn’t given anything up in the first place. It was pretty counter-productive.
It taught me a good lesson about learning to focus on God, though, and how I should aim to be constantly paying attention to Him rather than only in the 15 minutes of no-Facebook time that I scheduled in for Lent.
There’s probably something heretical about one or two things of that, but it seems to work.
Raised & still a practicing Roman Catholic. Yes, I practice Lent. Did I understand the significance when I was younger of sacrificing something? Not really.
My mother also made us add on a good deed. Every night at dinner we all got a post-it note that we had to write on it the nice deed we had done for somebody else that day & then put it on a bulletin board. That impacted me more than sacrificing something. And, yes, sometimes “Not hitting my brother/sister” was considered a good deed!
I still sacrifice something but don’t tell anybody else what that is & choose something that truly is a sacrifice. I also take on an extra spiritual practice of some sort…extra bible study, small chuch community, daily Mass at 6:00am (did that once in college…not sure I could ever do it again!), etc.
And the Catholic church does not require members to sacrifice something, it is encouraged, but voluntary. I’ve known more priests in my life to encourage people to add service or a spiritual exercise than to encourage people to sacrifice something that doesn’t really mean anything to them anyway.
I always give up olives for Lent. I hate them and don’t eat them anyway.
I’ve never participated in lent growing up either and I’d never fully understood the correlation between it and Ash Wednesday. But last night I decided to attend my first ever Ash Wednesday service and I think I finally understand the concept which is really quite fascinating and humbling. Basically lenten season begins on Ash Wednesday and the purpose of “giving up” a specific sin for 40 days is to intentionally draw closer to God. The ashes symbolize our mortality, how we are in debt to God’s grace, and that nothing comes from us. Essentially it is, and I quote: “an outward expression of our inward posture of mourning over sin”.
At the service ashes were marked on each person’s forehead and communion followed reminding us that we are still saved by His grace. It sure gave me a lot to think about and prayerfully consider what sin I should give up (too many to count!). I was reminded too of the simple, yet baffling concept that I don’t dwell on often enough: God is merciful not because of who we are but because of who HE is!
Nope, I don’t think I ever heard about Lent until my Mom became a Catholic and started saying she’s giving up chocolate for Lent.
I’m giving up not posting for Lent. After one day, I’m still good…
I’ve never observed Lent but I know several who do. My sister-in-law is Methodist and they observe it too. I’ve never really thought about it but I can see the significance in it.
I love the idea and concept behind lent, but I was never brought up to observe lent, so it always comes round and Its too late for me to give up anything because I haven’t thought about it enough beforehand…
These comments are great! Some made me think, and some made me laugh out loud. I’ve never observed lent. My grandparents always did, and we grew up living in their home, but they never explained why they did it. As a kid I didn’t care. I get the reasoning for it, and I really like Jade’s thoughts on it. Sounds like something I could actually do, as opposed to other things I’ve tried to do. Thanks for this question Brody.
hmm..to show how little i know about lent, my first thought when reading your post was ‘dang! i didn’t know lent last so stinkin long!’..
so no. i’ve never participated in it, but that’s not to say i never will.
but i do think fasting is a very important part of the christian lifestyle. i guess i just do it when i know the time is right..ya know what i mean?
maybe i just don’t like people telling me when i should do something..haha.
It’s a time of renewal. My priest said “Lent is about letting go of something so you can take hold of God.” He went on to say that doing acts of love and kindness, and not doing acts of sin was part of that renewal. Recalling our baptism and what that entails.
Brody, you should check out this website. http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/lent/faqs.asp
40 is the number of preparation in the bible. 40 days and nights of rain before Noah walked out on the new earth. 40 years in the wilderness before entering the promised land. 40 days on the mountain receiving the new Law. 40 days of temptation, hunger and thirst before beginning public ministry. And 40 days of subtracting or adding something as preparation for celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and the new life He’s given us.
What we do to prepare is usually kept secret so that our motives remain pure and our focus (and everyone else’s) remain centered on Christ. Every time our stomach growls, or our thumbs miss that little keyboard, or we crave caffeine, we remember Easter and all that goes with it. Traditionally it’s not been an attempt to match or even approximate the suffering of Jesus. If that were the goal I’d give up sex and you’d be forced to work outside without shade or long sleeves. Geez, I hope that’s not what Lent’s about.
Prepare.
I look forward to participating in Lent. My wife and I have a “Lenten Accord” which I write up every year. We follow traditional sacrificies of meat on Friday and we fast a lunch or dinner a week. We also sacrifice something that will be difficult for us to follow. One year it may be fried foods, fast foods, caffine, television, or cheese. Pick your poison.
It certainly increases our thoughts and worship of God each time we crave our particular addiction or enjoyment.
The two of us also add spiritual disciplines in place of those sacrifices. Prayer, reading, quiet time, working out…..whatever increases our quality of life.
If someone is addicted to Twitter or Facebook, I believe those would be adequate sacrifices for Lent. As long as each time the craving came around thought turn to our Lord. That’s the hope anyway.
I also feel that Lenten church services (Ash Wednesday) can be one of the most powerful of the year and truly set you up for a Holy Easter time.
Just my thoughts.
In addition, I believe that Lent is as important to Easter as Advent is to Christmas. Personally, without either, I find the seasons more readily pass me by without the expectancy and preparation that the observances provide in the journey.
I don’t give up anything for Lent, but I do use it, as the picture says, as a time of quiet reflection and contemplation. Someone, somewhere made a comment that Lent was like the church’s new year. It’s so true. It just leaves you feeling refreshed, like you have a new beginning. This Lent is especially meaningful to me because I started new member classes at church this week! It’s been too long since I’ve been a member at a church & as I was working on my new year’s plans back in January, I realized it had to go on the top of the list. Part of me was missing but I’m slowly, but surely, filling that void with this new church. I love it!