I didn't start doing it until I came to college, because I didn't really understand why it was important, what Lent was and what it meant to give something up for it. I thought of Easter mainly as a celebration, and didn't think too much about the church's 40-day season of penitence and mourning that comes before it. But I have been learning to love this season, the silence, the meditation, the reflection, the shedding rid of superfluous things to focus on Christ. As far as I can understand it, these are the main reasons why we sacrifice something or abstain from something for Lent:
Now, just like in Christian discipleship it isn't enough just to be emptied of all sin, but to also be filled up with Christ's righteousness, the point of giving up something for Lent isn't necessarily the sacrifice. It's the change in us that happens when we sacrifice. It's the room that is freed up, when we pare down unnecessaries and simplify, to be filled with good things. Like prayer, reconciliation, service...So along those same lines, in addition to giving up caffeinated drinks, I'm also adding in regular exercise - 3x a week. That's right, baby! I'll go running this week for the first time this year! :)
So, are you giving anything up for Lent this year? Not that I'm trying to pressure you, or anything - I'm just curious about what kinds of things other people do. :)
5 comments:
i guess i am giving up balut for another year...
hey bexx...
like you, i didn't start practicing lent until college, and that not even until soph. yr. the 3 of us girls (ames, carina, and i) all gave up coffee (i think. haha). this year... i want to be a bit different than the last 2... more than just giving something, or a few things, up. but first things first. i'm not going to watch any videos or dvds in my apt. and i made it specific to my apt because that's where i spend most of my time and where i feel most lonely and most want something to distract me from that emptiness that i can sometimes feel (and also because every once in a while i get together with the other english teachers, and when it's cold there's nothing else much to do but watch a video and i want to be able to spend time with them in that way). i'm also giving up getting on my computer in the morning. i've become addicted to checking email and blogging... and i do it in the morning because i don't have to be awake to do it. :) click a few buttons and voi la! (sp?) but in combination with the giving up, i'm also giving back that time to God... instead of watching videos i want to spend more time reading my bible. instead of gettin gon my computer in the morning i want to read my bible in the morning. something i WANT to do... but always put off till last and then consequently never get around to doing. but i guess... that's what lent is all about... giving up so we can give ourselves back to God in a way we haven't since perhaps lent last year. :) i, too, look forward to lent. hehehe i've actually been looking forward to it since december when i started studying advent. grins crazy? yes, maybe a little. ;) there are other things i'm giving up or refocusing on for lent, but those are my main 2 and the reason's for them.
i love you becca!!! and thanks for sharing your lenting (is that a word?). :)
love
rachel
Guess what, i also look forward to Lent and didn't start celebrating it until college. In fact in high school I use to be "anti-lent" in that I would intentionally eat meat on fridays and induldge in whatever my catholic friends gave up. Yes I know i'm aweful.
Anyways, I'm giving up tv/video games/movies in my apt and also "everything in excess." Bascially I'm only allowing myself to watch movies and the like when I'm in community outside of my apartment.
I'm not really sure what "everything in excess" implies even though I came up with it. It's more of a case by case thing, but it has been manifesting itself in anything non essential, no snacking, no pop, no coffee (not that I drink much), no candy, desserts, no anything that isn't basic and a natural part of the day. So i guess one could call it a modified fast of everything. I prefer to describe it in wesley-esq terms and say that it's abstaining from "everything in excess."
hey becca,
what i am going to say i say it with utmost respect (sounds ominous, eh?). i thoroughly enjoy your posts, and i learn a lot from you, including the gracious way you respond to certain posts, an attitude that i am now trying to immitate.
so on that grave note, i say you're crazy in giving up coffee. no! just kidding! okay i'll backtrack to the ominous-sounding me. i grew up surrounded by catholics, and lent was a yearly reality for me, but that also created the cynical window which i view from, because of the hypocrisy i saw from many. now i am not saying you or anybody else is a hypocrite for observing lent - i myself am observing it - i am just giving you a background of where i am coming from.
i rejoice at the thought of focusing on Christ, on his Passion, the reminder of his suffering, the sorrow with joy, but at the same time God also convicted me of what he desires from us, what true sacrifice is, what paul meant when he said to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God, holy and pleasing, as a spiritual act of worship.
what i am getting at is the issue of sacrifice, and if we look at the old testament and new testament, God is pretty adamant in demanding the best from us, the firstfruits, the best among the gifts he has given us, hence the need for Christ as the perfect sacrifice for the atonement of sin, the ultimate sacrifice for our ultimate demise. the whole purpose of lent - the reminders of Christ's suffering, etc as instituted in Nicea a long time ago was ultimately an act of worship for the early church. during those times meals were fairly important (even until now, i heard. amy would kill me if i don't deem meals important) in the sense that it was not only viewed as an activity that provides sustenance and joy, but also a form of fellowship, and for some an act of worship (paul's writings in 1 timothy, some passages in Acts, etc), so the act of fasting during lent was giving up a blessing of God. meals were definitely not considered a bad habit to be sacrificed, even back then. [grin]
what i am trying to say without trying to sound self-righteous and all that is that i am not exactly sure if offering the sacrifice of caffeinated drinks is the best you can offer to God. there's chocolate, for one thing. no, seriously, agh i hate sounding like a super-moralist but my fear is the passage in malachi where God was saying "But you ask 'how have we defiled you?' By saying that the Lord's table is contemptible. when you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? when you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? try offering them to your governor! would he be pleased with you? would he accept you?"
so what i am trying to figure out is if the things that we are supposed to sacrifice in our lives in the true meaning of sacrifice are supposed to be the good things that God has given as, because when we sacrifice something we give it back to him? if we are just trying to get rid of a bad habit, aren't we supposed to get rid of them anyway, since they are bad, and not wait for lent?
and i apologize for rambling, my thoughts grow scattered, but i just want to share it. feel free to tear apart what i just said.. again i am still learning.
i'm lenting Amy.
and my credit card.
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