It has long been a Lentan Discipline to give something up
for Lent. I know some people who give up chocolate – boy was that hard when
Valentine’s Day fell during Lent one year! This has roots in being penitent,
and trying to make amends for past actions. So, one might give up those things
that are having a bad impact upon ourselves or others. Often, this just means
going back to doing the things once more after Easter (i.e. eating chocolate
again).
But what if we took a slightly different approach? What if
we focused instead upon how we wanted to relate to ourselves and others – and worked
at forming practices that help make that a reality? For instance, we might ask
ourselves these questions (or others like them):
- What does it mean to live a just and compassionate life?
- What dreams/desires do I have that keep reoccurring like an ocean swell? In what ways are they a “calling” from God?
- How am I interconnected to the web of all life? How does my life show this?
- How in the living of my day to day life, are what I hold true acted out – put into practice?
- And inversely, how does the way I live my life, really point to what I really believe about things, not what I want to (or say) I believe? (For instance, one might say that generosity is very important characteristic, but when the hat is passed at work to purchase flowers to celebrate a co-workers a new baby, one doesn’t contribute.)
I do think that we are called to live holy lives, and to
help create a holy society: one based on compassion tempered with justice. How
we live our lives impacts matters.
Lent provides a time and a space (if we are willing) to
reflect upon our habits, and a chance to create some new ones as we move into
what it means to live as Resurrection People.
Blessed Be,
Joel
PS - The Ash Wednesday Service will be posted later this afternoon.
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