Lent 2012 – Day 1

Today is the first day of Lent for 2012. It’s that time of year when the internet will be filled with posts and comments of what Christians are giving up for Lent. Over the next 40 days, plus Sundays, there will be lots of people berating themselves or beating themselves up over things they have failed to do or promises they have failed to live up to. Although Lent can be a time of challenge, it doesn’t have to be like that where people just end up feeling guilty about it all. If all one ends up focusing on is the thing given up then the point of Lent is missed. One year I gave up coffee, but I couldn’t really get beyond my caffeine deficiency, so there was no point in me doing that again. Three years ago I gave up meat for Lent, which helped me focus on a lot of issues that eventually led to me continuing beyond Lent and becoming a vegetarian.

In the introduction to Bread and Wine: Reading for Lent and Easter, which I will use again for my daily readings during Lent, the editor writes the following:

First popularized in the fourth century, Lent is traditionally associated with penitence, fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. It is a time for “giving things up” balanced by “giving to” those in need. Yet whatever else it may be, Lent should never be morose – an annual ordeal during which we begrudgingly forgo a handful of pleasures. Instead, we ought to approach Lent as an opportunity, not a requirement. After all, it is meant to be the church’s springtime, a time when, out of the darkness of sin’s winter, a repentant, empowered people emerges. No wonder one liturgy refers to it as “this joyful season.” (page xvi)

I really like that quote as it helps me put things into perspective. Keeping this in mind, this year I have spent a few days looking at various resources online and have decided to use some of the things I found there as a way of observing Lent. My main thing is that I intend to fast for 12 hours each day following my main evening meal, ideally from 6pm until 6am the next day. This may not seem like a big deal, but for me evening snacking is something I do too much of and is a bad habit I have grown into. Not only will this give me time to reflect, but should also help me lose weigh, which is much needed right now.

Other ideas I would like to work towards achieving include:

• Spend more time in prayer
• Pray the Jesus Prayer throughout the day (see chapter 5 of The Sacred Way by Tony Jones for a good explanation of this)
• Sit in fifteen minutes of silence each day
• Exercise each day
• Read a spiritual autobiography (leaning towards The Confessions of St. Augustine or The Practice of the Presence of God, or even both)

These are all things that shouldn’t be difficult and should hopefully help me improve myself and focus on the things I should be focusing on. If you have any other good ideas or Lenten experiences to share feel free to add a comment. Finally, here are some of the sites I found helpful this year as I prepared for Lent (hopefully you find them helpful too):

• Ten Ideas for Lent
• Lent Ideas
• Lenten Clicking
• Lent 2012

I’ll try to update my progress on here as time permits.