There’s loads of things to say about this, and this post only says some of them, there are a few pointers to other resources and I’d be happy to know of others. I do hope that this stuff helps you to observe Lent in a really helpful, growthful and spiritually uplifting way.
Background -about Lent
Lent (from an Old English word for ‘Spring’) began as a season of preparation for Easter, firstly for those who were becoming Christians to receive instruction before their baptisms at Easter and secondly for the rest of the church to be in solidarity with them. These origins give Lent the traditional characteristics of penitence and abstinence. Penitence as people reflected on the events of Holy week and why they happened and then the sense of getting things right with God which reflected a recollection of Jesus’ forty days fasting in the wilderness. Abstinence as an outward sign of penitence and preparation and as an act of solidarity with the sufferings of Christ related to the temptations in the wilderness.
Traditionally Lenten fasting involved not eating meat and dairy produce [in effect to become vegan] as well as other abstinences (in some cases no sex, no luxury clothes or goods etc). This would have been in addition to the regular weekly fasting from food on Wednesdays and Fridays. Apart from the practical use that such a restricted diet would be in an agrarian economy at the end of winter, it also meant that the resumption of normal diet and lifestyle was felt as celebratory. Perhaps this deferred gratification is something we can learn from and emulate in today’s consumer, ‘instant hit’ society.
Fasting is often a fasting from something in particular, be it from food or certain kinds of food or drink, or from activities [such as watching TV or going to the cinema]. Also often included in Lenten discipline is the idea of undertaking study or particular courses of action [as people would do as part of their preparation for Baptism]; hence many churches hold special Lent study groups and many Christians undertake special activities to help them grow in faith or understanding – reading the whole of a particular part of the Bible or going on a pilgrimage or having a special regular prayer time they wouldn’t normally have, for example.
Be careful though…
.. as we think about our own keeping of Lent today. Let’s start by remembering that it isn’t for show [See Jesus’ teaching in Mat.6.16-24], and that it won’t make God love us any more to be very strict with ourselves not make God love us less if we don’t do anything. The main point is to do what will help us to draw closer to God and to express more fully God’s agenda and values in our lives. In this sense it may mean it is more useful to ask ourselves what we should take up as well as give up. It is also worth looking at Isaiah 58 as a guide to God’s view of fasting and how to do it -keeping the common good and welfare of
humanity firmly in mind is part of it.
In all of this it is well to take stock of what we believe God is calling us to do in our life and use Lent to help take those callings forward or to prepare us in some way.
Isaiah [Isaiah ch 58.6-14] encourages people to fast in a way that leads to greater justice. In God’s world human beings are making some decisions that are making things worse for everyone and particualrly our children and grandchaildrena and we in the palnetary north are living at unsustainably high levels of consumption. One way to help us understand this is to calculate our ecological footprint. The responses we could make to learning what our ecological footprint is could vary from recycling things that we don’t normally, cutting down our consumption especially of meat, power, fossil fuels etc. So giving up the car for at least some kinds of journey might be appropriate.
Since a lot of our ecological footprint is made larger by consuming more goods than we need perhaps fasting from ‘retail therapy’ might be a good discipline: only shopping for food and absolute necessities during Lent.
Perhaps we should follow tradition and give up meat, become vegetarian or even vegan for Lent. Or if that’s too great a step cut down to meat only once or twice a week. There are lots of good reasons for doing this. Meat is in world terms a luxury and giving it up is an act of soldarity with the world’s poor. The resources given to raising meat for the high consumption in the planetary north would be better used in raising crops for human food, and may help slow deforestation in the planetary south.
Fasting from things that may have gained an undue prominence in your life: shopping [perhaps we should learn to take our sense of worth from God rather than retail therapy?], watching television, being so much online, alcohol, caffeine, certain activities may be reviewed perhaps. Giving the time saved to activities that help us to grow closer to God [whether that’s taking a walk. praying, reading scripture, meditating, spending time with a spiritual mentor or whatever].
Another area to consider is taking up the Fair Trade cause. Fair trade aims to make sure that the producers of our tea, coffee and other foods and goods are able to gain a fair deal from the transactions. Find out more by visiting the fairtrade site. There are an increasing range of products of good quality;. Why not give it a go? Why not take it beyond Lent?
It is helpful to take stock of how we often best spend time with God and what helps us grow or feel close to God and planing to spend more time in doing that. It could be taking a walk. Praying, reading scripture, meditating, spending time with a spiritual mentor or whatever. Be practical but also aim to stretch yourself a bit. Taking stock is also a good thing to do over Lent. How about drawing yourself up a ‘rule of life’ or a set of spiritual guidelines/rules of thumb to live by. You can find a very helpful set of ideas in the ‘way of life’ ideas at the site of the community of Aidan and Hilda. There are ten guideline areas, five weeks in Lent -look at two a week, perhaps. It’s often good to talk these over with a mature Christian or a church leader.
