Skip to main content

Lenten Disciplines

I've been giving some consideration to what Lenten Discipline I might take up for the season, or what I might 'give up' for Lent. 'Giving up' something is not a task I always take. My most 'successful' year was the year I gave up Diet Coke for Lent. Giving up soda provided, actually, some unexpected theological reflections. Other years I've tried (and failed) to go vegan for the season, or just skipped giving something up at all. I've been successful in 'taking up' something like a more disciplined devotional time, etc. I have vivid memories of my friend Marianne in high-school who gave up chocolate for Lent. One day in Sunday School, we had Girl Scout cookies - Tagalongs, the best of all Girl Scout cookies. She scraped off all the chocolate and ate the peanut butter inside. Dedication. Around the blogosphere/facebook this year, I've seen people giving up facebook (not gonna happen for me), eating out (intriguing - would be sadly tough for me to do,) blogging (I feel like it would be more of a discipline for me to blog more during Lent these days.) I'm just not quite sure what I want to do. I've also seen people try to combine some sort of weight loss program with Lenten Disciplines, and that just never seems quite right to me - like the order is wrong. Using Lent in order to lose weight, instead of doing something in order to deepen the Lenten experience.

Do you give something up, or take something up, for Lent? What? And why? What do you hope to get out of your discipline? What has deepened your Lenten experience in the past?

Comments

Kathryn said…
I too was unsure til Sunday, when I broke my arm...that pretty much wraps it up for me I think, but not something I would recommend :-(
Anonymous said…
Every year for about a decade I would try to give up TV. Then March Madness would roll around and I would sin boldly (18hrs at a time). This year--to save me from tears--wife and I are giving up eating out.
Kurt said…
I'm giving up meat and going vegetarian for Lent. I'm doing it for environmental, ethical and social justice reasons, so I think it will be a good reflection for the Lenten season.
Anonymous said…
Up until today I was thinking "I'm not giving anything up because it just seems too trendy this year..." but I did some listening and realized that I really need to listen more, and I've been filling my life with a lot of noise, so out goes the TV!

My church is also doing a "give up and given back" campaign for Lent - we're asking people who give up things like starbucks or eating out to save their money they didn't spend and bring it to church to support Africa University.
Anonymous said…
I like the idea of "adding to" instead of "giving up" as a discipline, so I am adding to my prayer life during Lent as a discipline.
Let's see how that works!

Popular posts from this blog

Sermon for First Sunday in Lent, Year B, "Jesus in the Wilderness," Mark 1:1-4, 9-15

Sermon 2/18/18 Mark 1:1-4, 9-15 Jesus in the Wilderness             You’ve heard me say before that the gospel of Mark is my favorite gospel. Part of the reason I love it is because of Mark’s brevity. I don’t love that he’s short on details, exactly. I love that he seems practically breathless in getting the good news of Jesus to us, and that he seems to believe that the news is so good it isn’t even going to take very many words to convince you of his message! His frantic style strikes me as showing both how important and how convincing he believes Jesus’s message to be.             But, then we arrive at a Sunday like today, and I find myself a little frustrated perhaps, or at least a little challenged by Mark. In the lectionary, the series of the first Sunday in the season of Lent always focuses on the temptation of Jesus – his time in the wilderness, where he confronts Satan, and commits to God’s path rather than the flashy alternative Satan presents. This is the fo

Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, "Hope: A Thrill of Hope," Mark 1:1-8

Sermon 11/26/17 Mark 1:1-8 Hope: A Thrill of Hope             Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Is the glass of life half empty, or half full? My mom and I have gone back and forth about this a bit over the years. She’s wildly optimistic about most things, and sometimes I would say her optimism, her hopefulness borders on the irrational. If the weather forecast says there’s a 70% chance of a snowstorm coming, my mom will focus very seriously on that 30% chance that it is going to be a nice day after all. I, meanwhile, will begin adjusting my travel plans and making a backup plan for the day. My mom says I’m a pessimist, but I would argue that I’m simply a realist , trying to prepare for the thing that is most likely to happen, whether I like that thing or not. My mom, however, says she doesn’t want to be disappointed twice, both by thinking something bad is going to happen, and then by having the bad thing actually happen. She’d rather be hopeful, and enjoy her state of

Sermon for Second Sunday in Advent, "Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright," Isaiah 11:1-10, Mark 13:24-37

Sermon 12/3/17 Mark 13:24-37, Isaiah 11:1-10 Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright             “Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon’ virgin mother and child. Holy infant, so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.”             This week, I read news stories about North Korea testing a missile that perhaps could reach across the whole of the United States.             This week, I spoke with a colleague in ministry who had, like all churches in our conference, received from our church insurance company information about how to respond in an active shooter situation. She was trying to figure out how to respond to anxious parishioners and yet not get caught up in spending all of their ministry time on creating safety plans.             This week, we’ve continued to hear stories from people who have experienced sexual assault and harassment, as the actions, sometimes over decades, of men in positions of power have been